Clientele

"Ability is what you are capable of. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." - Lou Holtz

What clientele am I trying to serve to? Is it to my own heritage of Chinese or to Americans like I have grown up to be? This is a tricky topic because people will have differing ideas on the subject matter. Growing up as a first generation Chinese American speaking both English and Cantonese (Chinese) fluently, I saw both sides clearly.

The place that is currently open at my future location is a Hong Kong style restaurant. They say it is hard to make a sufficient living because of the location yet they have been open for FIFTEEN years! It is two blocks from the beach and a major bus line drops people off right next to the front door. Quality of food is also not the issue, as their food is better than most HK style restaurants in SF. It is clearly who they are catering to that is the biggest issue. While I was there helping out on Friday, every single person that came in spoke Cantonese. Not one non-Chinese person came into the restaurant. When you are so limited by your clientele, it is hard to stay in business. And not only do you have such a specific clientele with different tastes than other Americans, it is the one customer base that is culturally inclined to NOT SPEND.

A small history lesson on why so many Chinese came to San Francisco.

San Francisco was called "gold mountain" by previous generations of Cantonese/Chinese people during the gold rush in 1849. Many Chinese immigrants, like westward moving Americans, flocked to the "gold mountain" in hopes of striking it rich on a fat vein of gold. However, this fairy tale ending was realized by very few people, and even fewer Chinese. When the Chinese arrived, they were bullied, harassed, and treated as second class. They were forced into slums (present-day Chinatown is one example) with despicable living conditions. Many had to take up jobs doing dirty work, opening laundromats, restaurants, and taking up small menial tasks. Many Chinese were also coerced into building the transcontinental railways across the United States. Hard conditions and low paying wages reduced the Chinese to second class citizens.


Especially since moving to America, Chinese Americans have had to work extremely hard for every single penny that they earn. Most Chinese Americans in that age had to save every penny they earned in order to send money to their families back home. Many a Chinese starved themselves stateside, in order to save enough money, with the hopes of one day bringing their family over to join them.

Where was I going with that little history lesson? Don't worry, the point is coming up next.

The culture that many Chinese have is the culture of saving. Saving money is a great thing. I grew up learning to save, save and save. It teaches us that you should always have something put aside for a rainy day, or even for something you really NEED like a car in college, or money for textbooks or rent. But growing up as an American, I also saw the other side of things. The culture of buying not just what you need, but what you WANT. Having but not needing an IPhone or an IPad. Having but not needing a $100,000 car. The reason I am shifting my clientele away from strictly Chinese (like many other dessert places are doing in San Francisco) to "American" is because of this. Chinese people are CULTURALLY cheap. They save, eat in, do everything they can to keep their hard earned money because they know how hard it was to obtain. Every single dollar was gotten using their blood, sweat and tears (literally and figuratively) and it is so hard for them to let go of it on mere wants. It is engrained in our culture because of our long fought history in the U.S. and that only the newest generations of Chinese Americans are finally letting go of.

Yes, there are a lot of Chinese in San Francisco. But those are not the clientele I am appealing to. I am trying to include and appeal to all "Americans". Having a menu that is basically for the tastes of people from Hong Kong and China is not something that appeals to all. Without a doubt, it's the newer generation of Americans that are willing to spend the money to eat out and try new things. That is the crowd I am catering to. Ones  that want to go hang out with friends, spending money to enjoy themselves on a regular basis. Why limit yourselves to doing business with a small subset of the population who are culturally inclined to spend less, when you can work with people who are willing to spend in order to have a good time?

-Wilson