The entrepreneur tells us about the challenges of starting your own business and how she hopes to shape the landscape of Hong Kong’s constantly evolving F&B scene

Like New York, Hong Kong has earned a reputation for being the city that never sleeps. With an active nightlife scene partly to blame, it seems people are always striving to experience something new. That’s where Victoria Chow steps in – the entrepreneur is behind popular nightspot The Woods on Hollywood road and has just launched her latest venture, The Walrus, an innovative oyster bar tucked away in the heart of Soho.

We speak to the entrepreneur about where she sources inspiration for her inventive cocktails and how she hopes to change the nature of Hong Kong’s F&B industry – something she already seems to be doing:  


Hong Kong means opportunity for entrepreneurship and a hub for multi-cultural experiences and influences.

My business in a nutshell is Concept VI, currently comprising of The Woods and The Walrus. It’s a food & beverage lifestyle group that merges art, design, and a true passion for food, drink and the tatler_stories and people behind them.

I’m most proud of building a team of amazing people that I trust who are like family to me and to each other.

Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing!

I source inspiration from many people in all aspects of the industry. For example, Danny Meyer – a restaurateur who put hospitality first, the talented people behind some of the worlds best bars and restaurants such as Aviary, Artesian, Noma, and Alinea, Bompas and Parr along with creators of experiential food events, the brewers, winemakers and distillers behind the spirits I use, and so many fine artists and designers I can’t even list them all.

The biggest advantage to running your own business is being able to dream up and draw something in my sketchbook and see it being realised – be it a cocktail, a fancy oyster’s presentation, a logo, an interior design element, a dish, or an event setting, and put it out there for the world to experience is probably the most gratifying feeling.

My advice to budding entrepreneurs is to be resourceful, and you are your greatest resource – wear as many hats as you possibly can in the beginning so you know your own business 360 degrees, inside and out.

Ultimately I would love to be part of changing the way people in Hong Kong and Asia perceive cocktails and spirits and educate on their art and origins, as well as come up with new F&B experiences that are not only visually exciting, but self-aware of the products they use. I also hope to continue building up our local talent in Hong Kong and see us become trendsetters, not just followers.

In ten years ideally I’d be living on a vineyard and designing cocktail glassware. But more realistically, I hope to build the brand to be more encompassing of events, lifestyle and design with outlets in other international cities.

In terms of my words to live by, the first thing that comes to mind is one of my favourite quotes from Edgar Allan Poe, “Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”


Photography by Edgar Tapan