Ika and I just had dinner in Legian with a restaurant owner who contacted me through Baliblog. The gentleman was very hospitable and bought both Ika and I dinner, plus a couple of drinks for me. We chatted about the history of Kuta / Legian and how things are developing. My host has an old style restaurant that opened 23 years ago and used to do great business. Times have changed and the answers are not always as easy as they might seem.
In the last 12 months in Kuta we have seen a tremendous amount of development. Places like The Wave, EmBarGo, Fuel, Viper, Drops and a slew of other places in Seminyak have opened. The new style draws customers and the old style places have to look on and wonder, 'what do we do?' Simply serving good food, in a good vibes environment in 'traditional Balinese style' does not quite cut it in today's Bali scene. There is a market for it, as I told my host, but that market has moved on from the 'prime customers' to the 'family groups', who are perhaps not shooting for the top end.
A guy who does a restaurant site here in Bali told me that in Seminyak, the place that introduced fine dining was the Oberoi hotel. Their standards are very high, but with the rapid spread of dedicated theme restaurants, the Oberoi just cannot compete on price and has had to cut back on things to stay competitive.
I told my host that every plane arriving in Bali has customers who fit his target customer, Australian families. Focusing on what makes him unique, in this sea of copycats and convincing them its worthwhile making the trek from Tuban, Kuta and Padma to Jl. Legian, will make or break him.
As Dylan would say, 'the times they are a changin'.
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share             
|
This was a different place. Good food, nice people, hands on manager, great for families. Problem is the market for the old-style Bali restaurants is declining and this places’s location was a little out of the way for most family tourists to walk to.
The restaurant scene in Bali is extremely competitive, with place likes Rumours and Trattoria knocking out good food for a low price. Many places go out of business and others open up in there place trying a different strategy. As soon as that strategy works 10 people will copy it and you are back competing on price, nobody wins.
G’Day Nick,
Would that be the restoran that contacted you through the radio show?.