Megabucks in a hurry; South Beauty Restaurants

http://www.qiaojiangnan.com

 

South Beauty is a chain of Sichuan Chinese restaurants.  Decidedly upmarket, they have I believe 5 Shanghai venues and 10 Beijing venues, some geared to Chinese tastes, others geared to Western tastes.  Certainly in Shanghai, they are all at premium locations. 

 

The newest, 881 South Beauty is a spectacular old mansion complete with restaurant and superb bar.  English menu, the kind of place your bring guests.  An excellent place for dinner, drinks, or in the modern annex, corporate functions.  (they also have events - Cigars on Wed, Salsa on Thurs, Champagne on Fri, Tango on Sat, and a blackjack for drinks table wed-sat)  For an interesting dinner for two, ask for the balcony table, which is private yet overlooks the bar.

 

881 Yan'an Middle Road, near Tongren Road, tel:  6247-6682 - turn left out of Tongren lu and it is shortly on your right

 

It's a successful business, showing all the signs of a professional operation and a more than healthy cash flow.  The shocker however, is to discover that they've only been in operation for 5 years.  Crikey.  Get your business right, and there's money to be made.  They intend to go global apparently, something like Shanghai Tang's expansion from its original base of Hong Kong.  Fed healthily by western prices at chinese costs, I'd imagine their deep pockets will help them set up abroad.  There aren't many (any) good Sichuan restaurants in the West - and there are so many out there who just love a good spicy meal.