Engineering a restaurant revolution

The son of a restaurant tycoon, Simon Wong Kit-lung did not show much interest in following in his father's footsteps when growing up. Instead, he had a passion for infrastructure. After graduating with a degree in civil engineering, Wong worked in a consultancy and the government's highways department. Many questioned his decision to work as an engineer instead of taking up the reins of the family business.

The 1997 financial crisis saw Wong lose his government job, which proved to be the turning point for him to enter the restaurant business. After putting in more than 10 years of hard work, Wong is now executive director of LH Group, which has more than 30 eateries around Hong Kong. In 2011, he was selected as one of the Ten Outstanding Persons by Junior Chamber International Hong Kong.

What were the obstacles you had to overcome in shifting from engineering to restaurants?

The transition was tough, as I had zero experience. But I tried to learn as much as I could by studying courses.

For example, I signed up for courses offered by the Institute of Dining Art, and began learning from scratch. I was very happy to get to know my 39 classmates and I learned a lot from them. I learned a lot about how a restaurant operates and began to think of a more efficient system to prepare food. The learning experience has helped me build sound fundamentals as a restaurant manager.

What's your management philosophy?