With new Shanghai restaurant, Gucci serves up taste of Tuscany to grow sales
Luxury goods house hopes 1921Gucci can attract new customers amid a wider slump in demand
First it cut prices by up to half in China. Now Italian luxury fashion label Gucci is trying to whet Chinese appetites for its products with a true taste of the “old country”.
Last month it opened its first restaurant, 1921Gucci, named after the year the brand was founded, in Shanghai’s iAPM Mall.
Covering about 600 square metres on the mall’s third floor, the restaurant promises a “Tuscan-inspired dining experience in a relaxed and convivial ambience”.
Restaurant manager Alessandro Sandomenico said the dining outlet represented the Gucci experience.
“My job is to make everyone here happy, to make sure they have a good experience,” Sandomenico said.
Gucci’s endeavour was the latest instance of luxury brands dabbling in the catering industry to attract new customers, said Zhou Ting, director of the Fortune Character Institute, a Shanghai-based research and consultancy group.
Apart from Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar in New York, which opened its doors at the beginning of the year, there is the Hermes dining spot in Seoul, the Armani Caffe in Cannes and Burberry’s cafe in London.