Toni Jantschar's establishment of the Hong Kong Pool Club grew from nothing more than a desire to get together with friends and spend a relaxing evening pocketing a few balls. Back in 2003, there was nowhere to play.
'The Hong Kong Pool Club story would be one that anyone who has established any sort of entertainment venue, be it for sport, music or whatever, can relate to,' said Mr Jantschar. 'I was simply trying to find a place where I could go to play pool, as apparently were others I have met in the interim who were much further into the sport than casual, amateur me.
'I also have a number of friends who were previously very involved in this sport in other countries and prior to opening the Hong Kong Pool Club they couldn't find a decent, playable pool table here, nor a decent place to play.
'I even went down to Manila five times a year purely to play a bit of pool.'
Mr Jantschar decided enough was enough and put a pool table in an unused room at his office. The table was in demand, so he bought another pool table so other friends could play. Finally, he realised the only way to cater for demand in Hong Kong was to open a poolroom in Hollywood Rd, Central.
Mr Jantschar applied for a club licence and later a liquor licence to meet the requirements of Hong Kong laws and customer comfort.
'Start-up costs to establish Hong Kong Pool Club amounted to roughly $1 million,' said Mr Jantschar. 'This included refurbishing club premises, pool tables, bar, furnishings, staff wages, office equipment, website design, and advertising and marketing.'