'Setting up a new restaurant is a step-by-step process. But with a reopening things get messy because you're picking up from the middle,' he says.

'People think you can reuse things, but in the end there's a lot of wastage. It's easier to buy a new table than it is to locate the maker of the old table and order a new leg. In the end, I used the same budget [as the original opening] and had to do everything over again - just in a different, more convoluted order.'

But for Olala restaurant group owner Ming Chau-on, reopening the Olala Charcuterie store in March was a breeze. After the contractors finished decorating the newly rented lot, it took only a day to move all the equipment over before it was back to business as usual. 'We started at lunchtime, and were ready by dinner,' recalls manager Calvin Wong.

Today the shop functions more as a takeaway outlet than dine-in restaurant, and is about one-third the size of the original Olala Charcuterie, just a few metres away on a corner of Star Street. Ming still owns and operates that larger space, but has changed it to a French-style restaurant.

It's characteristic of Ming to play musical chairs with his different restaurant concepts. Ten years ago his Olala Noodle Shop opened on Electric Street, then closed briefly before being reopened in St Francis Street nearby. The Electric Street location then evolved into Olala's private kitchen and remains so to this day, although it now offers an ? la carte menu as well as prix fixe set dinners.

'It is important to experiment with ideas - old or new,' says Ming, who will unveil two new concepts this month. The first will be the transformation of the French restaurant - formerly Olala Charcuterie - to what he proudly calls an 'all pig eatery', featuring pork prepared in a variety of ways. The second will be a supermarket, Le Marche Olala, stocked with gourmet items such as hams, premium olive oils and vinegars, and live seafood. It is located one floor above Olala's private kitchen.

Ming is also toying with a Vietnamese cuisine concept as well as a dumpling wholesale business using bellota pork as fillings.

When asked whether customers find Olala's constant shifting of locations and concepts difficult to follow, Wong says, 'We serve a very loyal group of customers [more than half are regulars]. They don't find this confusing so much as interesting. They can eat at the noodle shop on Monday, buy some ham and wine from the charcuterie shop on Tuesday and go to the private kitchen on Wednesday.'

A few factors account for Olala's ability to quickly execute projects. Not only does it retain the same staff, 60 per cent of whom have been with the company for more than seven years, but it also owns its suppliers and imports most of its ingredients from Spain.

'It also helps that we have a central kitchen [above the charcuterie],' adds Ming. 'We bake our own breads and do the prep work for all of the restaurants there.'

'Really, the hardest part [in reopening Olala Charcuterie] is just moving the refrigerator,' Wong says, laughing as he points to the wheels underneath the large glass bulk case filled with cheese and ham.

Sakaegawa restaurant, originally in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Hong Kong, which closed in December 2007, also returned by popular demand last August. Like Olala, it found some solace in not having to start from scratch.

'Sakaegawa was a well-loved restaurant at the Ritz and so about 30 per cent of our staff came back, even though there was more than half a year in between when they already found replacement jobs,' says executive chef Luk Kin-wah, who has been with the restaurant since its inception in 1993. Manager Catherine Ho, also a Sakaegawa employee since the beginning, rejoined to look after the front of the house.

'There's a sense of comfort and familiarity in working with people you know, and it makes training easier,' Ho says, adding: 'The previous loyalty from customers has also helped.' Its Causeway Bay location now attracts a younger local crowd, as well as some customers from its Ritz-Carlton days.

But Al Bistro did not get a warm welcome back reception, says Banerjee. 'There's a saying that you never have a second chance to make a first impression.' He blames the restaurant's reputation as overpriced as a huge deterrent for winning new business.

'After all the work, I called people in my network to invite them for a tasting, but once they heard the name, they weren't interested,' Banerjee says. The restaurant is still operating on a provisional licence and can't officially change its name until a permanent licence has been awarded.

Banerjee tried to make it clear to customers that Al Bistro was different from the original by making dramatic physical changes to the restaurant's decor.

'It looks like a different place,' he says, highlighting the bar area that he added toward the front entrance, complete with a TV projector screen to broadcast sports and news. He is renovating a previously unused outdoor garden space for private parties.

He has also recruited new staff. 'If people see the same faces working here, they might think other things are also the same. I didn't want there to be any confusion,' he explains. 'Not a single tablecloth or napkin is recycled from before.'

As for the menu, Banerjee modified it to serve Mediterranean fare instead of the previous Italian cuisine, and developed a line of signature cocktails. 'I wanted to provide dining options for all times of the day. A salad bar for the lunchtime businessmen, a proper dinner menu for couples, and late-night menu for groups,' he says. These changes, along with lower menu and wine prices, have led to an 80 per cent increase in business in the past two months, says Banerjee.

Likewise, Sakaegawa is leaving behind its fancy Ritz-Carlton image in favour of casual dining. 'Before, it was very grand with tatami and formal decor, but we didn't just want to do the same old thing. We thought about dai pai dongs [hawker stalls] in Hong Kong and used that as our inspiration to create a more friendly and fun dining experience,' says Luk. The reopened eatery is designed after Japan's fish markets and features bar stools, wooden tables, and live aquariums with daily seafood specials.

'The restaurant is a lot rowdier, and, in some ways, that's more enjoyable for us,' says Luk. 'People look like they're having fun.'

Prices are lower, owing to cheaper rent and a new fish supplier, and business at the 45-seat restaurant is booming, says Ho.

As for the Olala stable, Ming says: 'I've been doing food for 40 years. At the end of the day, no matter what concept, I just keep selling food. And people keep eating it.'