MAD DOGS owner Laura McAllister has her sights set on Texas for her first pub outlet outside Hong Kong - but the plan has nothing to do with 1997 handover jitters.
Ms McAllister, 41, has spent the last month in San Antonio, where the British-style outlet is slated to open by the end of the year, according to Steven Lewis, projects manager for Mad Dogs International.
Mr Lewis said Ms McAllister had considered several Asian countries before deciding to expand to the United States.
'Assuming that San Antonio goes well, we'd love to open more in the States,' he said, adding that other American sites have yet to be selected.
'It's a market we understand. In Hong Kong, we are principally expat-oriented. Instead of being a niche retailer in an Asian market, you go somewhere like the States where the potential is enormous,' he said.
Ms McAllister's move abroad was prompted by market saturation in Hong Kong rather than by concern about the business climate in post-1997 Hong Kong, said Mr Lewis.