Hong Kong restaurant turns into co-working space on weekdays to fill room as lunch crowd disappears
- Second Draft, a gastropub in Tai Hang neighbourhood, keeps lunch menu away to turn itself into co-working space to overcome challenges
- Lunch earned less than it cost to serve, owner Rohit Dugar says
Some of Hong Kong’s business community have had to tweak their operating model as local economic conditions worsened. For restaurant operator Rohit Dugar, that means keeping away the lunch menu at Second Draft as crowds dwindled on weekdays.
The gastropub, which Dugar opened in Tai Hang neighbourhood some three years ago used to serve creative fusion dishes on weekdays until January. In May, he decided to turn the idle 2,000 square-foot space in the restaurant into a co-working office.
“Lunch earned less than it cost to serve,” he said. Providing hot-desking facility did not require a lot of additional input and “we have to pay the rent anyway, why not get the space utilised?” he said.
Second Draft now offers its floor space from 9am to 5pm to MilkGarage, a company that manages a network of co-working facilities in 12 locations under a membership programme. The restaurant still serves diners on weekends.
