Profile | ‘We felt like squeezed lemons’: Pirata Group CEO Christian Talpo on the effort that went into restaurants’ success

Having stood down as chief executive of Hong Kong restaurant business Pirata Group five years ago, Christian Talpo is back in his old job

He reflects on the opening of the mother ship, Pirata, the secret to success, and moves to expand to new markets to avoid having ‘all the eggs in one basket’

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Restaurateur Christian Talpo, Interim chief executive of Pirata Group, at The Sixteenth, one of the group’s outlets, in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong. Photo: Sun Yeung

Published: 1:15pm, 24 Mar 2024

Four years after stepping down as Pirata Group chief executive officer, its co-founder Christian Talpo is back at the helm of the Hong Kong restaurants group.

“The idea was for me to fix the fixable and then continue with another CEO. But the more we go on, we realise one of the founders looking after the business is probably the only way forward,” Talpo admits.

In less than a decade, the Pirata Group – under Talpo and co-founder Manuel Palacio – managed to create an enviable string of popular restaurants across Hong Kong including The Optimist, TokyoLima, Pici, Chaiwala, Honjo, TMK and The Pizza Project.

By 2019, the foundations seemed solid enough; Talpo decided to step down to pursue other interests and projects. What was originally going to be a one-year break tuned into a three-year hiatus.

“As a result, Manuel took over and he got to a point where he was really tired,” says Talpo. “We both put so much effort in over the years that we felt like squeezed lemons.”

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