The Visionary: Jean-Yves Chatte

You could say Jean-Yves Chatte was a bit of a visionary when he came from France to Hong Kong with his family more than 20 years ago to set up a B2B wine distribution business in Hong Kong.

“When I moved with my wife and young kids to Hong Kong to sell wine, people thought I was nuts,” Jean-Yves tells us. “At that time the market was really small in Hong Kong, and non-existent in China. The only country that had a proper market was Japan.”

Twenty years later, Jean-Yves’s wine business, MC Group, is thriving, and has managed to penetrate every country in the Asian hemisphere save for the notoriously difficult India. Nowadays, Jean-Yves’s son runs the business—but that doesn’t mean Jean-Yves has been resting on his laurels. Far from it. Today, Jean-Yves is also owner of an intimate private kitchen called Ma Cuisine in Chai Wan—but he’s done a whole lot more along the way, and it only makes sense to start from the beginning. In the mid 90s, Jean-Yves set up a small but thriving French goods shop right beside the then-still-existent Carrefour superstore in Heng Fa Chuen, to make up for the gap between what Carrefour offered (not-quite-French products) and what the public expected (French products). When Carrefour decided to leave the city, Jean-Yves closed down his boutique as well—but setting up shop once more was always at the back of his mind. Four years ago, Jean-Yves found a perfect shop space right opposite his old office in Sheung Wan, and the Monsieur Chatte brand was born.

“One night I came out of my office and saw the ‘For Rent’ sign across the street. I [did a viewing] next morning and thought, ‘This is the place I need,’” Jean-Yves says of his first Monsieur Chatte shop on Sheung Wan’s Bonham Strand. Next thing he knew, the shop, which stocks French cheeses, cold cuts and wines among other very-French foods, had developed a loyal and dedicated following. Late last year, the brand expanded across the harbor to Elements mall, where business is picking up steadily each month. But that hasn’t stopped Jean-Yves from wanting to do even more.

“Initially our kitchen, where we prepared food for the two shops, was in Wang Chuk Hang,” Jean-Yves says. “But we wanted to buy [a space], and Chai Wan was a reasonable area to buy. So we bought [in Chai Wan], installed an office and a central kitchen, and then had this [extra] space left over.” So what did he decide to do with it? Open a private kitchen, of course. The result is Ma Cuisine—a homely venue with a long wooden table, open kitchen and sitting area—tucked away in the middle of an industrial building in an industrial area a short cab ride away from Chai Wan MTR. In many ways, Ma Cuisine is a very natural extension of the whole Monsieur Chatte concept.

“What we make in our kitchen here is absolutely real French food. We don’t try to adapt. We do it exactly the way we do in France,” Jean-Yves explains. “It’s what you expect to eat at home. It’s not highly sophisticated, we use good ingredients, and it’s what you would get at a countryside regional restaurant [in France]. It’s good food, good portions.”