As Aqua Restaurant Group turns 25, its founder David Yeo reflects
As the Hong Kong-founded business celebrates its 25th anniversary, the man who started it all contemplates survival and longevity in the industry
Aqua turns 25 this autumn, with Paris as its newest perch. The Hong Kong-founded group now runs 20 venues in five cities – nine at home – and, unusually for a company this size, keeps them wholly owned. Yeo has steered the brand through critics and a pandemic. The question now is whether constant motion can keep Aqua relevant.
Five years in the works, this latest Aqua endeavour checks the group’s usual boxes of panoramic views, meticulous interiors, dramatic lighting and, of course, the food and drink it’s built on. Throughout its 25 years of flagship service in hometown Hong Kong, Aqua’s restaurants have also occupied square footage in Manhattan, New York, the Brickell neighbourhood in Miami, in The Shard in London and the International Finance Centre in Dubai.
Yeo, a former finance lawyer, started this run a quarter of a century ago with nothing more than a yen for cooking for friends in his flat. “We’re accidental restaurateurs, you know,” he says on a video call from Paris.
With 25th anniversary celebrations planned for Aqua’s Hong Kong and London locations over September and October, Yeo grows reflective, thinking about the restaurants he’s created, which range from Japanese and Italian to Peking duck and dim sum.
“We’re unique in the sense that we show what we’re doing is relevant not just in Hong Kong but also overseas,” he says. “Our brands don’t sit still. That’s what keeps them relevant.”