Grabbing a Bite in Good Company: Foodies in Beijing
I know some folks who like to keep what I politely call “WeChat hygiene”. They greatly dislike being in one too many groups, they tell me. It’s “overwhelming”, they add, and I smile. I am, of course, internally judging them all.
Really, though, if you’ve spent a significant amount of time in China, then you know that WeChat rules everything. Everything you need for your daily life, you’ll find there—community, the events you really want to attend, good deals, advice, second hand stuff and more. Now, I do obviously curate my feed. Nobody likes unruly cesspits of spam and blubbery. So since I started this blog post on a strong note, dear reader, let me now be of service to you.
There’s a certain WeChat group that you should absolutely join: Foodies in Beijing. The daily scoop on restaurants in town? Check. Fellow home chefs dishing out advice on that recipe you’re attempting this weekend? Check. Can’t find some ingredients from home? Ask them. Heck, ask them face-to-face, because as of lately they’ve been organizing the coolest supper club. And fear not for unruly posting and crappy content. Foodies in Beijing is under the strict but loving surveillance of a superb group of admins, and today I’m lucky enough that I sat down to chat with one of them.
I don’t play favorites, except maybe I do, because my interviewee is none other than the wonderful Ajit, partner at Bollywood Tales by Dastaan and beloved member of the foodie community. He knows his stuff in town, trust me. And he has the most magnetic personality. What a treat this conversation is! Dig in for some thoughts on Beijing’s F&B scene, our current times and plenty more…
Hi, Ajit! You’re one active player in the F&B industry in Beijing, so thank you kindly for sitting down with me. It’s not just about the wonderful role you play for the community at Foodies in Beijing, along with your equally amazing fellow admins, Diana and Preston. In fact, you are an entrepreneur in your own right with an export spirits business. Then also, you’re currently involved with the Dastaan and Bollywood Tales team. Tell us a bit more about these facets of your life in Beijing, please.
Thanks for this great opportunity and platform to share my thoughts! 2024 marks my 17th anniversary in China. Sixteen of those years were spent across the country gaining my wings in the hospitality industry. I worked in all sorts of positions, ranging from restaurant manager to hotel manager.
In 2023 I started managing my own company, dealing in the import and distribution of Swiss products in China—from beer and whisky, wines and spirits to food products. Then, at the beginning of 2024, a great chance presented itself to join hands with my long-term friend and now business partner, Rabiul. We shared one vision, one dream—we wanted to bring to Beijing a thoroughly new and exciting take on Indian food, and that led us to Bollywood Tales.
As for Foodies in Beijing, shall we trace back to my days at InterContinental Beijing Sanlitun? During my time there, I was actually closely involved with Foodies in Beijing. As a matter of fact, this lovely community was the brainchild of Ana Lourenco, a Portuguese expat who was always extremely helpful in her approach that the group should serve as a platform for all the food and beverage operators in Beijing.
In 2023, Ana decided it was her time to return home to Portugal. Before leaving, she asked me whether I’d like to become an admin for the group, and I happily accepted. We’re three admins now, and to be honest with you, we are just trying our best to carry on Ana’s joyful legacy of making Foodies in Beijing the go-to platform for all food, drinks and bar related queries. We keep it light and fun, but also useful and informative—much like Ana always did.
Ana is such a legend. You know, people often confuse me with her (same name, same spelling) and a tiny part of me wants to let them, because she’s legit so cool. We miss you, Ana! So tell me, Ajit, how did Foodies in Beijing come to be? How long has it been around? And what’s the present mission of this group?
Ana started Foodies in Beijing in 2015, when WeChat groups were just beginning to gather traction. Having an early start provided a dedicated fan base for the group, and that’s indeed where people kept discussing the best food and drink offerings in Beijing and other places.
The mission of the group is simple—whether clientele or part of the industry, all are welcome to chat freely about food. Beijing is our focus, however we still keep our eyes and ears open to the rest of the world. That’s why we also encourage people to share photos, and well-thought reviews of restaurants and bars all around the world. After all, it can come in handy for those traveling outside of Beijing.
Every Thursday we host an e-market day where businesses can share their special promotions and deals for everyone to indulge in! What makes us different from the other WeChat groups, you may ask? Well, we’re strict on spam and unnecessary ads. And I feel our group members appreciate that because nowadays it’s all too easy to find yourself in these groups where you’re bombarded with a barrage of ads and spam in exchange for precious little relevant information.
A really interesting and relatively recent dimension for the group is the community focus, with a traveling supper club of sorts where attending members get to feast in good company at some really delectable Beijing restaurants for a competitive price. Who came up with the idea, and how do these dinners work?
You know, last year I was racking my brains a bit. How could we make the group evolve with an offline social side to our online presence? By then we had already expanded to a second group and had over 600 members, so it only made sense that we should have a get-together. There are people behind those WeChat avatars, and I thought it’d be great to make them meet and chat with the owners of those businesses they love.
Then the answer came to me: naturally, we should have regular Foodies in Beijing gathering dinners. And they’d pay forward to our local restaurant owners, so that they could stay in business with a renewed influx of clients and showcase their excellent venues and delectable offerings. I still remember our first dinner last November at Daccapo restaurant in Regent Hotel Beijing. It was the perfect gateway to many other get-togethers, always hosted regularly at different venues around town. We go for wherever’s hot in town, for sure, but we also try to sample a wide variety of cuisines and pay a visit to new restaurants. So far, hmm, let me think—we’ve hosted a Thanksgiving dinner, a Christmas gathering and then a winter fondue dinner, we also went for Thai and Yunnan cuisine, held a summer garden brunch, and feasted on Japanese and Malaysian cuisine.
It usually starts with my approaching the restaurant owners/operators to discuss the idea, close up on the menu and other details and, of course, try and get a good deal for all parts involved. The focus isn’t on profit so much as it is on showcasing the venue. If I do say so myself, we get an interesting mix of people, with our gatherings typically ranging from 15 to 40 guests. Half of them are first timers, and the other half are previous attendees so I think we mingle quite nicely. You go home with a full belly and your social batteries recharged!
Excellent. This kind of moves us back to your insider position in Beijing’s F&B industry. What has been your trajectory in hospitality, and did you also work in this field back in your home country? What pulled you into this world?
I have been in the hospitality industry for over 17 years. Funnily enough, I haven’t worked a single day in my home country! I left home as a teenager to get my degree in hospitality from Malaysia. Upon graduation, I landed my first job as a management trainee in Chengdu, China. Since then my work has taken me to different cities in China – Chengdu, Qingdao, Xian and eventually, so far, Beijing.
Traveling, cooking and meeting new people—that was my pull towards the hospitality industry. In hindsight, I can confirm that it has been a fascinating journey! True, I decided to move forward from my time in hotels to something else. But hospitality lives on in my heart!
Fascinating, and I’d wager anyone who has had the pleasure of knowing you will agree with that statement. Also, you’ve been here long enough that you saw the city go through the impact of the Covid crisis, which no doubt came at a high cost for so many businesses, restaurants included. What changes came with that contingency? Would you say that some of those changing trends stayed? And do you think that restaurants and bars have recovered from those years?
As you aptly mentioned, Covid was an extremely challenging time for everyone—even more so for the hospitality industry. Sadly, we saw a number of wonderful restaurants and bars close during this period which was a great loss for the city.
However, it’s a multifaceted picture. Some of the restaurants survived, and a number of those even thrived. The biggest trend I noticed was businesses having to adapt and become fluid, thus reacting to every curveball. Those who did were indeed the ones that survived the crisis and grew from it. There was a strengthened or otherwise renewed focus on deliveries, special deals, digital menus, flexibility, cost control and pricing.
Yes, we’ve definitely kept the lessons that we took from those Covid times. Nowadays, many restaurants report up to 30 percent of their monthly business from delivery alone! But as far as recovery goes, it’s hard to say yet. Indeed, people are dining out again, but business is still nowhere near the pre-Covid levels. Costs remain a concern and overall there’s a slow trend in the industry. I guess I can say that I’ve talked to several business owners and it seems as though smaller sized restaurants (think below 80-60 seats) with an average spend of below RMB 150 are faring well, all things considered.
What are your predictions for the hospitality scene in Beijing over the next few years? What would you like to see yourself?
Whatever trend comes our way, there’s no way around it, no replacement for good food and equally good service. So I believe that restaurants focused on quality and value for money should continue to do well. Simultaneously, I also hold hope for those willing to evolve with the times and display innovation in their business moves. Social media is undeniably great when you want to pull customers in, but at the end of the day, it’s quality making them come back and eventually become regulars.
My personal wish is that we can have a more diverse selection of cuisines and restaurants that are authentic. Today’s customers are well-traveled, and they seek and expect an authentic experience that reflects the experiences they cherish from their own travels abroad.
Okay, circling back to Foodies in Beijing, how can anyone who is keen on such a community join you guys?
Though we do some house cleaning every now and then, purely to make way for new members when it’s apparent that some old ones aren’t in town anymore, it’s still over 200 people. So I can’t give you a QR code for folks to just scan and join the group. However, people can and should add me on WeChat (AJKinChina) and I’ll be more than happy to pull them in! Just allow me to throw a friendly but useful heads up for any prospective members! We aim for no online clashes, but trust that if there are any, we will do our best to quickly resolve them. It’s in the interest of our community at large! No food shaming, please. It’s just not cool to yuck anyone’s yum. Got a less-than-stellar experience at whatever restaurant? It happens! And you shouldn’t just shrug and take it, but we do highly suggest that you contact the business owner directly, because in fact, it’s often the best way to quickly resolve whatever issue you had.
Phew, now that’s out of the way, so allow me to do a little plug. Organizing our monthly dinners isn’t as easy as it may sound: you have to close all ends, manage everything and also ensure that diners confirm their attendance. But we pull it off every time, and our next dinner will be at Georgia's Feast on Oct 24… Come join us!
The next Foodies in Beijing dinner will take place at Georgia's Feast at 6.30pm on Oct 24, and costs RMB 250, you can add free flow for an additional RMB 150. You can sign up by scanning the QR code in the poster above.
Georgia's Feast
9 Dongzhimen Neidajie, Dongcheng District
东城区东直门内大街9号院
Hours: 11.30am-midnight
Phone: 010 8448 6886
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Images courtesy of Ajit and Foodies in Beijing
