After 20 years, husband-and-wife restaurateurs Mark and Anna Cholewka have weathered almost every storm running restaurants in Hong Kong.
Mark’s formative experience in restaurant management in the city came at his previous company, a local restaurant group operating 50-plus restaurants, covering both Asian and Western family-style concepts. Here, he learned the power of bigger, tastier, and better.
When the company was sold to a larger parent company in 2010, the Canadian restaurant operator turned to Anna with a question: “ would it be okay if we open a restaurant, with the conditions that either it could possibly work or we could possibly go broke?” he remembers.
The restaurant the pair ventured to open was grand, a statement for two budding restaurateurs striking big with their first independent venue. Shore, a 10,000-square foot venue on Queen’s Road Central, covered both a large bar lounge and an outdoor terrace over two floors. It was a dive into the deep end for the couple, operating a steakhouse with that size and magnitude.
In the 15 years since the steakhouse opened in Central, Mark and Anna brought the success of Shore to Shore Hospitality, a restaurant group operating nine locations in Hong Kong with four brands: pork knuckle-speciality restaurant The Salted Pig, pizza restaurant The Pizza Pig, sports bar The Blind Pig, and seaside French restaurant Bistro La Baie.
After Shore opened, the couple instantly wanted to expand their business of serving homely food for the family, or more specifically, within a family-style concept. In 2012, The Salted Pig was born.
“There was nothing of its kind in Hong Kong at the time and we decided, whilst there’s plenty of steak houses here, there’s not very many pork houses,” Mark commented.
“Before the invention of consistent refrigeration, all cultures around the globe would preserve meat by salting or smoking or both. This was the inspiration for the name The Salted Pig.”
“During that time period of opening, the global financial crisis was still affecting spending and we were looking for something that could be more value for money for our customers. This seemed to fit the bill.”
Now operating over three locations in Sai Wan Ho, Lai Chi Kok, Sha Tin, and Kowloon Bay, The Salted Pig stands for Mark and Anna’s restaurant philosophy: value-for-money food designed for the family.
“The goal for anybody that opens up a restaurant or bar wants to do multiples because in Hong Kong the tenancies are quite short. Growth with scalable product or multiple brands reduces the risk of your investment.”
Whilst Shore Hospitality began in infancy in Central in 2010, the restaurant group has expanded to family-friendly neighbourhoods across Kowloon and the New Territories, predominantly inside malls, to service quality Western dining beyond Hong Kong Island.
The Pizza Pig, which features Hong Kong’s longest pizza at 30 inches, finds its home inside a mall two at Monterey Place O’South Coast in Tseung Kwan O and D2 Place Two in Lai Chi Kok. Mark finds that foot traffic sustains from lunch through to dinner in shopping malls, ensuring both meal periods are strong, as opposed to other areas which see unpredictable traffic.
Playing off of the joke of a pigging out customer “eating copious amounts of food,” the pizza restaurant chain opened during the pandemic to support their takeaway business. The 30-inch pizza was a headline that could bring support to the group during another wave Mark and Anna were determined to beat.
The third of the piggish restaurant series opened in early 2020 with The Blind Pig in Sai Wan Ho, an answer to the resident-dense Eastern District seeking a sports bar to enjoy live sports and pub grub.
And in the summer of 2023, Mark and Anna’s fourth restaurant opened in Tseung Kwan O, Bistro La Baie, playing both into a local demand for quality French food and supplying a family-centric neighborhood with a casual dining restaurant.
During their century and a half tenure, Mark relies on the quality standards and performance the pair have maintained to retain a strong customer base. Through this, they have weathered many storms: a global financial crisis, protests, a pandemic, and changing spending patterns.
“We have been around for a long time, so people recognize our plans. Even if our customers are not thinking about where they are gonna go, if they are in the area, they can see [our restaurants] and trust us and feel good about spending money in those locations.”
Strong staff retention has equally supported the success at Shore. Numerous chefs and managers across the four brands have worked with the group for more than eight years. “Our consistency has been tied to quality across various areas in Hong Kong.”
Mark and Anna share a strong view that, like many times since their arrival in Hong Kong in 2000, the city will power through this current economic instability. “I have a lot of confidence that Hong Kong will bounce back. We are focusing on making sure that we’re supporting Hong Kong.
Whilst Shenzhen remains an alluring restaurant destination for many Hong Kongers, Mark is determined that “we got to look at our house and keep our house clean and keep it going for the long run.”
Get piggish today at Shore Hospitality’s restaurants across Hong Kong in your favourite neighbourhoods.
