You have a strong background in business and events. Please tell us a little about this and your work in the industry.
In fact, I started in this business in my early twenties by organising private events with my friends. And professionally whilst working as the event manager at the C Beach Club, a five star beach club located in the south of Mauritius. After a few months, I was promoted Manager by Jean-Luc Naret, former CEO of Heritage Resorts and the Michelin Guides. At this time, the C Beach Club was considered one of the best beach clubs in the world by CNNgo and the hype-est venue on the Island.
After nearly 2 years I felt the need of running my own business. I then bought an under-performing club in the north of the Island called “Les Enfants Terribles”, which we rejuvenated, changed its identity and turned it into a huge success. "LET" has been the first nightclub in Mauritius to be a winner of ’The World’s Finest Club’ award - attracting thousands of people every month. Diageo, the world’s first producer of spirits, spotted us and I became the regional influencer of the Ciroc Vodka brand.
Last year, after 3 years of running ’LET’ I had the opportunity to build up my own brand within a more sustainable and “franchisable” concept.
The Irish, why this particular concept?
It simply came out of a conversation with my family. My sister, who was studying in London, asked me "why don’t you open a pub?" And my stepfather replied "Yeah, open an Irish pub, everyone likes them”. At the beginning I wasn’t so sure, because I had no specific connection with Irish pubs, or, pubs in general. But after some research I realised that it was in fact a brilliant idea. Everyone loves an Irish Pub and Mauritius was one of the few targets where an Irish pub was missing. With our experience in this field of entertainment, we thought that we could make it happen in a great way. I then contacted an International company, specialised in design and fit of Irish pubs, 'The Irish Pub Company', and they managed to get the pub ready in twelve weeks!
With your previous experience in club management, you initially began this venue with the idea of merging club culture together with the restaurant and bar as an all-in-one venue. By trialling the concept, you learnt what the community really needs and shifted this idea to intimate performances, with focus more on the food and beverages. Can you explain further about why this is, and what you've learnt?
Exactly. At the beginning the idea was to bring together the nightclub, pub and the restaurant activities. After a few days of operation we quickly shifted our focus on the restaurant and pub only. In all honesty, given my background in this industry, I couldn’t imagine that the restaurant would be performing better than the nightclub, as I had barely worked in this sector before. Since we opened, we are almost full every night with a new clientele
www.AudiationMagazine.com
32