Launching of New Restaurant by Kinsabina
L
a Vintage Bar & Grill is the brainchild
of Francis Goh, the managing
director of the Kinsabina Group of
Companies. Located at Wisma Kinsabina
in Penampang, this multi-theme
restaurant features five different dining
areas that highlight our local heritage
and history.
According to Goh, opening this
restaurant was a diversification exercise
for Kinsabina. The company is venturing
into more tourism related property
developments and F&B outlets will be
one of their core businesses.
He said, “One of the main elements in a
hotel is the F&B outlet. We decided to
open this restaurant to gain experience
since we are going to develop more
tourism related properties such as the
Royal Kinabalu Hotel, Aman Saujana and
Aman Pesona.”
He adds: “F&B is a very tough business,
but we have a good team. We are also
hoping to open restaurants in our
condos such as Lido Four Seasons and
Sodomon Riverside. Our F&B team is
training to manage all these operations
so that we can provide better services to
the residents.”
La Vintage is supported by the function
hall and seminar room that can cater
up to 200 pax. Besides this restaurant,
Kinsabina has also opened LV Restaurant
in Suria Sabah and will soon open Nasi
Kandar Hameediyah in Putatan.
At the recent opening of the restaurant,
guest of honour Datuk Panglima Masidi
Manjun minster of tourism, culture and
environment Sabah said that tourism is
one of the main industries and economy
generator in Sabah. However, the state
lacks hotel rooms especially in five-star
hotels.
Masidi said, “We need more upscale
hotels to cater to more tourists coming
in. Compared to 2012, Sabah saw an
87% increase of tourists from China in
2013. And KK was voted in the Macau
Daily as the 18th most preferred travel
destination by Chinese tourists. KL only
came in at the 20th spot.”
He continues: “Besides the hotels, we
also need to improve the standards
of our restaurants and entertainment
outlets. We need to be more creative and
have a wide range of offerings for diners
and visitors.”
2014 is the Visit Malaysia Year and Sabah
is expecting approximately 3.8 million
domestic and foreign tourist arrivals. And
the state has to be re