Empires

The owners of Donut Empire dropped by the restaurant yesterday and gave us a box full of assorted donuts.  I was chatting with them, asking about how they started up and how their business was doing.  They certainly are an empire – with outlets in Singapore and Malaysia and soon in Indonesia, Dubai, and further afield.  Amazing to think about how quickly they’ve grown after only starting in 2009.

(With Steven and Joy from Donut Empire)

Quite nice of them – they had read on this blog (I think – or maybe it was on Twitter?) that I liked the smell of the donuts that drift into the sushi bar.  While one might not think the two go together, after eating some healthy sushi, an indulgence in sinful foods is called for!

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about our neighbors at the B1 level of OUB Centre.  There has been a lot of churn lately.  A yakitori place moved out, Boost Juice shifted to the yakitori place’s location, Famous Amos moved upstairs, a new food shop (I hear it’s a salad joint) is under construction… and Sakae is still the big kid on the block.

It’s nice to be down there in OUB Centre.  I suppose like any other workplace as people are in close proximity, they get to know each other.  Since we’re the last shop open each night, everyone else walks by on their way out.  I’m not there all the time so not as many folks know me, but Roy, Coral, Kawa-san, and the others are all quite friendly with the neighboring people.

It’s funny; we’re all competing for a piece of the same pie. As easily as a customer could come to Standing Sushi Bar, they could go to Freddie’s Burger.  Or the food court.  Anywhere!  But nicely, instead of feeling like a competitive place, it feels more like a community.  I like that.

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