FOOD and beverage is a tough business, more so in a location such as Bangsar, where rentals are high and the competition aplenty.

Besides offering good food and great service, restaurants need to carve out a niche for itself, which is what Bobo Kuala Lumpur has done.

Situated on the Jalan Bangkung row, Bobo houses a restaurant serving a European menu downstairs and a piano lounge with superb acoustics upstairs. The lounge also doubles up as space for functions and events.

Bobo doesn’t feature your run-of-the-mill pub acts. Expect an excellent music menu planned by famed actor and singer, Sean Ghazi.

Despite a challenging two years, Bobo’s owner is finally recouping his investment and coming close to breaking even.

“At first, we were a bit confused, we weren’t sure where we were going,” owner Ed Soo told The Malaysian Insight at Bobo’s anniversary party.

“But what we have come to realise over the last one year is that we are a performance space so we embraced that and made the most of it,” he said.

What is takes to manage a live performance space

Initially, the lawyer turned restaurateur faced challenges with brand positioning and a small customer base. Many thought of Bobo KL as a jazz joint where they had to jostle with a small audience for space during live performances.

As a result, Soo reduced the number of shows from six to three days a week  – Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

With the help of Ghazi, the music has also transitioned from jazz to towards what Soo terms “easy listening” music, which includes mainstream ballads and musical numbers that appeal to a wider audience.

Thursdays host Bobo KL’s resident pianist and singer, David Gomes, while the weekend shows are crowd pullers, featuring a rotation of artists like Elvira Arul and Ghazi himself.

Soo and Ghazi also try to strike a balance between the headliner shows on Friday and Saturday and providing a platform for aspiring artists to hone their craft.

Production costs pose a significant challenge for Soo, who has to take into account the costs of a sound engineer, a piano tuner, and a production and curating team. 

“The other challenge is getting people to understand that they need to pay for a good performance,” he said.

“Music is free in many places and so people think they don’t have to pay for a performance. But what they don’t realise is that it costs a lot of money to put up a show.”

Persevere and you’ll hit on something

Many might baulk at the losses Bobo KL incurred in the first year of operation, but instead of giving up Soo persevered. That, and the wisdom gained from almost a decade in  the industry kept the establishment afloat.

“People think that I have the golden touch and everything I do succeeds, but if you ask a lot of successful people, they will tell you that it is because they keep trying,” said Soo.

“Sometimes with a bit of luck and magic, you hit on something that works.”

In the coming year, Soo hopes to create a stronger social media presence and experiment with different shows such as Mongolian classical music and traditional Chinese instruments performances.

Stay updated on Bobo KL’s music schedule on its Facebook page. – December 14, 2017