Restaurants and Institutions

Dennis Lombardi

Ping Pong, Anyone?
August 8, 2008

As promised, the other great concept I saw when I was in London a few weeks ago is a dim sum concept called Ping Pong.

Ping Pong is billed as a 21st-century tea house. Its décor, servers and service, as well as the food and beverage belie the pricing.  I expected it would be a much more costly meal (even for London) than it turned out to be. 

The food was excellent. The flowering teas are worth the visit all by themselves.

Interesting, up until now, concepts that offered small plates such as tapas and dim sum never seemed to get a lot of chain attention.  Of course, we were in an era where the only thing better than big portions were enormous portions.  Perhaps, we are starting to learn that this is not a universal truism.

I think well-positioned concepts with a small-plate strategy, such as Ping Pong, have a much brighter future in the years ahead.  They are right on target with several longer-term consumer trends.

From my viewpoint, it would be a great competitor here in the States. Given the influx of new concepts coming into the U.S. market, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Ping Pong much closer than London in the near future.

Posted by Dennis Lombardi on August 8, 2008 | Comments (0)