CEO of Zouk Group Andrew Li on the Way forward for Singapore’s Nightlife

A turning level in Andrew Li’s profession was, as one may count on, on the top of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the primary to shutter with the least subsidies granted, the leisure/nightlife sector appeared just like the youngster no one needed. But, the revelation of how nowhere else on the earth would the federal government even help a nightclub evoked a brand new sense of possession and dedication.

This 12 months, the homegrown powerhouse is on the point of its most formidable transformation so far — simply forward of its thirty fifth anniversary. The group’s CEO advocates a robust crew that’s passionate concerning the imaginative and prescient and adept at executing its methods. Having himself labored his means up from the entrance desk, Li now prioritises guaranteeing an optimum state outdoors workplace hours to cope with the important enterprise selections once they matter most.

Every day morning meditations, additionally a by-product of the pandemic, are key to higher psychological readability to finest sort out the workload. The 43-year-old is obvious on demarcating his private {and professional} functions; a disassociation not essentially practised within the early years. Presently, beginning a household and maybe chasing that Michelin nod are the respective targets. Tenderly tethered to a high-profile fiancée (whom he allegedly attracted together with his Dutch courage-induced dance expertise) and two cute canine, Li solutions our greatest Zouk questions brazenly.

We solely keep lengthy in a vocation we’re enthusiastic about; what’s it about nightlife that resonates with you?

ANDREW LI: I feel life is manufactured from recollections. While you look again, it’s actually these core recollections that make you who you’re. Leisure performs a big function in constructing that. While you go for an evening out, you’ll normally be round folks that you just wish to be with. With or with out alcohol, you’re most certainly having a good time with the music and the ambiance. Zouk is only a platform the place you convey these folks collectively, making a neighborhood that performs a component in forming core recollections and experiences that you just’ll keep in mind for a really, very very long time. Even for myself, I’ve core recollections of Zouk after I first joined. At ZoukOut, I keep in mind seeing 20,000 folks on the seaside dancing to at least one DJ. Then we see dawn arising, and it’s identical to, wow, this can be a snapshot of a second in time. The vitality of everybody sort of flows by way of you as nicely.

In your time right here, when was the second you felt like what you had been doing was actually gaining traction?

AL: Whilst I got here right here, Zouk was an especially sturdy model. To reverse that query, after I heard about how a lot folks talked about Zouk and the way essential it was to the tradition. I’d take the taxi to work [years ago], and the uncle would at all times discuss Zouk and all of the humorous tales he had from there. All walks of life have skilled it. It made me really feel galvanised to verify I put a lot effort into this model as a result of I actually wish to proceed this and make it even larger. I felt like there have been a number of expectations on the function that I used to be getting into as a result of it was so sentimental to folks. So I hope I’ve accomplished first rate job within the final 10 years. Zouk is far larger than one particular person, and so long as individuals are proud about what we’ve accomplished with the model, I feel I’ll be pleased with that.

What’s a definite reminiscence of clubbing that’s not in Zouk?

AL: The primary membership I went to in Las Vegas blew me away. The entire metropolis itself is about extra, proper? They had been actually good at treating you want a king there. Making you are feeling like you can do nearly something should you had the cash to pay for it. In fact, that’s not the kind of enterprise mentality I would like for our group, however I do really feel that as a result of the competitors there may be so fierce, they needed to have that sort of service to outlive in fairly a cutthroat market. In the event you e-book a desk, you may have this huge bouncer there for you. In the event you go to the bathroom, he’ll be pushing folks out to clear the way in which for you. It was fairly harsh, however you are feeling very particular. They took it to the acute, and that was one thing I had by no means skilled earlier than. So once we opened in Las Vegas, we needed to take the nice half, which was the nice service and hospitality, however possibly not a lot the I’m-trying-to-squeeze-every-dollar-out-of-you-till-you-have-no-money-left.

What was your costliest mistake… or finest enterprise lesson, to border it optimistically?

AL: The omakase restaurant. Throughout COVID, I keep in mind desirous to eat omakase, however we couldn’t fly out or get a reservation for six months as a result of everybody couldn’t journey both. So I’m going, nicely, let’s open one up. Clearly, 100 folks and I had been considering the identical factor as a result of a number of omakases opened in the identical interval. By the point I satisfied the proprietor to do the enterprise, it was already on the tail finish of COVID. You couldn’t do a correct opening when you can solely have two pax seated subsequent to one another. And once we might totally open to the general public, you can additionally fly overseas. Everybody was like, “May as nicely go to Japan”, so all of the omakase eating places closed down, and we had been one among them. We needed to be taught that even when it felt like the fitting time then, it doesn’t imply it’s the fitting time for the subsequent few years. That was a studying expertise, a painful one at that.

Hindsight is 20/20. Timing is just not one thing you can have recognized.

AL: I might have waited it out. However yeah, I didn’t understand how lengthy the lockdowns had been going to final. Timing and a little bit of luck are wanted to know when to enter a market. Rolling with the punches is essential for staying in it. I at all times inform the crew, “I don’t thoughts making an attempt 50 concepts, simply don’t are available in right here and provides me excuses about why one thing doesn’t work. As a result of which means we’re not doing something.” We had so many concepts on the desk throughout COVID to the purpose the place a number of them don’t make sense. However, a minimum of, the crew was considering, then two or three of the 100 concepts truly ended up working, and helped save many workers jobs as nicely.

What’s one loopy concept that didn’t occur?

AL: Oh, the grocery store thought. My thought was to show Zouk right into a grocery store as a result of that was the one place you can go to [during the pandemic], and so they had been at all times packed. However the price of constructing the refrigeration house was actually costly. So we ended up being a spinning studio as an alternative as a result of everybody was spinning like loopy at the moment anyway. It was when, just like the omakase eating places, there was a brand new spinning studio each week. Fortunately for us, they only needed to put the bikes in.

A grocery store would have been cool. You are available in, and it’s simply partitions of bathroom paper.

AL: Yeah, I don’t know why that was what everybody was hoarding. However I keep in mind difficult the crew to not consider Zouk as a membership. Consider it as a giant black field. What can we do about it proper now that’s going to make sense for the enterprise? A resort could be one thing I’d like to embark on whereas I’m nonetheless right here. It’s an ecosystem, getting all these ideas that synergise with each other, and the final stage the place they fall asleep. It captures the particular person’s complete day.

It wouldn’t be very price it for the buyer as a result of they solely get one hour of sleep in any case that clubbing.

AL: We would present late checkout to allow them to seize a chew at one among our eating places after (laughs)

Your ideas on the Gen Z pattern in direction of low-ABV/sober clubbing?

AL: Apparently sufficient, I did converse to among the alcohol suppliers, and so they had been telling me that consuming hasn’t actually decreased. What’s taking place is that individuals are buying and selling down when it comes to what they’re consuming. Don’t get me fallacious, there’s positively a health-conscious wave occurring, however it’s additionally as a result of the price of going out and consuming is simply too excessive for them. One factor we did that was well-liked was providing low-cost free-flow at our bar, RedTail. Quickly, the scholars came upon, and it received fully packed.

How do you see the way forward for nightlife in Singapore?

AL: I personally really feel very bullish about it since we’re investing in a multi-million greenback renovation. Our final 12 months in 2025 was simply pretty much as good as 2024. I didn’t see a decline. If something, I really feel there’s going to be an incline simply because, hopefully, with among the macroeconomic elements like decrease mortgage and rates of interest, folks may have a bit extra spending energy, and so they’ll be capable of exit. Proper now, you’re both a giant membership or a small, intimate lounge; those within the center may discover it a bit more difficult. However the way forward for nightlife in Singapore, I personally suppose, goes to be fairly vivid.

This interview was edited for size and readability.

This text was written by Pleasure Ling and was first seen on Esquire Singapore.

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