THE millionaire behind one of the UK’s favourite restaurant chains has revealed his three ingredients to success.
Alan Yau, 60, opened his first restaurant in Bloomsbury, London, in 1992 and had queues around the corner within three months.
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Some 30 years later the Asian-inspired restaurant chain Wagamama is worth £559million and boasts 153 sites across the UK.
And the man behind the idea enjoys the luxury lifestyle – regularly jetting between homes in London, Barcelona and Istanbul.
Now, Alan has revealed his three ingredients to success: soup, noodles and topping.
But it didn’t come easily.
Alan started out working in the kitchen of his parents’ Chinese restaurant in King’s Lynn, Norfolk.
He wanted more for himself, and dreamed of creating the first fast-food Chinese restaurant to rival McDonalds or KFC.
“I was in my late 20s and I grew up around Chinese restaurants,” he said.
“I really wanted to do a Chinese restaurant or takeaway but more ambitious. I wanted to create a Chinese McDonalds, fast food.”
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But he hit a stumbling block almost immediately when he couldn’t figure out how to speed up wok-based cooking.
He added: “A burger is simple. It’s three ingredients – the bun, patty and filling. But Chinese food was more complicated.”
His idea seemed dead in the water.
It was only when his sister’s lodger, a 19-year-old Japanese student, pointed out how much she missed the ramen back home, that Alan found his solution.
He would go on to name his restaurant after the friendly nickname her pals used because of her middle-class upbringing – Wagamama, meaning spoilt.
He said: “Ramen had the same components of a burger. It was soup, noodles and topping. I was blown away. I thought it was incredible and decided to follow through with turning it into a restaurant.”
Alan opened his first Wagamama in the basement of a building along a small alleyway near the British Museum.
It was an immediate disaster.
The usual customer, Japanese immigrants, were furious Alan had dared switch the traditional pork-based recipe to chicken.
He said: “The initial reaction from the community was extremely negative. The first three months were very tough.”
But just weeks later the restaurant was featured in Time Out and the Evening Standard.
Suddenly eager foodies queued down the street for the chance of a seat at Alan’s communal dining restaurant.
He added: “It was a turning point. We were always full and had a constant queue. It wasn’t easy but we made it work and then it proved to work really well.”
By 1998 Alan sold Wagamama to work on other business ideas.
And he’s previously described watching its rapid growth as “like seeing your baby brought up by strangers”.
But his success didn’t end with Wagamama.
He turned to fine dining and opened restaurant Hakkasan in a basement down a back street off Tottenham Court Road.
It won a Michelin star in 2003.
And he sold two restaurants, Hakkasan and Yauatcha, in 2008 for £21.5million.
Now he wants to create a “Wagamama 2.0”.
He said: “I spend my money working. I love developing my ideas. Next I’m going to create a Wagamama for the supermarkets.
“I would have recipes for plant based with a variation of flavours and a 20-day shelf life. I’m really excited about the future.”
It comes after the founder of Poundland revealed the secrets to his success.
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