Opened in August 2019, Mel Bourne has quickly established itself apart on the competitive Shanghai restaurant scene. The best way to describe their position is as a high-end coffee shop or a nice pub. Simply a venue that serves great food and provides good service. A simple and familiar idea executed to the highest standard.
The Mel Bourne team have worked very hard to promote their restaurant on Dianping; a Chinese super app built around restaurant reviews. The venue has been rated very highly within this app, being rated number one for their area and in the top 5 western cuisine restaurants in Shanghai.
Mountain River Venison has been a key part of Mel Bourne’s success. They recognised early on that a consistent, high quality product could give them a point of difference and put them in high regard among Chinese consumers.
Currently, the pre-made venison burger and rump take pride of place on their menu and over the winter months, they’ve had a venison shank pie on offer that sold very well.
Mel Bourne are not priced at the top end of the market but they offer good value, which is what the Chinese consumer is looking for. As Chinese consumer’s tighten their budgets in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown, good value and high quality are the two main priorities for people looking to dine out. This translates into mid range venues like Mel Bourne seeing a lot more patronage than more high end venues, which has been a huge advantage for the business. As spring turns into summer in China, venues will be watching to see if the good weather encourages more people to dine out.
Coming out of the COVID-19 lock down back in early March, Mel Bourne were one of the first restaurants to re-open in their area and come April, they had just about their best month in sales with May looking even better. If this trend continues, the next few months should look promising.