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dustry.The Balancing Act Detroitrestaurateur Ping Ho’s businessmodel is all about dexterity.By Oset BabürPing Ho sits at the
bar at The Royce, her
wine bar and shop
located in Detroit’s
vibrant downtown.WHEN COVID-19 HIT DETROIT, restaurants and bars were forced
to pivot to delivery and takeout with just a moment’s notice
in an effort to curb the spread of the pandemic. While this
mandate required a total transformation of business for
most chefs across the country, Ping Ho was uniquely well-
equipped to continue to support her community, employees,
and suppliers in the midst of chaos.
Ho’s first restaurant-supported retail concept, called The
Royce, worked well enough that she did it again two years
later with Marrow, a butcher shop that also seats 80 for
brunch and dinner. In cities like Detroit where development
is slow and sporadic, businesses must be dexterous in order
to survive—The Royce, for example, is a bar; a wine shop that
carries affordable, exciting bottles to bring home for dinner;
and a community gathering space where locals come together
over weekly wine tastings in the afternoons. During the early
stages of the pandemic, teams at both Marrow and The Royce
sprang into full retail mode, delivering essentials like hot
meals and luxuries like wine. Many staffers learned new
skills—Marrow’s GM started making sandwiches and slicing
meats, while bartenders at The Royce took on wine delivery.
Ho’s gift for recognizing opportunity in unlikely scenarios
and places is part of what drew her to downtown Detroit in
the first place. When she started reading news about Detroit’s
revival nearly five years ago, she felt inspired to bring an
unexpected amenity to the city: a wine shop and bar. Despite
having no previous experience in restaurants, Ho, a music
producer, was driven by a passion for wine and a strong Field
of Dreams mentality. “In Manhattan or Brooklyn, there’s a
wine shop or bar on every corner, but in 2015, there wasn’t
anything comparable in Detroit,” she says. “‘If you build it,
they will come’ is maybe not the safest [business] strategy,
but when you know you’ll offer a quality product, and there’s
a hole in the market, it makes sense.”
Although viability and efficiency are at the core of her
two-pronged business plan, Ho is also driven by nostalgia.
“Growing up in Singapore, I’d go with my grandma to buy
food in the wet market, and she’d say, ‘I’ve been buying from
this guy for 30 years; he knows what I like,’” she says. “The
idea of having your vendor recognize you is lost in our day,
so that was one of the big inspirations for starting Marrow.”MAKE RETAIL A PRIORITY
“At Marrow, the identity of
the restaurant is led by the
butcher shop: You literally enter
through the shop. It ties the two
together. Everything we don’t
sell in the shop is cooked at the
res taurant.”SHARE THE WEALTH
“After incorporating Backbone
Hospitality, an entity that pro-
vides shared services for all of
my businesses, the first thing
we did was to hire an event
director who leverages any
opportunities for each space.Some customers want to throw
a party in The Royce, and they
want catering, so they get it
from Marrow.”COMPROMISE
(WITHIN REASON)
“Don’t aim too high for your first
business in terms of design and
build-out, and don’t be afraid to
give away some equity to make
your dream come true. Be more
generous to your investors with
your first venture because you
haven’t proven yourself yet. The
second time around, you can be
more demanding.”KEEP UP WITH F&W PRO
Sign up for our newsletter, tune in to Kat Kinsman’s Communal Table
podcast, and read more stories like this at foodandwine.com/fwpro.3 LESSONS FROM MOTOR CITY
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FW_0620_FWPro.indd 14 FINAL 4/14/20 9:41 AM