The chairman of Shanghai Star Hotel Chen Zhiliang has started to carry out his new plan in catering industry since 2020. The Star 1992 Classic Inherit Restaurant is one part of his plan. Adjoining to the Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone, the restaurant takes up an area of 1000㎡ and is an isolated and exquisitely-decorated building. In the building, there are 60 underground parking spaces,9 rooms in which the guests can enjoy a panoramic view, a private landscape terrace covering an area of 400㎡ and a restaurant which possesses 150 seats for the distinguished guests. The Star 1992 Restaurant stands erect at Binjiang in Pudong district, which seems like a salute to the 32-year-old Mr. Chen and at the same time an expectation for the 60-year-old Mr. Chen.
In 1992, the 32-year-old Mr. Chen established his restaurant named ‘’XingChenShiFu” ， which only covered an area of less than 300㎡ in the beginning. The restaurant also presented his entering into the catering restaurant. But six years before the establishment of his restaurant, Mr. Chen was a young working model at the production line in Wusong chemical fertilizer plant. But Mr. Chen did not take things as they are, so he opened a bar in a restaurant named “XinXingJiuJia” which was close to a hotel named “Lan Tian” located at a Pentagon Square. Three years after the establishment of his restaurant, Mr. Chen raised 5000 thousand yuan and then founded Star hotel which became very famous within a short time. The hotel was viewed as the supreme hot spot for dining.
The experience in doing business let Mr. Chen earn superior judgment and strategies. So in 2003, he assessed the situation， deciding to buy an unfinished building covering an area of 12,000㎡ with 50 million yuan under the support of the street office and the district government. After that, he rebuilt the building into the Star Hotel located at No. 2009, Huangxing Road. （the intersection of Guoding Road）. In that year, Mr. Chen was 43 years old and he was the deputy to the people’s congress representing Yangpu district.
Other people think Mr. Chen is diligent and practical and Mr. Chen considers himself as a man who is bold to innovate.
Used to striving hard on the front line, Mr. Chen attends to everything personally. Also, adhering to the principle of “providing good quality and great service to customers, keeping food hygiene, and make customers feel cost-effective”, he always travels with the executive chefs and other chefs to different places to exploit new bases of ingredients. He also puts in a lot of money to attract advanced talents in order to forge a skillful chef team. What’s more, he invests his time and effort in creating new dishes along with the chefs, making sure that more than 4 new dishes will be added into the menu. Mr. Chen also pays much attention to the dining environment and marketing approaches, trying his best to provide customers with a tidy, comfortable and elegant dining environment and at the same time to satisfy the needs of customers from different levels.
As the old saying goes” one should learn to think when he has known how to learn”. Mr. Chen started to think and was still not content with the current situation just like when he was opening his bar at Pentagon Square. Quoting his words:” I will start a business for the second time.” As a result, the “Star 1992 Restaurant” standing by the bank of the Huangpu River established.
From the down-to-earth restaurant in Yangpu district to the high-class restaurant at Lujiazui Financial Zone, Mr. Chen and his “Star Group” made a successful upgrading. “Star 1992 Restaurant” was Mr. Chen’s another work with painstaking efforts and was also the sign of his own transformation and upgrading.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of reform and opening up in Pudong district. Mr. Chen made a great success not only by his courage and perseverance but also by catching the opportunities brought by the opening up. Now, he has overcome a lot of difficulties and is still going through much hardship. But he made his new brand (Star 1992 Restaurant) take root in Pudong district in spite of all the difficulties.
Mr. Chen’s journey is an ocean full of stars: 1992（gathering strength），2003（laying a foundation）,2020（expanding）. The three time nodes not only are of significance during the development of Star Group, but also have witnessed his growth from “a blank sheet” to “a graceful flag” and his surfing on the surge of Shanghai catering industry. We hope that when Mr. Chen sees elites in Shanghai patronizing “Star 1992 Restaurant”, he will not forget his first down-to-earth restaurant which is eight kilometers away from the “Star 1992 Restaurant” across the Huangpu River. All in all, his first restaurant represented his perspiration and efforts when he was young. All of his success comes from his grasping the trend of the times and his persistence in the blundering world. All are past and gone, so let’s see what we can get today with 30 year’s efforts.