French luxury fashion maison Louis Vuitton has opened its first restaurant concept in China dubbed ‘The Hall’ adjacent to Louis Vuitton flagship at Chengdu’s Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li shopping complex.
The Hall, previously home to a Louis Vuitton pop-up store, is located in the historical building Guangdong Hall. The restaurant will collaborate seasonally with Michelin-starred chefs from around the world to offer a diverse selection of menus. From now until March, its first star chef Olivier Elzer will serve customers in China a fusion menu that blends local and French cuisine. The restaurant offers lunch, afternoon tea and dinner service.
As part of the launch, the fashion house launched an interactive game dubbed ‘Mah Jump’ on WeChat Mini Program. The Hall follows the launch of the 2000sqm House of Louis Vuitton earlier this year, which consists of two buildings and an open courtyard.
“This is unsurprising as the rising consumer purchasing power of Chengdu is attracting luxury brands to the ‘tier 1’ city,” said Bobby Verghese, consumer analyst at GlobalData.
“The iconic historical location Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li will aid LMVH in localising its brand image in China at a time when local cosmetics brands are stealing the thunder from MNCs. The brand is finding its way into the hearts of Chinese consumers through food.”
According to the data company, Chengdu’s GDP is a fast-emerging economic powerhouse with real GDP of $129.3 billion and per-capita real GDP of $7.9 billion this year, which is not significant compared to Beijing’s real GDP of $432.7 billion and per-capita real GDP of $19.7 billion.
The Hall marks the brand’s fourth restaurant in Asia after Le Cafe V locations at Louis Vuitton Maison Osaka Midosuji and Ginza and the pop-up restaurant at Maison Seoul location.