Taipei Times: As a former electronics industry executive, what made you decide to give up your day job and set up The Brass Monkey?
Max Murphy: It got to the point where the challenge was gone. Both [partner] Peter Chworowsky and I had already talked about the idea and thought that the opportunity existed to try and set up a bar. Then we went to Bali with the Taipei Baboons rugby club, and five of our guys were killed in the terrorist bombing. That made me reflect a bit on my life, and I came to the conclusion that I should try and create something and have a bit of fun at the same time.
PHOTO: GORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
TT: How did you manage to persuade your six partners to part with their hard-earned cash?
Murphy: One of the other partners, Kelvin Bezuidenhout, is also from the rugby club and he jumped at the chance to try and get some of his beer money back. The others took a bit more convincing, and it wasn't really me who swayed them. They're all friends with Peter and I think his confidence in the project helped to get them on board.
TT: With a total of seven partners in this venture, are you not worried that "too many cooks might spoil the broth?"
Murphy: Everyone respects that you can't please everyone, especially in a restaurant. One person sits here and thinks it's too hot, but another one complains it's too cold. Although the four shareholders have input and we value their opinions and comments, at the end of the day, it's the Board of Directors who is in charge of the decisions that direct the company.
TT: Sports bars are nothing new to Taipei. How are you going to compete with all the others?
Murphy: I prefer to call us a bar that plays sports. Although we're very sports orientated, we're not actually a sports bar. A sports bar, especially in the US, has 20 TV screens and it's all real sports and testosterone, even the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) is on.
But that's the last thing we want to see here. The main other bars in Taipei that show sports are Saints & Sinners and The Tavern and although they are obviously the competition, they are a long way away from us. I hope that we're going to be able to get a lot of foreigners who live around this area into the bar. We also put on some North American sports, which nobody else does. But we're friendly with the other bars in town, and it's not our intention to put anybody out of business.
This town's big enough for a few players.
TT: Who is The Brass Monkey's target clientele?
Murphy: At the moment we're getting about 85 percent foreign clientele. So we need to try and get the Taiwanese in. But I think we're in a perfect location to attract Taiwanese as we're right in the middle of a business area. At the moment we're not open for lunch, but we're planning to, eventually, when we've got the resources to do so, as it will mean hiring a lot more people, which will of course increase costs. So when we start opening for lunch we can really start to build on the Taiwanese crowd.
TT: Just over two months into this venture and rumor has it that you'll turn a profit this month. What's the secret behind your success?
Murphy: It's been going better than expected. When we took over this place it was originally an Italian restaurant. This meant that we got all their stuff like kitchen equipment, so the actual set-up cost wasn't that great. We were very lucky in that respect. Having someone like Peter who has so much experience in the industry also means that he can guide you and tell you when you are doing things wrong. The other director also has a bit of experience in setting up places like this, so he was really helpful for the layout. Our staff have also been key to our success. You've got to choose the right people to build on a good physical environment. The guys and girls that we've got here have survived since the beginning and they've got the heart, enjoy what they do, like the customers and the customers like them. Our friendly service has been one of the comments people have made about us. Lisa, our manager, has also been a huge help as she has so much experience.
TT: Are you worried that copy-cat bars will appear in the neighborhood and try to cash in on your success?
Murphy: I think our size will make us quite hard to copy. We're quite a big bar in comparison with lots of other local places and there's usually not the space to create the two separate environments that we've got here.
TT: Have you had any run-ins with gangsters or government red-tape?
Murphy: Problems with gangsters was one of my apprehensions when we first started, but we've had no problems so far.
I think that Taipei's been cleaned up a lot in the last few years. We have had the police in to introduce themselves and tell us what they would like us to do relating to discouraging drunken louts, drunk driving etc.
But they've been great and very professional. As for government red-tape, Richard Harnetty, the lawyer amongst us, has 20 years experience in Taiwan and has done a great job and really smoothed the path in that respect, so we've had no problems there.
TT: Have you encountered any resistance from the local community?
Murphy: This isn't a residential area so we've not had to worry about noise complaints. We've been very lucky in that respect. The other local restaurant owners have also all been very supportive and come in for a drink.
TT: Have your Chinese language skills and degree in Chinese studies come in handy managing a company in Taiwan?
Murphy: The language aspect has been really important for me, as it's meant that I've been able to develop a good rapport with our staff, our Taiwanese customers and to have a better grip of what's going on.
TT: People say that bars do good business during an economic downturn as people come in to drown their sorrows. Does the current economic climate have anything to do with the timing of your business?
Murphy: I haven't seen the cliched drunk drowning his sorrows here yet. I'm still waiting to have someone come in to thrash out their problems with me, like you see in the movies. It's not been like Cheers either. I really wanted to have a customer called Norm so that I could shout Norm every time he came into the bar. As localization is becoming more of a trend, the expat community in Taiwan is getting smaller. But the one group that is taking off is foreign teachers and they will be a large target market for us. It doesn't matter how bad the economy gets, parents are still going to want to educate their children and there will always be this huge English teacher market. I don't think the economic downturn will effect that.
TT: Where would you like to see business a year from now?
Murphy: The first priority is to become well established in Taiwan. I think that's definitely achievable within one year. After that we'll hopefully have a system and concept which can then be transferred to other areas, whether it be in Taiwan or elsewhere in Asia. Who knows, maybe there might be a "The Brass Monkey, Chongqing" in the future.
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