Mr.Pichoir is French. Originally, 'da paolo' is a small restaurant started by his wife's family.The number of outlets are increasing one after another as 'da paolo' growing.He took over the management 2 years ago. Mr.Pichoir worked in management position for technology company in the finance industry for 12 years before he joined 'da paolo' in 2010.

''I came from management angle without experience in the food service industry. Totally different industry. But it's much more exciting. It's not virtual it's tangible. When you do something good, you can get quick feedback. You can see people come.'' said Mr.Pichoir.

da paolo' has 4 concepts which are 2 restaurants,1 pizza bar, 1 casual bistro bar, and 8 gastronomia. Until 2 years ago it also had a shop whose speciality is dessert, but now 'da paolo' concentrates on the former 4 concepts.

''What we try to do as a company is to do what we like. We try to make food we like, we try to create environment we like to go and have dinner or takeaway. If we try to make food customer want, we make chinese restaurant because many people like Chinese food in Singapore. Also we don't do concept for foreigners or locals. We just try to have a concept that we think correct.''

The highest number of outlets is 8 deli ''gastronomia''. 8 outlets in Singapore. Because they are in Singapore, the business condition is a little different from normal deli style.

''Deli is something we started as a hobby on the side. Because restaurants are more important. It's not over half of the revenue, but now it's taking a big part of the company.''

''It's difficult. In japan, people tend to finish late so they have like quick dinner, go back home, or take something away and go home. But in Singapore, people dine out. People don't have so much yet this habit of going to deli shop and buy what they need and make a nice dinner. In Europe, people entertain at home, invite their friends and cook for them. If they can't cook, they can buy from gastronomia and have nice dinner like if they were in a restaurant. I think this culture that you have in France and Italy is not necessary here yet.''

''So that's why right now our takeout concept is not food takeaway concept. We also have cafe and you can have it in the shop. It's not pure 'takeaway' concept anymore. It's like easy catering and also cafe. If you look at Dean & Deluca in Singapore, they have followed the same approach.''

In Singapore, people go to STARBUCKS and stay there. People don't take away as much as in the US for instance. ''I think the market is not yet fully mature for takeaway.'' said Mr.Pichoir

Mr.Pichoir said that Italian is now saturating in Singapore.

''Italian food is everywhere in Singapore. If you see the local recommendation website, you find many Italian, everything from small pizza shop to fine dining. The market is saturated because just so many Italian restaurant already. What seems to be very popular now is French food and Spanish tapas. A lot of French restaurant are opening right now. The number is very small comparing with Italian food and Japanese food.''

Lastly,I asked Mr.Pichoir about the key successful point of his restaurants.

''It's holistic approach. We try to create a complete experience. It's not only food or only interior design. We try to care about nice environment, nice design, nice food service, music, everything come together. Our waiters wear uniform which is designed by prominent local designer ''

'da paolo' has its own marketing team and design team, and his wife is the product manager.

''Our problem is about staff. It's not that staff quit easily or quit soon. We have stable working staff. The difficult thing is to hire people with right education and hospitality, people who have willingness to please the customer. Sometime it's really difficult to find people with that experience. We invest on training more and more and have our own internal training curriculum."

Will this 'deli' culture develop in Singapore in the near future?  If the answer is Yes, the business chance for food industry will expand much more in Singapore.