“Grace and I wanted to give those in love a place where they could enjoy their own private moments without much disturbance,” said Lin, a former music teacher from Kaohsiung, of her partnership with Zhan, who was a Citibank employee in Taipei.
Neither of them would have imagined that within several years, their business adventure—a rural café-herb shop complex—would expand into a million-dollar leisure kingdom with establishments all over Taiwan.
In addition to the Xinshe site that provides a cafe and an herbal products store in environs reminiscent of Provence, France, today Lavender Cottage has expanded to include three such parks and eight Herb Stores which offer a wide variety of herbal products.
It also operates two boutique homestays featuring personalized housekeeping service (Adagio Lodgings), a Hakka restaurant (Tonghua Village), and Mon Coeur, their latest establishment specializing in wedding services.
With a total of 300 employees, the company expects combined revenues of NT$400 million US$12.36 million) for 2009, with 40 percent from sales of merchandise, 40 percent from restaurant meals and 20 percent from soft drinks and snacks. Next year, the company is planning on going international.
Lin said her cooperation with Zhan was serendipitous. “Before being introduced by the Xinshe landowner, Mr. Wang, Grace and I had never met each other. It took us only three months to prepare for the opening of the park. All we wanted to do was to realize our dreams,” said Lin, adding that their decision was frowned upon by almost all of their family and friends.
The Internet helped spread news about their venture and brought fame. Right before the opening of the park, the two women wrote an email to friends and acquaintances telling them about their dreams coming true. To their surprise, the email got forwarded to various parts of the world, and Lavender Cottage soon became a much-talked-about hideaway.
“In the beginning, we didn’t know much about running a business. There were only three of us: Grace and I, plus our chef Mrs. Wang, the landowner’s wife. Fortunately in the early days of our joint venture, many of our friends lent a helping hand in exchange for a free visit to this beautiful garden,” Lin said, noting that these helpers became the best advertisement for the park.
“We did not think much about marketing strategies or customer analysis. We worked hard to provide the kind of service that touches the hearts of our customers. And it is mostly by word of mouth that our customer base has increased rapidly,” Lin observed.
“Not only do our loyal fans keep coming back, some of them even follow us to every newly opened location,” she explained, adding that the company has an impressive 35-percent customer-return rate.
Grace Zhan (left) and Tiffany Lin pose at Xinshe’s Lavender Cottage. (Courtesy of Lavender Cottage)
Lavender Cottage’s second park, located atop a remote hill in Jianshi Township, Hsinchu County, opened in May 2003, and the third was launched in mid-December 2008 right next to the Mingde Reservoir in Miaoli County. Both were immediate hits.
“We are very picky in choosing the right location. And it has to be in a place where the mercury does not rise too high. That’s why southern Taiwan is not suitable for our operations,” she said.
Lin was especially grateful for the tax incentives provided by the Miaoli County Government, which made things easier in the preparation process.
“We welcomed Ms. Lin and her team to Miaoli, because of their good reputation,” said Chiu Hung-chen, section chief of the county’s Economic Development Department, who gave the company credit for improving the quality of Miaoli’s overlooked tourist industry. “Lavender Cottage also helped attract more business investors and boosted our economy,” Chiu added.
Building upon its strong customer base and brand loyalty, the company opened Adagio Lodging of Fenqihu, near the famous Alishan National Scenic Area, in September 2006. Its branch in Jinguashi, in Ruifang Township, Taipei County, once known for its rich reserves of gold and copper, began receiving guests in April 2009.
As the lodgings promote a slow-paced lifestyle, no newspapers are to be found in the lobby, nor is there cable TV in the rooms. The goal, as it states on its web site, is to “insulate our guests from the ‘noise’ of everyday life.”
Zhan, a Maoli County native of Hakka descent, was the main force behind the founding of Tonghua Village restaurant in the summer of 2006. It is called Tonghua (Aleurites Montana, the wood-oil tree, a symbol of the tenacious Hakka spirit), in hopes of sharing the traditional Hakka cuisine and hospitality Zhan grew up with.
Situated in Miaoli’s Sanyi Township, the restaurant incorporates the famous Sanyi wood sculptures and Hakka style architecture. “When we open a new store, we try to utilize local resources and become a good neighbor to the natives,” Lin stressed.
Mon Coeur, a romantic place for weddings, opened Nov. 25 in the Beitun District of Taichung City. It is built on a golf course with 120 hectares of green grass and trees. To cater to the needs of people with different religious beliefs, Mon Coeur houses a non-denominational chapel.
Asked what the key to their success is, Lin credited high- quality service. “We listen to what our customers want and try our best to accommodate their needs.” She takes pride in being a good business model for the leisure industry. Their success has been widely reported and the subject of case studies by several local business professors.
In addition, the company has received several Creative Life Industry awards from the Industrial Development Bureau under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. In 2009 alone, it has received four medals of excellence.
But the company has also had its share of problems—the Lavender Cottage established in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan County went out of business. “The weather is too hot and the pace is way too fast in the science park,” Lin noted, adding that the company gave it three years before closing the establishment in 2006.
Another difficulty the firm has faced is local vacation habits. People tend to swamp recreation areas on weekends, while figures shrink dramatically on weekdays, making it difficult for smaller leisure facilities to survive.
What is next for the firm? “We are planning on a new Adagio Lodging in May 2010, which will be in Hokkaido, Japan,” Lin said with excitement, since she has also dreamed of owning a homestay in Hokkaido, home of lavender. After that, another homestay will open for business in Sanyi at the end of 2010.
“We are fortunate to have our dreams fulfilled,” Lin said, “and we also want to help our employees fulfill theirs. As our logo goes, ‘We are happy, and we want you to be happy too.’ I am very lucky to be in the right place doing the right thing with the right people,” she concluded. (THN)
Write to Lishan Chang at lishan@mail.gio.gov.tw