The Success Formula of a Dynamic Entrepreneur Revealed & Exposed!

It is confirmed that the “The Crazy Horse” is stopping her last run on 31st Jan 07, lasting barely a year.

I have been there recently for dinner and I must say the ambience is opulent and the food is pricey: A simple dinner for 4 cost S$200. Alot of money has been invested by Eng Wah in doing up the place and getting the licensing rights. I salute them for their vision and guts. So what can we learn this costly lesson (about S$4.5 m):

1. A business can hardly survive without strong advertising and marketing initatives (they are restricted by law). Even words of mouth take times to build and by the time they build up the business, they could have bleed to death. The strangest thing is that Eng Wah’s top management knew about this challenge even before they embarked on the business venture. They chose to do it anyway. Interesting decision.

2. Localization. Personally, I felt the price that they set is not local friendly. At S$75 per show for 1 hr, would you pay to watch? Not me. Read more from an article from TODAY…

Crazy horseplay – came too soon, leaving quite fast

Loh Chee Kong
cheekong@mediacorp.com.sg

EXACTLY 14 months ago, a beaming Ms Goh Min Yen, managing director of Eng Wah Organization, walked into a room full of journalists to announce the “most controversial show” to hit our shores — complete with topless, leggy women whose “sisters” had kept Paris entertained for more than half a century.

“It will take entertainment to another level in Singapore and Asia,” said Ms Goh before the Crazy Horse cabaret opened its doors.

She was less cheerful yesterday when she told a hastily-arranged press conference: “I’ll try to be very brief and sweet: Crazy Horse Paris will be ending its run on Jan 31. I’m really sorry. I can’t spend a lot of time here as I have an urgent meeting to attend. But I would be most happy to spend the next five to 10 minutes answering your questions.”

And with that, Ms Goh confirmed in under a minute what the rumour mills had been churning out since the mainboard-listed promoter suspended its shares on Wednesday.

After the topless revue arrived at Clarke Quay, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew saw it as a centrepiece to help Singapore shed its squeaky-clean image and become “the Paris of South-east Asia”.

But despite drawing good crowds at first, the novelty soon wore off. The plush theatre, which could seat 450 people, was less than half full most of the time.

By September last year, Eng Wah had bled $4.5 million on the venture.

“We were expecting 65-per-cent average occupancy rate, but it has fallen below that, to less than half. We decided that maybe it was best to end its run,” said Ms Goh.

Last July, Eng Wah introduced new acts and successfully lobbied the Media Development Authority to lower the age limit for audience members from 21 years to 18. Business picked up slightly, but it was a case of too little, too late.

Yesterday, Ms Goh was introspective. “For the first eight months, we could advertise only in the newspapers’ movie listings. No images. No pictorials. Even famous brands like Prada or Louis Vuitton have to continuously advertise. Also, on hindsight, I guess we came in a bit too early. Crazy Horse is a premium product that needs time to nurture.”

With eight in 10 audience members comprising high-end tourists — exactly the sort that the integrated resorts (IRs) are expected to bring — she said that it was never about whether Singaporeans were ready for the show.

But the company cannot afford to hold out until the IRs are in place by 2010. It had to stem its losses to account to its shareholders, said Ms Goh.

Eng Wah now finds itself staring at a two-storey shophouse that it painstakingly refurbished to house a lounge, restaurant and theatre.

Meanwhile, Crazy Horse Paris president Philippe Lhomme said that Singapore “remains an important centre for the development of Crazy Horse Paris in Asia”. He added: “But we probably arrived too soon.” And left very quickly.