‘We don’t want to lose our team’: Mott 32 restaurant in Vancouver, which shut when Trump hotel went bankrupt, looks to reopen
- Closure of bankrupt Trump International Hotel Vancouver sparks a race to save its restaurant Mott 32, which has raised the bar for Chinese dining in the city
- Maximal Concepts, Hong Kong partner in the restaurant, is working out how to operate it independently and hopeful of reopening within a few weeks
Chinese fine-dining restaurant Mott 32 in Vancouver, which shut on Friday when the Trump International Hotel Vancouver closed without warning, hopes to reopen, the Hong Kong group that operates it says.
The restaurant, which is known for its Peking duck, and its stunning decor by Australian architect Joyce Wang, posted a message on Instagram saying it was closed temporarily and would be back soon.
Reached by phone on Monday in Chamonix, France, Hong Kong restaurant group Maximal Concepts founder Malcolm Wood said he found out about the hotel’s closure “a little bit before the public”. He said everyone was struggling because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and as a result the hotel couldn’t operate any more.
“We’re working things out now and trying to find out how we can keep it going,” he said. Wood is hopeful the restaurant will be up and running again in the next few weeks.
He did not name the company, but The Vancouver Sun reported that the Trump International Hotel and Tower Vancouver, and the land on which it is built, is owned by TA Global Berhad, a multinational Malaysian property company led by Joo Kim Tiah. The company licensed the Trump name through another company headed by Tiah, the Vancouver-based developer Holborn Group, Bloomberg reported.
TA Global’s Canadian subsidiaries TA Hotel Management Limited Partnership and TA Hotel GP Ltd are bankrupt. According to TA Hotel Management’s insolvency filing, it had assets of C$1.104 million and debts of C$4.795 million.
Mott 32 Vancouver raised the bar for Chinese restaurants in the Canadian west coast city, serving dishes like Iberico pork char siu and Maine lobster har gao.
Wood said Maximal Concepts was working out how to reopen the restaurant independently of the hotel “hopefully as soon as possible, as we don’t want to lose our team permanently”, but did not have more to say on the matter, as discussions are under way.
“It’s a great locale and great space. We’re doing everything we can to keep it,” he said. “The biggest challenge right now is going through Covid.”
In the meantime, Wood said, Maximal Concepts has plans to open Mott 32 London in 2021 and has other projects in the pipeline in the Middle East.
The C$360 million Trump International Hotel and Tower complex in Vancouver opened in February 2017 with three of US President Donald Trump’s children – Donald Trump Jnr, Eric and Tiffany – present.
Even before the hotel opened, some Vancouver residents protested about its name. Some said they would not set foot inside the building.
In 2015 the city‘s then mayor, Gregor Robertson, wrote a letter to Tiah, asking for the Trump name to be removed, citing a petition signed by more than 50,000 people.
“It is their belief, and my belief, that Trump‘s name and brand have no more place on Vancouver’s skyline than his ignorant ideas have in the modern world,” he wrote.
