Wayne Parfitt, who has died of cancer, may have been the most successful expatriate restaurant chain owner Hong Kong has ever seen. Castello Concepts, which began as Pepperoni’s at Sai Kung in 1992, now has close to 90 restaurants, according to the South China Morning Post. The company’s website doesn’t say how many restaurants it now owns in Hong Kong and Vietnam, but every local knows at least some of Wayne’s brands. It is a long list: Wagyu, Jaspas, St Barts, K-Town, Oolaa, Ollies, Tiger Llily, Tai Hang Bar & Grill, The Winery, Mr Wolf, Missy Ho’s, Zaks, MooFish and Figos.
Wayne was an energetic man with unstoppable drive. If one concept didn’t work, he’d shut it down and try another one. Witness the Ministry of Food in Sai Kung, now Piccolo’s. Wayne was an admirable man who would have a go at anything. He bought a cattle farm in Australia to provide steaks for his restaurant Wagyu. He set up Jaspas Beach Club in Sai Kung and after buying a family junk, created a fleet known as Jaspas Junks. Later Wayne shut down the junk operation grumbling about the high cost of maintenance. He had a go too at launching a Krispy Kreme chain in Hong Kong. It reached seven stores before the glow died and Wayne quit.
“Many of us know Wayne and his larger than life presence, humour, generosity and professionalism. Rest well, mate,” one friend wrote on Facebook.
A Hong Kong Family Traveller journalist: “Wayne was a force of nature, an immensely likeable guy… Wayne, you will be missed.”
A Queenslander, Wayne arrived in Hong Kong in 1990, found Sai Kung and started Pepperoni’s two years later. In the early days the big-presence, big-grinning restauranteur would deliver pizzas to people’s homes himself. Wayne is survived by his wife Andrea, daughter Jessie and sons Jack and Michael.
At HONG KONG BUZZ we are saddened. You had to admire Wayne, getting around town in the swanky black Mercedes convertible he deserved. Most people are unaware that opposite the Sai Kung police station next to The Hive in the drab-green ex-factory building Castello Concepts has a hidden office of splendid modernity and scale. We spoke to Wayne only once, joking over a beer when he was re-opening Piccolo’s in Sai Kung’s central square. Rival restauranteurs marvelled at Wayne. How did he do it, expanding the chain inexorably — it is much bigger in Vietnam than it is here. The restaurant game is notoriously difficult, fickle and vulnerable. But Wayne went on and on. Nothing could stop him. Until cancer hit.
RIP Wayne, a big man in every sense.
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