AsiaLIFE

"We had enough family members to run the places so we decided to open one more," says Pascal Plamondon about his latest venture "Jaan" on Sisowath Quay. That’s as good a business plan as any other. The other two businesses in his empire are the restaurant Flavours and the bar Liquid, both located in Street 278. But because of its location – on the riverside and right next to the night market – Jaan is much more tourism-oriented than Flavours and Liquid.

"My background is marketing, I’m not a chef, I can’t cook anything," the forty year-old Quebecois admits. What do you do in such a case? You marry. "My wife is pretty good at cooking but she’s too busy to run all three kitchens so she’s managing them."

With its strategic positioning at the corner of Sisowath Quay and Street 106, Jaan is a great spot to watch the street-life flow by sitting on its terrace while having one of their breakfasts ($3 to $5.75), ranging from omelettes to eggs Benedict to the classic English, American and European. "Basically what we do is we look for a good location to open up a place, like Wat Lanka. When I first opened Flavours there was nothing there, so I was very successful from day one."

Despite a slow start which Pascal blames on the overall economic slowdown and the recent troubles in Thailand, Jaan certainly has the potential to become another success story. "We put a lot of money into it and tried to make it the best quality we could. I think we’ve done a good job but it took a long time to build," he says.

The Canadian is not a newcomer in the Kingdom, he has been in Cambodia for more than ten years now. After a Cambodian-Canadian friend of his asked him to come and run a hotel, Pascal met his wife Srei Oun and has been here ever since. Despite having worked in restaurants all of his life, Pascal says he’s not a professional. His real background is in telecommunications. "I just did regular jobs in restaurants, but with my marketing background I have a bit of a flair for people, and locations."

All of his ventures are managed entirely by his family members. Are there any left to run any future projects? "I’d like to do something bigger, to offer some ‘experience’, for example live music," he says. "It could be a band, it could be a mini-musical, like some of these places in Bangkok." But according to him the talent is difficult to find here. "My point of view is entertainment, more than food. It’s the way to go, I’m very North-American, you know," he laughs. Be warned though – watch out for the new Crazy Horse, coming your way soon.