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Statement from Carlos Sotomayor & Jenny Yang The company, FULU Group, decided earlier this week to close EKEKO. The final day of operation was May 31, 2018. The decision stems from multiple reasons. The powers that be at FULU Group have weighed the pros and cons of running a Peruvian restaurant of this level of complexity. Simply put, the Shanghai market is not yet ready for this style of dining. Additionally, the reason for "now" is that FULU Group wanted to end their relationship with the staff on a good note. To be clear, the closure of EKEKO has nothing to do with business licenses, company closures, landlord issues, or the sort. It's just that sometimes in business, you have to know when to cut your losses. In this case, a concept that hadn't even had time to find its footing was halted before it could have been developed into something more mature. "It's an idea that didn't get to grow up. 'Genesis' was just that--this whole project was about exploration. We knew we had the space for a limited amount of time. The idea was to run it as a test concept, and move at the end of the year--the high rent on Donghu Lu would eventually push us to find a new spot. Then, we had the space and we had the chance to try. Maybe in the near future, EKEKO will return.' - Carlos Sotomayor.
The colorfully decked out spot sprung up after it suddenly replaced Willy Trullas Moreno's Elefante earlier this year, when FULU Group took over the space. Chef Carlos Sotomayor, who was also chef at Elefante, served up 8-course set dinner menus drawn from his native Peru, and it was, by all accounts, a good spot. Check out our On The Radar of it here.
