Keeping Beijing Fed: A Conversation With Henry of Slider Nation

With being unable to go out, daily testing, and constantly changing rules, life in Beijing has been pretty tough for us capital residents recently. However, it has been especially tough for Beijing businesses, with restaurants and bars being forced to close their doors and only sell waimai. 

Thus, we've decided to interview various business owners in Beijing to find out how they have adapted in these challenging times. First up is Henry, a familiar face in the Beijing foodie community, and owner of Slider Nation. 
 
For those who haven’t heard of Slider Nation, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and Slider Nation and how it all started?
Slider Nation is kind of a gourmet comfort food joint. American-style steamed bun sliders and fries but with legit ingredients like wagyu and duck fat. Deliverable nostalgic vibes, bite-sized fun for the whole family, while having interactive cocktails and boozy slushees to make eating at home enjoyable again. 

It started with my son, to be real honest. Whenever we would go out to eat, I would always order a burger, and naturally he would want the same thing as Daddy, but the poor guy at four years old at the time could barely wrap his hands around a normal burger, none the less successfully take a bite. So why not squishy steamed sliders, I thought? Also, the burger scene here in Beijing is pretty saturated. Tons of great burgers out there, and I wanted to do something different that Beijing has never seen before. 

I don’t think there is a place that is solely pumping out sliders on their menu like us. So, this was when El-mar (a good friend then, now turned business partner) came up to me and said, “Let’s go pro.” I had many offers and many turn downs from investors and other friends that weren’t in my best interest. But El-mar is an OG Beijinger that’s been here over 20 years and ran businesses here before. Our visions were similar on where we wanted to see our business grow. The rest is history and history in the making.

How has work been going since the May holiday with these new restrictions?
I will be honest. May holiday was busier than we anticipated, which was great, and we have been luckily steady ever since despite all the lockdowns. But we are literally built for things like this. We do have a store front with seats available for in house diners (during non-Covid times), but delivery is our business model. But that doesn’t make this lockdown any easier for us. 

I have a lot of friends in the restaurant industry here and owners that helped me get to where I am today. It’s killing me to see how detrimental an impact these forced closures are having on them. But at the same time, I am absolutely loving the [success] some are having in completely re-writing the script and switching to full deliverable menus. Beijing is a very sink or swim mentality. Only the strong figure out how to make the given times into something else.

Have you had any surprise upsides from these restrictions? 
Business-wise ... I guess for us the upside is that we don’t have to drastically change anything on our end menu-wise. Humanity-wise … the biggest upside is that it’s forcing everyone to go outside and appreciate the natural amenities Beijing has. I see people posting camping trips, picnics, people playing hackysack again, frisbee, people bringing their instruments outside for jam sessions. Is not being able to go to a movie theater, shopping mall, or dine in at your favorite restaurant fun? Maybe not. But being forced to hang out outside, pick up a takeaway order from your favorite restaurant, and get creative on what else to do outside has been pretty cool to see. 

The past two years must have been pretty tough. What was the biggest challenge you’ve faced?
Tough indeed, but not tough because of Covid. More tough for just opening up a restaurant in general in Beijing. If the tall order of licensing and registering alone isn’t a headache and time consuming enough for you, it’s understanding and working with all the delivery platforms and internal crap that needs to be done even to get out a simple menu like ours! 

What advice would you give to other business owners in Beijing at this time?
Cut your normal menu down by half. Focus on food that travels well and spend your time on the packaging. Figure out what dishes can withstand hanging on the back of a scooter for at least one hour and still be good after. 

Our sliders are packed tight and fit perfectly into our burger box and steam on the way to the customer, only getting better with time. To the point where we had to anticipate that and cook them differently than if they were to be ordered and eaten in-house. I had to change the way I cooked a dish completely. 

Sadly, it’s impossible for fries to travel well. They need air to breathe to remain crispy, but air means they will get cold. It’s a hard balance: As a chef, I wanted the fries to only be for in-house orders, but our customers didn’t like that, for they need their quintessential “fries and burger combo” together. These are not to be messed with, even if they aren’t fresh out the fryer. It’s tough to balance quality in delivery, but definitely something as a company to look at and wrestle with.

You offer a range of DIY cocktails. Can you tell us a bit more about them?
The cocktails are fun indeed. Again, these were started in 2020 when all the bars were closed. The idea was “Bring the Bar to You” vibes. We wanted an easy but interactive way of getting the customer involved during lockdown while still being upscale and not basic bitch with our home cocktail-making adventures. 

The Bloody Mary has been exceptionally fun because when you want a Bloody Mary you can’t just open up your pantry and whip out all of the ingredients and make one. Let’s be honest, on any given Sunday no one has all the ingredients on standby, and if you do, you’re never going to use them all. You’re left with a quarter bottle of tomato juice that sits taking space in your fridge until it goes bad, wilting celery because you can’t just buy one sprig for garnish, etc. 

The Infused Gin & Tonic Kits are intense too, infused for three weeks and filtered five times. We pack our kits with cocktail-grade ice as well. So, you’re not just getting basic cocktails here, that’s not our goal. These are recipes of mine that have been perfected over time, and at the end of the day you are purchasing the outright convenience. Let us do the work so you don’t have to! Covid is tough enough as is, we’re just trying to ease that one fun interactive cocktail at a time. 

Lastly, where did the idea for DIY cocktails come from?
Well, it came up when cooking, to be honest. I grew up in Texas with barbecuing in the back yard and if you see a “Pit Master” without an ice-cold beer or cocktail in their hand it is just sacrilegious! So, when I would be cooking, and friends would be like, “What are you drinking?” I would give them a taste and they’d be like, “Whoa, I need this and everyone else needs this Jack and Coke slushee in their lives … like, right now!” Then it was just logistics from there.

If you fancy supporting this local business and enjoying some delicious sliders or cocktails at home at the same time, you can order Slider Nation on Meituan Waimai, JSS, Sherpas and Eleme. Want to know more about their DIY Bloody Mary Kit? Check out our video on making it on our WeChat channel. 

Slider Nation
A9 Xiaoyun Road 9th Food Street, Chaoyang District
朝阳区霄云路食九局A9

READ: Enjoy Cocktails on the Couch With These DIY Cocktail Kits

Images: Katie Coy, courtesy of Slider Nation