FOR most people, cocktail parties are infrequent affairs, requiring weeks of outfit-planning, providing an often rare chance to dress up glamorously and enabling them to try drinks they would not normally think about. For Jeffrey Yu, however, glamorous parties and exquisite cocktails are often all in a day's work.

Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Yu spent much of his childhood moving, and has lived in numerous different cities and countries. Many people would view this as a negative thing, creating an unsettled home-life and making it harder to make and retain friends. Yu, however, as seems characteristic of him, is keen to point out the positive side of this. He believes this nomadic lifestyle has made it easier for him in the long run - enabling him to adapt to new cultures and new places faster, avoiding much of the culture-shock that often cripples less-experienced travellers upon arrival in a new place.

Since leaving home, Yu has continued to travel widely - pursuing studies in France and Australia, and working in such cities as New York and Hong Kong. He claims his childhood has enabled him to "hit the ground running" allowing him to take jobs all over the world, and attack the job itself from the beginning, rather than requiring a lot of time to adjust.

In September of last year, Yu moved yet again, this time from Hong Kong, where he was working as a restaurant and bar consultant, to Shanghai, where he had taken a job as Business Development Manager of Vincent Van Gogh Spirits Ltd.

Launched in 2000 in the US, and August 2004 in China/Asia, the company is relatively new on the vodka scene, but it is already making a splash with connoisseurs. The company produces its ultra-premium vodka in Holland, exporting it to the US and more recently to China. The drink itself is not cheap, but it is widely recognized as one of the top vodkas currently available on the market, getting excellent reviews from publications such as the New York Daily News and The Spirit Journal.

Challenging job

Yu was initially attracted to the company because he saw it as progressive, exciting and challenging, providing the chance to work for a small company in a fledgling market within a dynamic city. While people often claim it is better to work for large multinational companies, Yu believes there are many advantages to working for a smaller business. He enjoys the freedom it allows him to have an input in all aspects of the business, and the extraordinary job variety it provides. "Working for large companies means that everything is dictated for you," Yu said. "Everything is planned out for you and you tend to stick rigidly to your job." He feels that often people working in large multinationals are unable to see where their job actually fits in to the business, while spending day after day performing the same tasks without being able to influence other areas or have a say in other parts of the business.

As far as his job goes, Yu has no difficulty identifying the aspect he likes best, as he enjoys producing the longer-term plans and forecasts that are an essential part of strategic planning, enabling him to explore how the company will move forward, and to consider where it will be in the future. When asked about the future plans of the company, Yu smiled. "There are so many," he joked. "But I can tell you we are definitely preparing to expand into Thailand and Japan."

That's a project Yu is working on at the moment, using his own knowledge of Thailand (born of numerous visits) and the knowledge of his part-Japanese girlfriend to aid his research and planning.

According to Yu, there are many other plans on the drawing board. "As a company we are constantly pushing forward and looking to the future, but business etiquette means that these are the only things I can talk about at the moment."

Yu also enjoys the social side of his work. "Vincent van Gogh Vodka is a trendy product," Yu explained. "So I am constantly meeting interesting and exciting people through my work." At official functions, Yu can often be seen sipping Van Gogh's "Dutch chocolate" vodka, which is perhaps the best-selling of the Van Gogh flavours, described by fans as "extremely drinkable" and "a vodka you just want to keep sipping". Away from the "office" however, Yu prefers indulging his long-term love of champagne and fine wines. He is also cultivating a newer interest in sake, and enjoys discovering more about the drink he describes as "complex" and "as variable in quality and flavour as wine".

When talking with Yu, one gets the impression of an ambitious person who enjoys the challenges presented to him by his new job. The vodka scene is relatively new in Shanghai and thanks to an extensive advertising campaign by Absolut vodka, to many local people Absolut and vodka are one and the same, making it difficult for other vodkas to enter the market.

New market

According to Yu, the Shanghainese are very price-conscious and this, coupled with low-level product differentiation and poor brand recognition among the Chinese makes it hard for an ultra-premium vodka such as Vincent van Gogh Vodka to break into the local market. An ultra-premium vodka, such as that produced by Vincent Van Gogh Spirits, is wildly different in taste from a mass-produced cheap vodka. However, this care and attention is reflected in the higher price, and in a city where the appreciation of vodka is a relatively new thing, it takes time to convince people that the benefits are worth the higher price.

However, with the Martini enjoying a global resurgence at the moment, vodka is more in demand than ever, and as larger numbers of Shanghainese enjoy greater disposable incomes, cocktails and the "yuppie" lifestyle are becoming more and more popular.

This is the market Vincent Van Gogh is aiming at - the so-called "A market" (those people with disposable incomes who follow global trends) - and they certainly seem to be making waves on the Shanghai scene. For sometime now their vodka has been connected with The Westin brunches, and more recently they have become the house pour at The Grand Hyatt Hotel. Their products can also be found in most of the top bars and clubs in Shanghai, and with their flagship Martini bar at Three on the Bund previewing recently, it certainly looks like they're here to stay.

Little frustration

This sense of excitement Yu feels when presented with business challenges is also visible when he discusses life in Shanghai. Having lived so extensively around the world, Yu is well-qualified to compare life in Shanghai to that in other cities. He enjoys the lifestyle in Shanghai, where he observes that people work hard, but claims the hours are not as "crazy as in Hong Kong or New York". "There is a strong focus on family-time, which I like," Yu commented, before going on to add, with a wry smile, that the one thing he really hates here are the taxis. "That's something that really needs improving," he joked, claiming he's "lost count" of the number of times he's got into a taxi only to find the taxi driver doesn't know the way, or has decided to take a "detour". Unlike many expats living in Shanghai, with Yu the problem is unlikely to be a language difficulty, as he speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, English and French - perhaps another advantage of his nomadic lifestyle.

Comparing life in Shanghai to that in Hong Kong he cites many similarities, but talks of his frustration at the "little things" that are more difficult here. Looking round the half-finished office that was meant to be completed some time ago, it's all too easy to see what he means. "You have to be very flexible," Yu chuckled. "Things may not always seem to be viable, but with flexibility and hard work most things are possible."

According to Yu, Shanghai is basically where Hong Kong was 10 years ago. He sees this as an exciting time, with the bar/clubbing scene developing at a great rate. From talking with him, it seems obvious that both Jeffrey Yu and Vincent van Gogh Vodka intend to be as much part of that development as they possibly can be.