SINGAPORE: Dennis Foo’s life revolves around his mobile phone. By his own confession, he “cannot function without it”.

With his precious Nokia N70 in hand, he said, with a hint of pride: “My son upgraded it to increase the capacity. It’s a first-generation 3G phone.”

The nightlife mogul, who has been in the nightlife business for 29 years, or “showbiz” as he prefers to call it, is not exaggerating. For a busy man who is always on the go, “the phone is like my office”. When an idea or an observation pops into his head, he puts in down in his phone right away for further discussion with his team — usually at their weekly Tuesday meetings.

In the course of our hour-long chat, Foo’s mobile phone must have blinked (the considerate man switched it to silent mode before the interview began) at least half a dozen times. He answered a few of them, only to inform the callers that he was in the middle of an interview and that he’d call them back.

That’s Foo for you. The chief executive officer of St James Power Station may rub elbows with celebrities and cabinet ministers (“Some of them visit St James either for official events or they come on their own”), and manage a $60-million business that also includes the recently acquired Bar None and The Living Room, but he remains pleasingly down-to-earth and unassuming.

It was a few minutes past six in the evening when the apologetic 55-year-old finally strode into the Living Room at Marriott Hotel, where we were supposed to meet half-an-hour earlier. He had politely called to inform us that he was running late and later sent an SMS to assure us he was five minutes away.

It turned out Foo had rushed over from a three-hour meeting with a geomancer at a potential site for his next project — something he is not at liberty to discuss just yet. He had, however, cut the meeting short because “I didn’t want you to wait too long”.

Despite his fairytale come-back after the Europa fiasco — a 22-year-old effort painfully lost overnight — the former Raffles Institution student thinks he’s just an average Joe. “There’s nothing special about me,” he said.

Who do you think you’re fooling, Mr Foo?

HE’S A THINKER

“I woke up at 6.30am this morning — a bit early today. Usually, I wake up at 8am. The morning routine is always the same. I read all the newspapers (including Today, of course) in 45 minutes. I flip the pages until there’s an important story. I must always be aware of what’s going on, especially with entertainment. Then from 9 to 10am, I make phone calls before people go for their meetings.

When I go for my morning walk, that’s when I have my own time to reflect on things. When you walk, a lot of things come to mind. In my line, if you don’t think, it’s hard to progress.

You need to know what’s coming up for the day, be prepared with solutions when you meet suppliers, credit card companies, entertainers, the staff and contractors, and find the right approach when you have to negotiate a deal.

Brunch is always the same thing. At around 11am, I’ll walk to the market for some excellent fish head — with lots of veggies. If I had a late night, I have to take a two-hour nap when I get home. All my meetings are scheduled for after 2pm. Like today, I did everything at one go. I was looking at a site (for a new project) and the designer, geomancer, contractors and the team were all there to see what potential this place has. I had even called a potential chef over. That was three meetings in one!”

HE’S A HAPPY TIPPLER

“I drink very fast, but what I do is then pace myself. On the few occasions when I got tipsy, I remember being very happy and talking a lot. But I don’t remember being so drunk that I didn’t know what’s going on. Never. I’m always conscious ... But maybe I’ll ask my wife. (Laughs)

In my younger days, when I was around 30, I was once entertaining a group of freight forwarders, and we went for drinks. I had beer. When I got home, I vomited. My mum said to me: “Please don’t do this business lah. Please.”

That was one bad moment I had.

I’m not the type to get physical and violent when I’m drunk. If someone stirs trouble, like one chap did just last week, I will just reason with him. If I lose? I’ll just call my security lah. (Laughs)”

HE DOESN’T HAVE WEEKENDS

“Sundays are supposed to be my (free days). In the end, I’ll check my phone and realise, oh, I’ve to meet this artiste at 6.30pm, or I have to meet a friend who has this new idea to share.

I’ll always remember the first few weeks of Bar None’s opening. I actually got three bands to have drinks all together.

It can be quite tiring to meet one band after another on Sunday, but I wanted to catch up with them and find out how things were going, whether they were happy performing and talk about problems they were facing. But sometimes I get scared — some of them come with long notes. In the end, no more weekend for me. I think I’m more stressed on weekends than weekdays.

But I do make it a point to have some family time every week, to have dinner with my wife and son.

To me, that is important. Of late, we’ve been very happy because we have lots to talk about over dinner. My son, he’s 26, is working for my publicity manager as a marketing executive. It’s funny — business brings us together nowadays.

My wife is very on the ball. She is very superstitious. Her role in the company is to keep track of the exact dates for prayers and when to meet the geomancer. That’s the area in which she can contribute.

For me, I’m like the bearer of good news. Good things, I will tell her, bad things, I keep quiet. (Laughs)”

HE’S A BUM JUST LIKE ME AND YOU

“People are fascinated with show business — there’s the glamour and the fast pace ... But that’s not to say we live in a world of make-believe.

We are very normal people and I’m just an average guy born into showbiz. There’s nothing special about me.

A day can pass by completely uneventful. It can be a very nice day.

One day, I looked at my diary and I said to myself: “Wah! Blank file. What am I supposed to do?” I lazed at home the whole day lor.

I can’t sit in the office for more than two hours. If I do sit there, it’s to sign cheques or reply to urgent emails. But I can sit home the whole day — I watch TV, take out a good bottle of wine, find some nice cheese and have my own private party alone. (Laughs)

I can’t pretend and tell people everyday is a party. That’s make-believe. It’s just that people don’t remember or write about uneventful days like that.” - TODAY/fa