About Us | Built by Real Operators, Grounded in Reality Since 2010
Helping Food Business Owners See What Actually Matters
Livinism exists to help food business owners cut through noise and see what actually matters in their situation.
We work one-on-one with operators who are busy, capable, and under real pressure — but unclear where to focus next. Our role is not to motivate, impress, or sell frameworks. It is to clarify: to surface what is real, what is blocking progress, and what deserves attention right now.
Livinism is not a typical restaurant consultancy. It is a practice shaped by real operations, lived experience, and honest conversations.
What We Do
We work directly with food business owners on live situations — operations, pricing, service flow, positioning, and execution — always starting from what is actually happening on the ground.
Our work is:
-
grounded in real businesses, not hypothetical ideas
-
driven by dialogue, not templates
-
focused on clarity before action
Every engagement aims to leave the owner clearer than when we started — clearer about what matters, what doesn’t, and what holds up when ideas meet reality.
Who We Are
Livinism was founded by two brothers, Mickey and Donald Woo — architects by training and food business operators by practice.
Before building and operating food businesses, we trained at Benoy, a UK-based architecture firm known for large-scale retail and mixed-use developments. Working in an environment shaped by landmark UK reference projects such as Bluewater and Bullring, alongside extensive work across Asia, we were exposed early to how complex systems behave at scale — how people move, how decisions compound, and why small choices can have large downstream effects.
That way of seeing carried directly into food and service businesses, where ideas are tested quickly and reality leaves little room for illusion.
Meet the Founders of Livinism
Mickey Woo – Co-Founder (UK-Based)
Mickey works one-on-one with food business owners to help them cut through noise and clarify what actually matters in their situation.
UK-educated from age 16, Mickey attended Truro School in Cornwall and studied architecture at Oxford Brookes University. He worked at David Chipperfield Architects in London before joining Benoy, where he progressed to Associate Director and developed a systems-oriented way of thinking about commercial and retail environments — informed by UK reference schemes such as Bluewater and Bullring, as well as Benoy’s work across Asia.
Alongside his architectural career, Mickey co-founded and built an education business in Hong Kong with his wife — a venture that remains in operation today. This marked his first sustained experience of running a real business, balancing creative intent with day-to-day responsibility.
After leaving architecture, Mickey and Donald shifted fully into building and operating food businesses together. Today, based in the UK and working across regions, Mickey focuses on diagnosis and clarity — helping owners see structure where things feel messy, and understand what truly matters when decisions carry real weight.
Donald Woo – Co-Founder (Thailand-Based)
Donald works directly in live food businesses, leading hands-on execution and day-to-day problem-solving on the ground.
After studying architecture and moving to Thailand in 2006, Donald immersed himself in building, launching, and operating food businesses across Southeast Asia. Rather than remaining at the conceptual or advisory level, his focus has always been on execution — kitchens, service flow, supply chains, staffing, and site-level realities where decisions are tested immediately and theory gives way to practice.
Over the years, Donald has been deeply involved in turning ideas into functioning operations, working through the practical challenges that only emerge once a business is live. This experience shaped a grounded, reality-first approach — one that values what works in practice over what sounds good on paper.
Donald’s role anchors Livinism in lived operational reality. Working closely with Mickey, he ensures that clarity, diagnosis, and strategy are always aligned with what actually works day to day, under real conditions.
Why Livinism Exists
We didn’t plan to become consultants.
Livinism began as a container for building our own ventures — a place to test ideas, learn from experience, and confront the blind spots that only appear when you’re responsible for real outcomes. Over time, it naturally became a way to help others facing similar challenges.
Since 2010, our work has been grounded primarily in Asia, through building, operating, fixing, and learning from real food businesses on the ground. Today, with Mickey based in the UK and Donald continuing hands-on work across Southeast Asia, Livinism operates as a focused, one-on-one practice — shaped by lived operator experience and applied across different contexts.
That experience shapes how we work: quietly, honestly, and with respect for what reality allows.
Ready to Build or Fix Your Food Business? Let’s Talk.
Whether you're starting a food concept, repositioning a space, or simply tired of surface-level advice — we’d love to talk.
Want practical help from real food business consultants? See what Livinism offers.