We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alan Hsu a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alan, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Our business name is Dragon Point Villa, derives from the Dragon Fruit orchards we maintain onsite at our 8-acre vacation rental & boutique event venue in Fallbrook, California.

Fallbrook, CA is historically known to be nicknamed, ‘The Avocado Capitol’, however following a devastating fire in 2008, which burned down several acres of our former Avocado groves, my father, Francis had planted Dragon Fruit in their place, as local water & labor costs to maintain Avocado production had significantly risen, making Avocado production in SoCal more and more challenging. Dragon Fruit on the other hand requires little watering and the cost is significantly lower to maintain than Avocados.

In addition to agriculture, we originally intended on using Dragon Point Villa as a wellness retreat center due to it’s secluded & serene character, however many engaged couples looking for a wedding venue continued to contact us, asking to use our property as their wed ding venue, despite us never having advertising for weddings. For the past 7 years now weddings have made up the majority of our business, and we continue to enjoy growing the business.

Alan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Alan Hsu. I am a former fashion menswear designer, having previously designed clothing & accessories for companies such as A/X Armani Exchange, Adidas, Perry Ellis, and am a graduate of Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles, CA.

In 2016, I was living in New York City working in the fashion industry, and the fashion retail business was struggling. My father Francis mentioned that he was trying to use Dragon Point Villa as a retreat center, however he was mostly getting inquires from engaged couples looking for a wedding venue. He asked if I wanted to move back to Southern California to start the new wedding venue venture, and the rest is history.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before operating Dragon Point Villa, my educational & career background had been in the fashion industry. I had been living in New York City for about 1 decade before moving back to Southern California. I was becoming more and more unhappy with working in the corporate fashion world. The fashion retail business I was working on in the states had never really rebounded the way I thought it would following the financial crisis of 2008. Many corporate designers at the time were flocking to China for higher salaries, and it was getting harder and harder to justify a salary increase at the company I was at when sales were in a decline. In 2016 I was on the phone with my father, telling him how challenging work life was, when he proposed that I move back to SoCal and run Dragon Point Villa as a wedding venue. As we spoke further, I decided to take a trip out to Fallbrook and was instantly feeling excited about new beginnings. I had missed living in SoCal. The sunny weather, the casual way of life, being closer to my parents, were all factors which persuaded me to make the career and life change.
2 years after I had moved to SoCal, I later learned that the ownership of the fashion company I left had changed, and everyone had been laid off.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

A great majority of our new clients come from the recommendation of previous ones. Putting a high priority on customer service, and going the extra mile for our clients is our most effective strategy. At Dragon Point Villa, we strive to go all out for our clients, because when it comes to weddings, most clients rely heavily on the previous experiences of others. There have often been times when a prospective bride will reach out to a previous bride whom they don’t even know through social media to get their ‘real’ feedback. Going the extra mile for clients goes a long way.

Contact Info:

• Website: dragonpointvilla.com
• Instagram: dragonpointvilla
• Other: The Knot: https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/dragon-point-villa-fallbrook-ca-1039191

Image Credits
Willmus Weddings, Kara Reynolds Photography, True Photography, For Love and Light Photography