It's not just stockbrokers' stomachs and Central restaurants that could be emptier when the stock exchange's lunch break shrinks again tomorrow - the change could also be grim news for small and medium-sized securities firms.
Small brokers fear cutting the lunch break by another 30 minutes to an hour will deny them the chance to talk to clients.
And they don't understand Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing's reasoning for the change.
Brokers and traders in Hong Kong had the longest lunch break of any of the world's 20 biggest bourses, at two hours, until last year. The HKEx said the latest cut was needed to bring the market in line with those on the mainland, but small brokers said it was an attempt to drive them out.
'The lunch break is not only for eating,' Louis Lai, associate director for Philip Securities, said. 'Very often, we meet our clients during lunch. The shortened lunch means less time for communicating with them and promoting our business.'
While traders in Tokyo and Singapore have also seen their lunch breaks cut or eliminated in recent years, Lai said it was unreasonable to follow the practices of other markets without considering the local situation. 'Every market has its own characteristics and mechanism. It is meaningless to just follow suit.'
Lo Kam-chiu, a stockbroker for 23 years, said he had never felt more pessimistic about the industry's future as he was now. 'It's killing us,' the 67-year-old said on Friday, the last day he had a 90-minute lunch. 'They want to exhaust us.'