You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief on April 14 when Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced the gradual easing of social-distancing rules in Hong Kong. The loudest cheer probably came from the city’s food and drink industry. From April 21, restaurants are allowed to serve dine-in meals until 10pm with up to four people per table. Entry is only allowed for those who have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Bars will remain closed until May. Since January, restaurants have been restricted to selling food for takeaway or delivery after 6pm, and to seating two customers per table before 6pm. From high-end to mass market, no restaurants were spared. The “fifth wave” of coronavirus – fuelled by the highly contagious Omicron variant – has been different. CK Poon Kin-wai, operations and project manager of the three Michelin-star Chinese restaurant Forum , in Causeway Bay, says: “We didn’t expect tens of thousands of confirmed cases every day and that the pandemic situation would be so severe.” John Nugent, owner of two bars – The Diplomat and Kyle & Bain, both in Central – says there was a general sense of a slow build-up with previous waves, “but this one felt like it came immediately and it came harder than any of the other ones”. 4.2 per cent rise in food prices at Hong Kong supermarkets amid fifth wave “And now we’re in the fifth one … we do strive and we do press on, but I think that was a big blow to a lot of people’s morale,” he says. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic more than two years ago, Hong Kong restaurants have been struggling to stay afloat with takeaway and delivery services; some closed temporarily, others for good. Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, estimates more than 5,000 of the city’s 17,000 restaurants have closed since the pandemic began. Wong says business in March was down on average by 90 per cent compared to previous months as a result of the anti-pandemic rules. Ray Chui Man-wai, chairman of the catering industry group Institute of Dining Art, says the industry has incurred cumulative losses of about HK$20 billion (US$2.5 billion) since the pandemic began. Nugent has been able to keep The Diplomat open, as it has a restaurant licence. The Speakeasy-style bar was ranked 20th in the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list in 2021 and voted best new bar on the list. He stripped back menus, prepared as little as possible and bought produce and spirits based on need. On the continuing closure of bars, Nugent says: “Just not being able to open at all is incredibly difficult. It’s unsustainable.” At Quiero Más, a modern Mediterranean-style restaurant in Central, business was down by 80 per cent during the fifth wave, according to director of operations Harshil Bhasin. The restaurant launched a six-course afternoon tea set and a “drunch” menu – both served from 2.30pm to 5.30pm. It also focused on deliveries from its à la carte menu, and custom takeaway-only dishes. Drunch includes unlimited signature tapas such as shrimps, truffle and cheese bikinis, and artisanal Iberico charcuterie selections, in addition to a two-hour free flow of drinks. “The idea was for guests to chill out and appreciate our cuisine, and eventually visit us again once the restrictions are removed or lessened,” Bhasin says. The initiative proved effective, allowing the restaurant to stay afloat and weather the pandemic. Likewise, the Pirata Group upped the offerings in some of its restaurants – including TokyoLima, which serves Japanese and Peruvian fusion dishes – during the fifth wave to lure customers. “We provided high-value offers such as free-flow with weekday lunch sets. We introduced drunch, our early weekday dinner. We reinforced frunch – elevated all-day Friday dining to extend the ‘weekend vibes’. And we doubled down on dunch – our signature, late afternoon weekend meal,” says the group’s co-founder and chief executive, Manuel Palacio. “We keep innovating, not only to entertain and delight guests, but also for us to stay alive and in business.” Some restaurants had no alternative but to temporarily close, however. Generosity during Covid-19 crisis shows Hong Kong’s can-do spirit lives on Forum has offered takeaway options since 2020, Poon says. Instead of teaming up with popular food delivery apps, the restaurant relies on its own delivery team to offer a better service, which further increases operating costs. “But this wave was so severe that many of our old customers didn’t even ask domestic helpers to buy takeaway meals for them to avoid contact with others as much as possible,” Poon says. The restaurant lost over 60 per cent of revenue compared to the previous wave, and was still paying rent and the salaries of 40 employees. In the end, Poon decided to close from mid-February to mid-April to weather the crisis. For the manager, keeping and supporting his staff was a priority. A weekly online meeting with all staff has been organised during the closure when everyone stayed at home, and they used messaging apps to check on each other. Hong Kong’s coronavirus outbreak peaked in early March, city leader confirms “Thankfully our staff have been very understanding,” says Poon. “They even voluntarily asked to take unpaid leave for the entire March.” In March, the government rolled out a subsidy scheme for unemployed Hongkongers from 13 business types. Employees who had to temporarily stop working because of the social-distancing rules in the fifth wave are eligible to apply for a one-off HK$10,000 handout. The timely relief has helped reduce the burden for Forum when paying salaries. Nugent has been able to retain all the staff at both his bars during the fifth wave by “being as honest as possible with them. Being transparent about the schedule, being transparent about your own ignorance and what’s going on,” he says. “And not making any false promises. This is the worst time to do something like that because everything’s so unexpected.” With the relaxing of the ban on evening dining at restaurants, many industry insiders feel positive about the future but want to see a full opening for the benefit of the industry. Poon says Forum is looking forward to resuming business and planning for Mother’s Day in May. The restaurant is fully booked up to April 24 and expects to have more customers next month. “Hopefully most Hongkongers will have had three vaccine doses [by then]. Recently the number [of confirmed cases] is going down, and the pandemic will ease soon,” Poon says. Bonnae Gokson, founder of Sevva, has kept her restaurant in Central closed for the whole month of March: “We have food deliveries, but our venue being a vast penthouse in the heart of the city, did not benefit that much at all” – and says her team cannot wait to return to normality. “The lifts used to be jam-packed with excited customers, tantalising music everywhere where people were having the best time, our terrace all filled up and with live entertainment, and it was a nonstop cycle from lunch to afternoon tea, cocktails at happy hour and it just goes till 1am on a high,” she says. Poon warns that continuing to restrict arrivals from the rest of the world will cause the industry further harm in the long run. “Reopening the border is the key,” Poon says. “60 per cent of our customers come from abroad, while 40 per cent are local. It’s the same for most Michelin-star restaurants.” He expects to see a “dynamic business” when entry restrictions and quarantine measures are lifted. Five-star food at home: takeaways from top Hong Kong restaurants As for bars, even those that have restaurant licences and have stayed open during the daytime, many have seen business drop by 50 to 70 per cent compared to before the fifth wave and some by 90 per cent, Nugent says. “We’re not that high, but the majority of our income stream is from the nighttime,” he says. He hopes the upcoming reopening of bars expected in late May will revive the nighttime business. “We’re just going to try to approach it the same way we’ve always done it,” Nugent says of the future. “With great hospitality, great products and just make the person in front of us as happy as possible and now making sure they feel like they’re in a safe environment.” Additional reporting by Lisa Cam