Hong Kong icon Hoover Cake Shop saved from closure as The Coffee Academics group takes over – but will it be the same?

Hoover Cake Shop, in operation for nearly 50 years in Kowloon City, was set to close permanently on October 1, but The Academics Group will keep it alive

The company behind Asian chain The Coffee Academics is looking for a new location in which to reopen in 2023, with the city’s airport a possibility

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Long-time baker Hui Fu (known as Fu Gor) holds a tray of Hoover Cake Shop’s signature egg tarts. The Academics Group will reopen the bakery next year with staff including Hui, at a location to be decided. Photo: The Academics Group

Charmaine Mok

Published: 8:45am, 1 Oct 2022Updated: 9:39am, 3 Oct 2022

Corrected [9:33am, 3 Oct, 2022]

[9:33am, 3 Oct, 2022]
A reference in the story to Singapore entrepreneur Robert Chua having a deal with Hoover Cake Shop to replicate its egg tart recipe has been removed.

At the eleventh hour, Hong Kong bakery Hoover Cake Shop in Kowloon City has been given a stay of execution.

Originally slated to shut down permanently on October 1 after nearly 50 years in business, the bakery will now be relaunched under the stewardship of The Academics Group in 2023.

However, it will no longer be on the corner of Nga Tsin Wai Road and Fuk Lo Tsun Road in Kowloon City, where it has stood since 1974, gaining long-time regular customers such as the actor Chow Yun-fat.

Instead, the new owners are seeking a new location, with Hong Kong International Airport being floated as one idea, says Jennifer Liu Wai-fun, the founder and chairman of The Academics Group.

Queues formed outside Hong Kong bakery Hoover Cake Shop in Kowloon City after it announced on September 17 that it would close on October 1. Photo: Dickson Lee

The shift in ownership was cemented on September 29 when Liu signed a contract with the Chow family to take over the business.