Cheap and filling, with a side of controversy: how Café de Coral became Hong Kong’s largest fast-food chain
Restaurant group was founded in 1968 by Victor Lo Tang-seong, who died last Thursday at age 101
Where do Hongkongers go when they have only 15 minutes for lunch?
Cheap, fast and filling, Café de Coral, Hong Kong’s largest fast-food restaurant chain, is often the go-to choice aside from McDonald’s and cha chaan tengs, the local equivalent of a classic diner.
With 330 outlets across the city and 120 on the mainland, the chain serves 300,000 customers daily, though it began as a tiny home-grown enterprise founded by Victor Lo Tang-seong, who died last Thursday at the age of 101.
What draws Hongkongers is the variety of food on the menu, often a mishmash of Western and Asian dishes – the restaurant is known to serve items like Hong Kong-style French toast, New Zealand steak and fries and Japanese hotpot.
Though it is now one of Asia’s largest publicly listed restaurant groups, the eatery had humble beginnings.