‘All doom and gloom’: thousands of Hong Kong restaurants shut down, suspend operations as Covid-19 cases bring harsh restrictions
- Restaurant owners say ban on dining-in after 6pm has forced many to shut down or close temporarily
- Workers affected too, as operators say it’s meaningless to stay open when there are no customers
“It is all doom and gloom for the city’s food and beverage industry now. They don’t have customers,” said Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades.
He estimated that more than 2,500 of the city’s 17,000 restaurants had closed over the past two years of the pandemic, and more than 1,500 more could shut for good next month.
About 3,400 others, reeling from curbs on business during the ongoing fifth wave of infections, were suspending operations to cut costs and minimise losses.
Most had seen their earnings shrink by 90 per cent since the government banned dine-in services from 6pm last month, he said.
“Many are closing temporarily to cut costs and more are expected to follow suit,” Wong said. “For the first two months of this year, the catering sector has suffered a loss in revenue of more than HK$10 billion (US$1.28 billion).”