That means it supports the protest movement. “Blue-ribbon”, on the other hand, refers to those places deemed to support the government and the police.

Student Ng, 19, who asked to be identified by his surname only, was at Lung Mun Cafe for lunch on Tuesday. He says he makes it a point these days to check online to see which restaurants are labelled yellow, before he sets out for a meal.

“I want to support these restaurants,” he says. “It may not contribute a lot to their business or the whole protest campaign, but it’s a way I can support them.”

Hong Kong restaurants, and other businesses, have been caught between anti-government protesters and those who support the government and police.

Taking sides, willingly or unwillingly, brings the risk of offending the other camp, losing business, or having the business premises vandalised.

Hard-core activists have targeted businesses with mainland China ties or considered pro-establishment. Maxim’s, Best Mart 360, Chinese state-owned banks, as well as mainland smartphone giants Huawei and Xiaomi, have had their premises vandalised, torched, trashed and covered in graffiti.

Protesters have also declared many food and drink establishments “yellow-ribbon” or “blue-ribbon”, based on the businesses’ known political stances and ties.

Detailed lists are circulated on social media sites, with map applications showing the colour of restaurants in different districts. One map has labelled more than 1,700 establishments as “yellow-ribbon” and over 1,300 as “blue-ribbon”.

Protesters patronise yellow-ribbon outlets, while shunning the rest.

“Hong Kong’s economy has taken a hit amid the political crisis, but ‘yellow-ribbon’ businesses have been growing. We can force more businesses to take sides, and increase the number of people on our side,” said a post on LIHKG, an online forum popular with protesters.

However, economists and lawmakers have cautioned protesters not to politicise businesses.

“Business is business. They should not force companies to pick sides,” says Chinese University economist Terence Chong Tai-leung. “They are attacking private companies, which doesn’t help anything, except to vent their anger.”

Others have warned business owners to be aware of the risks of talking politics.

Economist Andy Kwan Cheuk-chiu notes that some business owners have voiced their political views after growing impatient with the political turmoil that has dragged on for months, but they risk a backlash.

“Businesses should not open their mouths, especially in this very divided society,” says Kwan, the director of ACE Centre for Business and Economic Research. “If you say something, you just don’t know who will be offended and when you will be attacked.”

Catering sector lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan says customers have the right to choose where to eat, but no one should attack businesses over their political stance.

“It is a principle of our catering sector that every customer is a guest, no matter what his or her political views are. Business owners and their employees should uphold that,” he says.

“I hope customers will also respect personal political views of business owners and their employees.”

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‘Yellow’ or ‘blue’, shops are attacked

Lung Mun Cafe has become popular among protesters since August, when it began offering free meals to students at its five branches.

Owner Cheung Chun-kit, 39, decided to help the students after learning some had been cut off financially by parents who held different political views.

“I will always support young people. Society is unfair to them,” he says. “They have lost their freedom, which they are now fighting for.”

Protesters welcomed his show of support, but it also earned him criticism, numerous harassing phone calls and fake food orders.

Undeterred, Cheung says: “I do what I want to do, and I won't stop just because of what others say.”

His Hung Hom branch was vandalised on October 24 morning, and security camera footage showed five masked men wreaking havoc on the premises.

Cheung says he has no idea who is responsible. Nobody was hurt, but the men caused about HK$100,000 (US$12,751) of damage. Cheung says he did not bother to call the police.

News of the incident brought a large number of people to the cafe to show their support, with long queues despite its smashed windows and facilities.

“We saw a big increase in the number of customers for a few days after the attack,” Cheung says. “Now the situation has cooled down a bit, and business is normal.”

It is a different story over at the Friendly Tasty restaurant in Tai Po, which serves rice noodle rolls and sweet puddings known as put chai ko. 

Owner Wong Lee-lee, 37, a widow and single mother of two, says she has paid the price for supporting the police and being branded “blue-ribbon”.

On June 30, she took her sons, aged seven and 10, to a pro-police rally at Tamar Park in Admiralty, and posted a photo on Facebook showing them holding a poster that read: “Sir, madam, we support you”.

“The work of the police is hard and tough, and we should support them,” Wong says. “As a citizen and a business owner, I hope for society to be peaceful and harmonious.”

Her post was circulated on social media sites and the abuse came flooding in, she says, with people calling her “unscrupulous” and urging others to boycott her shop.

She was harassed by some people who made repeated complaints about her restaurant to different government departments, including the Department of Health and the Fire Services Department, although the complaints were unsubstantiated. One day, she found blue liquid splashed on her restaurant’s front gate.

Wong’s husband died from heart disease six years ago, and she opened the restaurant three years ago to support her family.

She says her business has dropped by 40 per cent since June, and she has had to fork out HK$10,000 to HK$20,000 every month since then to cover her operation costs.

Wong says she does not regret speaking out.

“An inclusive society should have different opinions. They can disagree with me, but they should not attack me or my business just because I hold different views,” she says. “I have never thought that simply voicing my personal opinion would have such a big impact on my life.”

She says she appreciates those who continue to support her.

Tai Po resident Jeff Chan, 66, who has frequented Wong’s restaurant since June, says: “I never visited it before because there were always so many people queueing, but suddenly there were fewer people, so I went in and found its food is good.”

He does not let politics affect his choice of where to have a meal.

“Political views and demands should not affect people’s livelihood, especially grass-roots citizens,” he says. “To me, it is meaningless and blind to divide businesses into the so-called ‘yellow-ribbon’ or ‘blue-ribbon’.”

Restaurants jittery about colour labels

The protesters’ readiness to label businesses has caused jitters within the industry.

TamJai Yunnan Mixian, a popular noodle chain, acted quickly last Saturday, after notices appeared at its Yau Ma Tei and Kwun Tong Plaza outlets, saying: “Our restaurant is particular with hygiene and does not serve cockroaches and uncivilised customers.”

That branded the restaurant “blue-ribbon”, because police officers have been heard referring to protesters as cockroaches.

The restaurant immediately denied having anything to do with the notice, and released screenshots of security camera footage that showed an unidentified man dressed in blue sticking a notice on the glass panel of its Yau Ma Tei branch. Screenshots of security camera footage at its Kwun Tong Plaza branch also showed a man in the same outfit putting up the same notice.

Chrisly Cafe, a cha chaan teng-style chain with seven branches in Hong Kong and one in Macau, issued a statement on its Facebook page on October 25, denying online rumours that veteran Canto-pop star Alan Tam Wing-lun – who attended the June 30 pro-police rally – is one of its shareholders.

“The cafe has been colour-labelled over the past months. We feel helpless,” the statement said. It added that the management supports demands for freedom and democracy, as well as the formation of an independent commission of inquiry – one of five demands made by protesters.

Maxim’s – one of Hong Kong’s largest food and catering firms – has had its outlets as well as its franchises, including Arome bakery, Genki Sushi and Starbucks, boycotted and vandalised by protesters. Japanese fast food chain Yoshinoya has also seen widespread vandalism of its outlets by protesters.

Support came from the city’s largest pro-establishment party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), which initiated a three-day campaign in mid October encouraging people to support the establishments vandalised by protesters.

Samme Cheng, an industry veteran with more than 30 years' experience, says most restaurant owners are lying low these days.

“Many eateries have been in a constant state of fear and are afraid of speaking up, especially on politics. We feel very helpless,” he says. “We also ask our employees not to comment on politics, and to keep a low profile.”

Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, says restaurants that voice their political positions account for only a small part of the city’s more than 20,000 establishments.

“Most restaurants do not want to be labelled with the so-called colours or bring political views into business,” he says. “We are a service industry, in which most businesses seek to serve all customers.”

The ongoing unrest has put mounting pressure on the city’s food and drinks sector. So far, nearly 300 businesses have closed down, according to Wong.

He expects a drop of about 25 per cent in the sector’s revenue this year compared to last year, with a fall of 35 per cent between June and October compared to the same period last year.

Restaurant operator Cheng, who is managing director of the Institution of Dining Art, which has 3,000 members and is dedicated to developing the city’s food and drinks business, says bringing politics into the scene has struck a blow to Hong Kong’s reputation as a food destination.

He worries the negative impact of what is happening now will linger even after the political unrest ends.

“I fully oppose politically labelling restaurants because in a normal business environment, businesses should not be bullied, no matter what their political stances are,” he says.

“This has hit Hong Kong’s status and reputation as an international tourist destination and a food paradise.” 

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Dangers of ‘yellow economic circle’

Beyond restaurants, businesses in other sectors are also feeling the effects of the political divide. Some protesters have proposed establishing a “yellow economic circle” to support all the yellow-ribbon businesses.

Chinese economist Mei Xinyu says the turmoil and vandalism have had some impact on mainland-linked businesses.

While small and medium-sized businesses with limited amounts of money may think about whether to continue, he says the attacks will not have much impact on large mainland businesses, especially state-owned corporations.

“Those businesses have set up bases in Hong Kong to target overseas markets rather than the Hong Kong market,” he says.

Economist Chong says far from leaving Hong Kong, mainland businesses will stay and expand, not for profit alone but as part of their long-term strategies.

“Hong Kong now has some risks, but risk will not deter people from making profits or doing something that is economically efficient,” he says.

Experts warn, however, that bringing politics into the workplace will hurt the city's overall business environment.

“Businesses are concerned about the business environment,” says pro-business lawmaker Felix Chung Kwok-pan.

He notes that Hong Kong’s business environment today is worse than during the Sars outbreak of 2003 and the financial crisis in 2008, and recovery will only come after the civil unrest ends.

The longer the crisis lingers, he says, the more the time needed for recovery.

“If Hong Kong's business environment becomes so bad that a business risks being attacked simply because it holds different political views, businesses will leave the city,” he says.