Restaurants enjoy business uptick after Hong Kong lifts most Covid curbs, unvaccinated diners also make a return
- Some restaurants have added tables to boost business following the cancellation of capacity limits
- Operators keep table dividers in some outlets to help maintain appropriate social distance between customers and give them a sense of security
Restaurant operators said they had recorded at least 10 per cent growth in business on Thursday after Hong Kong lifted most pandemic restrictions, with unvaccinated diners back among their clientele.
Some restaurants chose to retain infection-control measures such as using partitions to reassure customers amid the continued coronavirus outbreak even though the government no longer requires a 1.5-metre space between tables.
The Post visited restaurants in Wan Chai, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay and found that some restaurants had added tables to boost business following the cancellation of capacity limits. The vaccine pass scheme was scrapped, too. But people must still wear masks in public and on transport.
Thomas Woo Chu, director of Hsin Kuang Restaurant Group that operates more than 20 Chinese restaurants, said he welcomed back many unvaccinated elderly patrons on Thursday morning and saw a 10 per cent uptick in revenue.
His chain had been fined about a dozen times in the past eight to nine months, he recalled, and the lifting of social-distancing rules would not only save compliance costs, but also avoid conflicts between frontline staff and less tech-savvy elderly customers.
