With no tourists, fine-dining restaurants in Hong Kong must adapt to survive the coronavirus pandemic
- Hong Kong’s dining industry, already affected by months of anti-government protests, is in crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic
- Fine-dining restaurants have been hit hard and, with a recession coming, need to streamline and innovate to stay afloat, food and beverage consultants say
On my way home from work on March 11, I received a WhatsApp message from a friend in the hotel industry telling me she had heard that Rech by Alain Ducasse in the InterContinental Hong Kong was closing that evening, and that all the kitchen staff and servers would be laid off.
It was shocking news. A big name like Ducasse and a Michelin star retained for three consecutive years was not enough to keep the restaurant going. I checked the hotel’s website and the fine dining contemporary French seafood restaurant had already been scrubbed off even before the evening dinner service was over.
It turns out the staff weren’t told until that afternoon that they would be let go that evening; it doesn’t seem like they had an inkling that such drastic action would be taken.
