How are Hong Kong restaurants faring 1 month into the dog-friendly scheme?

Restaurateur Ken Chu Ka-chun recorded a 20 per cent boost in business at one of his outlets at Kai Tak Sports Park over the past month, thanks to pet owners dining in under a government scheme allowing dogs into nearly 1,000 Hong Kong establishments since July 9. “We saw more dog owners coming in because people frequently walk their dogs around here,” said Chu, owner of Asura group, which has two restaurants with pet-friendly licences. The restaurant has separate seating areas for diners with pets and conducts a thorough cleaning after every round. Staff also kept an extra eye out for any violations, he said. Chu has been a vocal proponent of the pet-friendly policy online, sharing his insights into restaurant management, defending service workers, and calling for better mutual respect between customers and businesses. But his outspoken stance on social media also drew ire from critics of the policy and made him the target of what he described as malicious attacks on his restaurants. A Threads user replied to his post about his pet-friendly outlets: “Thank you for putting yourself out there; it makes it even more convenient for me to make complaints.” The comment reflected the wider social divide between pet lovers and opponents of the scheme, as more than 900 licensed restaurants navigated how to adhere to official guidelines while striking a balance between different customer needs in the first month. Shortly after the user commented, Chu said authorities received a complaint that his restaurant reeked, was infested with cockroaches, and that a diner had found a bug in their food. “Some people who dislike pets call to make false reports, claiming hygiene issues or pest sightings that do not exist,” he said. “When inspectors arrive based on a single anonymous call, it creates unnecessary pressure and wastes government resources. I believe complaints should require real-name verification or proof such as photos to prevent abuse.” More than a dozen restaurants surveyed by a local start-up, Petsona, said the policy brought an uneven boost to business in the first month, but most planned to stick with the scheme. In a study by the platform PawTable, 17 of 19 restaurants surveyed said they would continue with the scheme, with four considering expanding their pet-friendly areas. The platform compiled a map of pet-friendly establishments, with the team personally assessing their level of pet-friendliness based on criteria such as licensing, their amenities and the environment. Co-founder Tracy Tou Pui-weng said restaurants with licences fell into three categories: those experienced and prepared to host pets; newcomers trying out a new business opportunity; and those that took a wait-and-see approach before committing to the scheme. Eight out of the 19 restaurants surveyed said they did not notice a clear difference in new customers. Of the 10 restaurants reporting new customers, only three recorded a modest revenue lift while five saw little or no change in sales. “Most restaurants joined to drive revenue, though survey results show that immediate financial gains haven’t fully materialised yet,” co-founder Vincent So Kin-tak said. The report found that restaurants whose existing customers did not mind pets tended to retain their licences even without immediate revenue growth. While the scheme had stoked controversy online, the situation on the ground was not as bad, Tou said. Sixty-five per cent of 143 surveyed diners accepted having dogs at other tables, and only 6.3 per cent outright rejected the scheme. Top concerns among those rejecting the scheme included hygiene, noise and safety. So joked that some opponents of the pet-friendly scheme also used their map as a guide for which restaurants to avoid. In response to queries by the South China Morning Post, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said it received about 77 complaints related to the scheme and issued 77 verbal warnings as of August 5. The complaints mainly involved the location of dogs within the premises, utensils used by dogs, failure to properly secure dog leads, and dogs coming into contact with dining tables. As of August 5, the department received applications from 48 restaurants to revoke their permissions. “They mainly cited operational considerations such as inability to fully align with staffing arrangements or spatial segregation, or needing more time to prepare,” the department said. Demand for the scheme remained strong, it added, noting the number of licensed restaurants increased from 940 on the first day to over 980 restaurants currently. For Wan Land Mori, a cafe in Kowloon City, patronage by pet owners grew by about 30 per cent, with the establishment reporting more new faces since the scheme’s roll-out. “During peak weekend hours, the ratio of pet owners to general customers used to be at most 40 per cent, but now it can reach up to 60 per cent,” said owner Kelvin Chan Wing-leung. “The atmosphere in our cafe has become very jovial since we started allowing pets.” The cafe has separate dining areas for customers allergic to or afraid of pets, but the owners said they did not want to demarcate strict boundaries with partitions as integration was key to becoming a more pet-friendly society. Chan said he did not anticipate that the scheme would draw so much backlash at its inception, adding that his restaurant was also the target of baseless complaints. But he said his team did not want to let critics bring them down and would persist despite the disturbances. “We want to show everyone that this policy can work instead of shrinking with fear,” Chan said.

How are Hong Kong restaurants faring 1 month into the dog-friendly scheme?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Scheme has stoked controversy online but situation on the ground is not as bad, one industry expert says

Scheme has stoked controversy online but situation on the ground is not as bad, one industry expert says