Hong Kong has long boasted one of the world’s highest per-capita seafood consumption rates, but the closure in August of a high-profile seafood restaurant has highlighted the challenges facing the city’s seafood distributors.
Glorious Seafood Restaurant, located on the second floor of prominent mall Cheung Sha Wan Plaza, closed its doors without notice on 1 August, The Standard reported. The city’s Eating Establishment Employees General Union has been seeking to recoup unpaid wages for 50 workers who lost their jobs when the restaurant closed, which followed a spate of other restaurant closures across the city, according to the publication.
The reduced business is also evident in financial results of other prominent restaurant operators in Hong Kong. Dragon King Group Holdings Ltd., which operates full-service Cantonese style restaurants – a style of cuisine which features seafood prominently – saw revenue for the six months ended 30 June 2025 fall 78.2 percent year over year, a poor result considering the company closed two of its outlets the prior year.
Revenue generated from the company’s Dragon Gown restaurant chain fell by 38.1 percent in the first half of 2025, a decrease the company said “was mainly due to the business environment remaining challenging and the negative impact by the weak market sentiment.”
The downturn is likely to have an impact on the seafood industry in Hong Kong. The most recent statistics from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization show Hong Kong residents consume an average of 65 kilograms of seafood per person each year, more than three times the global average of about 20 kilograms.
Seafood importers blame a weakened economy for the restaurant closures.
“The bottom line is the Hong Kong economy is not good, especially in hospitality,” Chris Hanselman, who runs the seafood importer and distributor Pacific Rich Co Ltd., told SeafoodSource. “The western tourists are coming back in dribs and drabs, but nothing solid. The main tourists are mainland Chinese and they are of a lower economic demographic. They usually do day trips into Hong Kong and even if they stay longer, eat at more local, social media driven places, rather than traditional outlets.”
At the same time, Hanselman explained, Hong Kong locals are heading to the adjacent mainland city of Shenzhen for entertainment.
“The whole experience there is much cheaper, hotels, restaurants, night clubs etcetera,” he said.
Benjamin So, who runs seafood importer 178 Degrees, told SeafoodSource he thinks the worst impacted are traditional Hong Kong restaurants who have been jettisoned due to “a marked shift in consumer patterns, with an increased preference for less expensive options.” However, he was more optimistic about the future.
“My understanding is that the overall business sentiment has improved from the admittedly low levels of last year,” So said.
