Sindy Wong is responsible for courting foreign investment for restaurant businesses to open and expand in HK.
Sindy Wong is cautiously optimistic about the future growth of Hong Kong’s food and hospitality scene, a sector plagued by challenges seen across the border, overseas, and locally with a slow return to pre-pandemic greatness.
Sindy is the head of tourism and hospitality at InvestHK, Hong Kong’s governmental department responsible for attracting foreign direct investment into the city. When foreign companies want to set up business in Hong Kong, they come to InvestHK for support.
“Working under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, InvestHK started in 2000. It consists of 10 industry teams dedicated to attracting foreign investment to Hong Kong,” Sindy told Foodie during a Zoom interview.
Hong Kong’s financial stability within the food and business and retail sectors has been changing by the return of foreign tourists to the city, a topic Sindy says is captured in daily conversation and media reportage.
“Today, there’s more attention about tourism and hospitality in Hong Kong. When you switch on the TV, you always find people talking about how many tourists are coming to Hong Kong, what new restaurants are coming in, and how many events are being planned.” The city’s tourism sector only makes up 4% of the city’s annual GDP.
At InvestHK, Sindy and her team are putting effort to attract foreign companies to Hong Kong, dually benefiting tourist and local consumption.
“At InvestHK, we help companies with business matching,” Sindy commented. The department is uniquely positioned to pair local chambers of commerce or business partners with foreign companies interested in expanding their operations to Hong Kong.
InvestHK have recently geared up their business program to pair local groups with overseas brands to stimulate foreign investment in the city’s F&B scene. “In April 2023, we invited the top 20 restaurant groups in Japan for a visit to Hong Kong to explore the business opportunity, eat at Hong Kong’s local restaurants, visit Japanese supermarkets, and speak with members of Hong Kong’s Japanese community.
“During the visit, a business matching day was hosted on the last day of the programme where we had local Hong Kong restaurants meet individually with their interested Japanese brands. After one year, we have seen more than five partnership agreements signed and two launched this summer.”
Sindy’s team found chopsticks food from nearby countries are expanding quicker into the city due to the region’s close proximity to Hong Kong.
Chongqing’s famous hotpot brand Chaotianmen have entered Hong Kong this year, Budweiser Brewing Company APAC has expanded its regional headquarters in the city, and Japan’s second biggest ramen company Machida Shoten opened their first store this summer.
As a joint initiative, InvestHK will work with the Korean Chamber of Commerce to invite a delegation of Korean restaurants to Hong Kong to explore the opportunities of feeding a local love for South Korea’s spicy and meaty food. “Our work is all about connecting in Hong Kong, matching businesses to the right partners to bring them to Hong Kong easier.”
Sindy comments that the appeal of doing business in Hong Kong is an apparent choice. “If you want to expand your business in Asia, you should come to Hong Kong. Open your flagship store and get more exposure for your brand in the city.”
Ultimately, due to the forward-thinking business policy and the “recent” trend of Shenzhen dining, many mainland Chinese restaurants see Hong Kong as the first stepping stone for business to expand internationally. Chinese barbeque chain Muwu BBQ, Hunanese restaurant chain Hui Jia Xiang, hot pot brand Little Sheep Hot Pot new flagship store, and Sichuan’s Shuyi Grass Jelly drinks company have all opened stores in 2024.
These new businesses entering the city will help balance local consumption and growth of spending, Sindy suggests, pointing to a warm future beckoning for Hong Kong’s challenged F&B sector.
“For Hong Kongers, we have always travelled to Shenzhen, but now consume more at local restaurants in the north. We cannot complain too much when the business competition is not just from Shenzhen, but the whole Greater Bay. Prices have been rising for meals in Shenzhen, as opposed to six months ago.”
“Hong Kongers will continue to travel to Shenzhen and Japan, for instance, yet this city provides a good selection of cuisines. If our local restaurants can provide good experiences to customers, Hong Kongers will stay to spend their money.”
At the turn of a buzzing and hot summer, business at InvestHK in the second half of the year is ramping up with more food and beverage events to woo foreign restaurants to join the F&B space.
Sindy is planning investment promotion events and seminars in Henan, Seoul, and Singapore to promote Hong Kong as a primed destination to set up a food business. For small to medium restaurant enterprises plotting a Hong Kong move, she says to “not be shy” to inquire about InvestHK and the government’s funding schemes to utilise the fund beneficial to business development.
Read more on InvestHK’s website to see which new foreign restaurants are calling Hong Kong home.
