24-06-2025
Hong Kong bakery chain Taipan shuts down after 41 years, owing salaries, rent
Hong Kong bakery chain Taipan Bread & Cakes, which created the famous snowy mooncakes, has shut down all its stores after 41 years in operation, reportedly owing salaries and rent.
The news comes after local media reported three of its outlets, at Choi Hung, Tai Wai and Whampoa MTR stations, were closed on Sunday, allegedly due to overdue rent.
According to a notice posted on the front door of the bakery's parent company, Vast Luck Group, Taipan ceased operations immediately after suffering from 'unpredictable and overwhelming challenges recently,' CableTV reported on Tuesday.
Taipan ran 12 shops across Hong Kong, its website showed.
Calls to Vast Luck Group's office and all 12 Taipan branches went unanswered on Tuesday morning.
On Sunday, days before Taipan's closure, the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) said on Facebook that the bakery owed its staff salaries.
In response to HKFP's enquiry, the FTU said that as of Tuesday noon, around 80 Taipan staff members had sought its help over unpaid salaries and that the union would assist some employees in going to the Labour Department to file a report.
HKFP has reached out to the Labour Department for comment.
Local magazine East Week reported in April on Taipan's financial problems, saying that multiple companies took the bakery to court over outstanding rent and that it failed to pay its staff salaries on time.
41-year history
Taipan was founded by Kwok Hung-kwan in 1984. Five years later, in 1989, it rolled out its signature snowy mooncakes – chilled mooncakes with mochi-like glutinous skin and sweet fillings. The company ran 27 shops in Hong Kong at its peak, according to East Week.
After mainland Chinese media reported that the son of Taipan's founder supported the 2019 protests and unrest, many shops across the border removed the bakery's mooncakes in September that year, ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In 2021, Ricky Liu, chairperson of Vast Luck Group, acquired Taipan and transformed it into 'a Hong Kong brand that loves Hong Kong and the country,' according to a report published by state-backed newspaper Wen Wei Po in August 2023.
The paper praised the bakery as 'a living testimony to Hong Kong's transition from stability to prosperity.'
The shutdown of Taipan came amid a wave of business closures in Hong Kong. Earlier in May, chain restaurant Ocean Empire announced the closure of all its branches, putting an end to its 33-year history.
