More than a quarter of Hong Kong’s one-, two-, and three-Michelin-starred restaurants have closed their doors since the MICHELIN Guide Hong Kong was first launched in the city in 2009.
Roughly 25%, or 41 restaurants, out of a total of 163 that have seen Michelin success in the past 15 years have closed their doors, attributed to effects from the protests, COVID, and what a recent study has called the “Michelin kiss of death.”
This analysis from Hong Kong comes after a study published in the Strategic Management Journal found that 40% of restaurants in New York that were awarded a Michelin star between 2005, when the Guide first came to the city, and 2014 had closed by 2019.
Recent closures of Michelin-starred restaurants in Hong Kong, such as Aaharn, Rech by Alain Ducasse, The Drawing Room, The Ocean by Olivier Bellin, Écriture, and D.H.K., have highlighted the financial pressures and expectations facing restaurateurs following Michelin acclaim.
