Why foreign companies are still betting on Hong Kong’s culinary reputation

Despite a downturn in Hong Kong’s food and beverage sector, foreign enterprises are still betting on the city as a fine-dining destination, with a South Korean hydroponic ginseng grower and a 123-year-old Japanese confectioner choosing it for their first overseas ventures.
Jack Kwon, founder and CEO of Seoul-based Biofx, signed a deal with Hong Kong hydroponics firm Farm66 last Thursday to grow Korean gourmet ginseng in the city and sell it to local consumers and restaurants.
The deal marks the first time the Korean company has expanded hydroponically grown ginseng operations overseas.
Hydroponics is an indoor cultivation technique in which plants are grown not in soil but in mineral- and nutrient-infused water under LED lights, typically using a method that allows crops to be planted vertically on shelves to optimise space.
“We had several choices: Japan, Singapore, Vietnam and so on, but we made the decision to go to Hong Kong because Hong Kong is the number one fine dining market in Asia,” Kwon told the South China Morning Post.
The group also hopes to use Hong Kong as a springboard to other markets in the region, such as Singapore, Vietnam and Japan, he said.
He added that the process of opening a company in the city for his international ambitions was also the most flexible and that he had strong relationships with an accounting firm in Hong Kong, which provided support.
Kwon said all of the ginseng plant, including the stems and leaves, could be turned into products, unlike traditional ginseng harvested just for the roots. He aimed to bring that expertise, as well as marketing materials, to a Hong Kong urban farm.
Kwon said he had used ChatGPT in August last year to find Farm66 for his first overseas venture. The company will provide infrastructure and technologies for his operation in Hong Kong.
Gordon Tam Chi-ho, founder and CEO of Farm66, said his firm was currently looking for a site to house a container farm for hydroponic ginseng, and was confident that it could secure a place within a year.
“We learned a lot from them because from their research, the leaves are higher in nutrients and could also become products,” Tam said.
The leaves could be harvested every two months and used to make pesto, served in salads or brewed as tea, he added.
Victoria Wang, the farm’s chief information officer, said Farm66 used cameras linked to artificial intelligence and real-time data analytics, allowing Kwon to keep a close eye on the plants in Hong Kong while he was in Seoul.
Wang added that manipulating the LED lights could also help grow more, larger leaves, with adjustments done electronically.
Bringing in foreign capital has been a top priority for Hong Kong. The city’s investment promotion arm, InvestHK, has helped set up or expand 516 overseas and mainland Chinese companies in the city in the first eight months of the year, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau Ying-wah told the SCMP in an interview earlier this month. He believed they tapped the Hong Kong market because the city was “stable, safe and free”.
The investment came despite restaurant receipts and purchases remaining flat, with 0.8 per cent growth in value offset by a 0.1 per cent reduction in volume in the first six months of this year, compared with the same period last year.
Another newcomer to Hong Kong is Okaman Honpo, a 123-year-old producer of wagashi, or Japanese confectionery, from Tokushima.

The company recently launched its first overseas outlet in Hong Kong in collaboration with local brand Master Gift, owned by 78-year-old Hong Kong chef Wan Tat-kong, who has lived and worked in Japan for more than 30 years and whose food has received accolades there.
Kenji Okada, the 79-year-old fourth-generation owner of Okaman Honpo, said he had not thought about expanding the company beyond Japan but decided to do so after being persuaded by Wan, a friend.
The pair jointly developed wagashi that combined Chinese and Japanese influences for the Hong Kong market, in a project initially planned to run for five years.
“There is a limit to the [amount of] ingredients we have, such as sugar from cane, because we grow them on our farm, and cannot scale too much. So the company will focus on its Hong Kong business first,” Okada said through an interpreter.
Okada said he would have retired had it not been for Wan’s proposal to collaborate. But now he hopes that whoever takes over the family business will continue with the joint venture.
Wan said he would visit Okada’s workshop in Japan three to four times a year to jointly produce the wagashi, which would be delivered to Hong Kong at a more affordable price than what was currently available on the market.
“This is also a form of people-to-people cultural exchange between two countries,” Wan said.
Gary Ng Cheuk-yan, a senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Bank, noted that both businesses had partnered with Hong Kong firms to enter the market, adding that such synergy benefited both local and overseas enterprises.
“If the economy were great, perhaps they [foreign businesses] could just set up here on their own. In reality, it’s not as easy to do so, so this allows them to share risks and achieve a win-win scenario,” Ng said.
These collaborations demonstrate that businesses are exploring new growth avenues, from creating tailored products to reach customers more effectively to offering fresh dining choices, according to Ng.
Ng also pointed out that the target market segment for both the Japanese and Korean businesses, though smaller, appeared to be more premium and niche, which could present unique opportunities in Hong Kong.
Another factor prompting Korean and Japanese businesses to venture overseas is weakness in their domestic markets, even as specific sectors – such as semiconductors in South Korea and tourism in Japan – continue to perform well.
As a result, many enterprises were looking to export products to sustain growth, and Hong Kong pres…