Closure of Hong Kong’s famous Taipan bakery leaves 211 employees seeking HK$32 million

The closure of a 41-year-old Hong Kong bakery chain, known for its “snow skin” mooncakes, has left 211 employees seeking help from labour authorities over HK$32 million (US$4.1 million) in unpaid wages, dismissal compensation and other debts.

The Labour Department has announced that the sum owed by Taipan Bread & Cakes mostly consisted of unpaid wages and dismissal compensation.

“We are very concerned about the incident and urge the affected employees to register their information with the department immediately,” a department spokesman said.

The Hotels, Food and Beverage Employees Association earlier in the day said it had offered help to 199 staff members, mostly factory workers, as of Tuesday.

The trade union also put the amount of money owed at more than HK$38 million, with the figure largely consisting of unpaid wages, payments in lieu of notice, and severance and long-service payments.

The Customs and Excise Department also said it had received two reports in connection with the bakery chain.

The Labour Department, whose figures were up to date as of 3pm Wednesday, said it had contacted Taipan’s management and urged them to resolve issues surrounding the unpaid sum.

The trade union earlier said bakery employees had anticipated the chain would close as it had not recruited more employees for producing and packaging mooncakes in mid-June, the period when sales usually started.

“Many staff members worked there for a long time. They hoped the company was just handling cash flow issues, so they stayed to see what would happen,” Nerine Yip Lau-ching, the association’s general secretary, told a radio programme.

She said the bakery chain had stopped paying wages since May and failed to contribute to employees’ Mandatory Provident Funds for one to two months.

Yip said she expected the local food industry to be able to absorb the workers from Taipan and revealed that a major bakery factory on Tuesday had expressed interest in recruiting the chain’s former staff.

Taipan earned its reputation in 1989 with the creation of snow skin, or snowy, mooncakes, which have a chilled glutinous rice flour skin instead of the classic pastry.

The bakery has been recognised as one of the city’s top brands by the Hong Kong Brand Development Council.

The chain was embroiled in controversy in 2019 after the founder’s son, Garic Kwok, was denounced by Chinese state media for supporting anti-government protests in Hong Kong, with mainland Chinese retailers halting sales of the brand’s mooncakes.

The blacklisting followed an attack in People’s Daily that criticised Kwok’s Facebook posts for supporting the “activities of those dressed in black” and “forwarding pictures to ridicule the government and police, which has aroused public anger”.

The chain was acquired by businessman Ricky Liu Chi-keung in 2021, with the brand’s fortunes declining sharply afterwards.

Appearing on the same radio show, wholesale and retail sector lawmaker Peter Shiu Ka-fai said the local bakery sector faced competition from across the border.

“The changes in local [business] are not that big. But in Shenzhen, you can see lots of special products there, and their prices are lower than ours,” he said.

He added that rents made up a large part of businesses’ operational costs in Hong Kong and urged landlords to start discussions on contract renewal and rent earlier amid poorer revenue streams for some shops. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST