Hong Kong high street retail rents are plummeting – but that hasn’t stopped one clueless Jordan landlord from trying to impose a 120 per cent monthly rent rise on a well known dessert cafe.
The family owners of Kai Kai Dessert on Parkes St say they were forced to find new premises after their unidentified landlord advised the rent would increase from $100,000 a month to $220,000 a month when their lease is up for renewal next March.
“We would have to sell 11,578 bowls of dessert just to pay for the rent,” explained second generation owner Chiu Wing-ken.
Chiu believes the rent hike may have been imposed after the building’s owner learned Kai Kai had been listed in the new street food section of the latest edition of the Michelin Guide. He told Metro Daily it would be “ironic” if the business lost customers because they went to the address in the guide and couldn’t find the shop.
Initially Chiu said he decided to close the traditional Cantonese dessert shop, but patrons who heard of the eatery’s plight rallied and a new location has been found in Ning Po St in Yau Ma Tei where the rent is just $90,000 a month.