Yung Kee Restaurant: family feud won't kill the golden egg-laying goose
So, this Hong Kong high-profile family feud goes like this: each of the two Yung Kee brothers had 45 percent of the company, then the younger brother went and bought the sister's 10 percent and placed his kids on the board, thus pissing off the older brother. Now, Yung Kee's eldest son, Kam Kwan-sing has actually sought a court order to wind up the restaurant's parent company Yung Kee Holdings Ltd. unless his younger brother, Kam Kwan-lai, buys out his 45 percent stake.
Best known for it's roast goose, Yung Kee Restaurant is an institution in Hong Kong's restaurant industry. A must-try on every tourist's agenda, it recently received one Michelin star. It is also serious business. The restaurant is located on an HK$1 billion block of prime real estate in Central and is worth over HK$100 million in net assets. In 2009, it turned over HK$50 million in profits. The younger Kam's lawyer opposes the wind up of a company that is successful and profitable.
Meanwhile, diners are flocking to the restaurant to get their mits on a roast goose, just in case everything goes belly up and Yung Kee closes its business in the near future. The SCMP said a customer who had planned a HK$80,000 Mid-Autumn Festival feast had become worried. But he needn't be. Barrister Jat Sew-tong SC, acting for Kam Kwan-sing, said to the SCMP that winding up the holding company "does not per se affect the business or the goodwill of the restaurant" and that the older Kam "does not seek to wind up Yung Kee Restaurant Group Limited, which is operating the Yung Kee Restaurant."
Watch this space for a review of Yung Kee Restaurant by professional foodies, to appear July 16.
Yung Kee Restaurant on CNNGo
