Itacho Sushi closes last Hong Kong branch months after founder’s death
Chain founder Ricky Cheng died in April after years-long battle with pancreatic cancer
Hong Kong restaurant chain Itacho Sushi has quietly shut down its last remaining outlet, with industry insiders saying the company had been suffering over the past decade and eventually buckled after the death of its founder.
According to a check by the Post on Tuesday, the lights at the Causeway Bay branch were switched off and no staff members were spotted.
“As far as I know, all the branches in the franchise have shut down,” said Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades.
Wong added the chain had been struggling for around a decade, from legal battles and blows during and after the pandemic to the death of its founder Ricky Cheng Wai-tao after battling pancreatic cancer in April.
“[Cheng] began stepping away from the business after his diagnosis [in 2017],” he said. “Following his death, nobody was left to take care of it.”
Local restaurant directory OpenRice has listed all Itacho Sushi branches as “closed”, while the Companies Registry shows its mother company, Taste of Japan, has been deregistered.