8鍋臭臭鍋 — Taiwan's stinky tofu hotpot chain exited HK after 10 years

8鍋臭臭鍋 (8 Pots HK), a Taiwanese stinky tofu hotpot chain, closed its last Hong Kong store in June 2026, ending nearly a decade in the market. The final location at Kwai Fong (葵芳匯) shut when its lease expired. The brand announced the exit on April 1, 2026, citing the difficult local dining market.

The chain had been shrinking for years. It first opened in Hong Kong in 2016 on Tsim Sha Tsui's Kimberly Street (金巴利道), then expanded to Causeway Bay in 2018. That store closed in July 2023. The TST location followed in 2024. The brand's last attempt was a Kwai Fong store that opened in July 2023 — it lasted barely three years before becoming the final closure in June 2026.

The parent brand was founded in 2005 in New Taipei City, Taiwan, and built a franchise network of more than 40 stores across Taiwan over a decade. Its signature dish, the '招牌臭臭鍋' (Signature Stinky Tofu Hotpot), contained 15 ingredients including stinky tofu, clams, fried tofu skin, cabbage, pork, meatballs, rice blood cake and pork intestine. Despite the brand's success in its home market, it could not make the economics work in Hong Kong, where post-pandemic rents, labour shortages and consumers spending across the border proved insurmountable.