After You Dessert Cafe's first overseas store was in Hong Kong — all closed within 3 years

After You Dessert Cafe was one of Thailand's most popular dessert chains, with over 50 outlets across Thailand serving its signature mango sticky rice shaved ice and Thai milk tea bingsu. In January 2022, during the final stretch of the pandemic, the brand opened its first overseas branch in Hong Kong — a significant international expansion for a brand built entirely on domestic success.

The Hong Kong expansion started with a Causeway Bay location, followed by a flagship store on Lee Tung Avenue in Wanchai and a third at the newly opened AIRSIDE mall in Kai Tak. For a dessert brand entering a new market during a pandemic, three stores in two years seemed like steady progress. But the economics never worked. The Causeway Bay store relocated and the Wanchai flagship closed in April 2025. The last location, at AIRSIDE, shut its doors on 27 April 2025.

After You's parent company said in its social media announcement that the closure was due to 'market downturn,' encouraging Hong Kong customers to visit its Thailand stores instead. Industry observers noted that Hong Kong's high rent structure, declining local dining traffic from cross-border consumption, and intense competition in the dessert segment made it nearly impossible for a single-brand overseas outpost to achieve profitability.

The case shows that a strong domestic brand does not automatically translate to overseas success. After You was a household name in Thailand, but in Hong Kong it was a new entrant competing against established local dessert chains, other Asian imports and each of its three locations operated as an island — no brand density, no supply chain advantage, and no margin for error in a market where rent alone consumed most of its revenue.