The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 1985–2025
Four Seasons Hot Pot created all-year hot pot in HK — all 3 stores closed after 40 years
春夏秋冬火鍋 (Four Seasons Hot Pot) created the 'all-year hot pot' category in Hong Kong and ran 3 branches across the city — then closed every one by May 2025.
Four Seasons Hot Pot (春夏秋冬火鍋) · 2025-05-31
What happened
Four Seasons Hot Pot (春夏秋冬火鍋) opened in the mid-1980s in Prince Edward, pioneering what became known as 'all-year hot pot' (一年四季打邊爐) — a category that had been seasonal before. It grew through the 1990s, opening branches in Cheung Sha Wan, North Point, and Causeway Bay, operating three stores simultaneously at its peak.
For nearly 40 years, the restaurant was a fixture of Hong Kong's dining scene. Its concept — hot pot available every day, regardless of season — became a norm across the city. But the business was built for a different Hong Kong: one where locals dined out frequently and spent generously on group meals.
By 2025, only the original Prince Edward store remained. On May 31, 2025, it closed its doors for the last time. The owner cited multiple pressures: the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on restaurant traffic, a fundamental shift in Hong Kongers' dining habits, and the growing trend of cross-border spending — with consumers choosing to eat in Shenzhen instead. A 40-year institution that had created a dining category was gone.
Why it happened
- The restaurant's 40-year model assumed Hong Kongers would keep spending on group dining — the pandemic broke that habit permanently, and northbound spending accelerated the loss of local patrons
- With only 3 stores at peak, the chain had limited scale to absorb shocks — when one location struggled, the others could not compensate
- The concept of 'all-year hot pot' was eventually copied by countless competitors, from budget chains to premium restaurants, eroding the differentiation that made Four Seasons unique
- Operating a sit-down hot pot restaurant in a city with rising rents and thinning margins became unsustainable — the Prince Edward location, a 40-year landmark, was also a 40-year cost burden
The lesson
Category creation does not guarantee survival. Four Seasons created all-year hot pot — but being first meant nothing when the market changed and competitors copied the concept.
Sources
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