Fulum Group introduces 3 Sunpark brands to HK to appeal to younger audience

Fulum Group Holdings (富臨集團) has inked deal with Japanese F&B group Sunpark Holdings, to introduce some of Sunpark’s brands into Hong Kong to appeal to younger audiences.  

This comes as part of Fulum's effort to expand its "Integrated Asian F&B" line in recent years. The group has adopted a strategy of full-time catering in order to meet customers' different needs throughout the day.  

The group has established various brands, including "Meokbang Korean BBQ" (炑八韓烤) and "The Charcoal Room" (柞木炭家), as well as introduced the Korean brand "Terrace in Seaside", which aimed to appeal to young customers. The cooperation with Sunpark is expected to further diversify the Group's restaurant portfolio. 

As part of the cooperation, Fulum intends to introduce "Takagi Coffee", "Karubi Kazan" and "Hachikian" to Hong Kong in the first phase. Takagi Coffee is a coffee house that provides specialty coffee, Japanese souffle pancakes and other light meals. 

Meanwhile, Karubi Kazan mainly offers handcrafted barbeque meat rice bowls. Hachikian, established in 1970 in Kyoto, is specialised in chicken dishes. According to the release, the restaurants will be located in the city centre with high foot traffic, which aims to attract the younger generation.  

Samuel Yeung, CEO of the group, said: "Hong Kong people have always favoured Japanese cuisine. Sunpark offers various specialty F&B brands and has decades of experience and insights into the industry, which is what Fulum is trying to achieve with our diversified restaurant mix. We are very excited about this strategic cooperation. Looking forward, we will continue to closely monitor the latest trends and hope to introduce more of Sunpark's brands, in hopes of offering even more gourmet options in Hong Kong."

Ken Takagi, CEO of Sunpark, said: "Sunpark is committed to bringing quality Japanese food at the highest level of hospitality from Japan to the world, one store at a time. We are honoured to partner with a strong partner such as Fulum Group. This cements our relationship as a family."

In fact, the strategic cooperation was brought about by the "Hong Kong F&B Mission", an initiative organised by InvestHK and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Tokyo) (香港經濟貿易辦事處). The mission was conducted in April 2023, with the aim of business matching between the F&B corporations in Hong Kong and Japan. 19 Japanese corporations and 20 Hong Kong corporations have participated in the mission.

Alpha Lau, Hong Kong's director-general of investment promotion, said: "When foreign and local players work together, in a strategic partnership such as that of Fulum and Sunpark, I believe the synergy will only mean even more opportunities and growth potential for both sides."

"This partnership is the result of our collaborated programme with colleagues at Tokyo ETO. Going forward Invest Hong Kong will continue to work with ETOs around the world to assist more mainland and foreign companies to set up their base in Hong Kong," she added.

Leo Tze, acting principal Hong Kong economic and trade representative (Tokyo), said, "Today I am happy to witness the signing of the first deal resulting from this mission, namely this partnership agreement between Sunpark and Fulum. I wish them every success in their business in Hong Kong. I believe this would be a good start and hope to hear more good news amid ongoing partnership discussion of the participant companies."

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