A spokesman for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) announced today (March 1) that the Government has launched the Food Courts Subsidy Scheme under the fourth round of the Anti-epidemic Fund (AEF) to provide financial support to operators of eligible licensed food factories in operation. Application for the Scheme started today.

     The Government launched earlier the Catering Business Subsidy Scheme under the fourth round of the AEF to provide financial relief to the eligible licence holders of catering businesses providing dine-in services. A total of 16 315 applications have been received with 15 836 approved for the first tranche. The FEHD has earlier reminded eligible applicants to submit as early as possible a notification confirming their catering businesses are still in operation for the department to disburse the second tranche of the subsidy. So far, a sum of over $1,835 million has been disbursed under the Scheme. 

     Taking into account that the operators of food stalls in food courts inside shopping malls have also been affected by the measures on suspension of evening dine-in services imposed by the Government earlier on, the Government has launched the Food Courts Subsidy Scheme under the fourth round of the AEF to provide financial support to operators of eligible licensed food factories in operation. According to the Scheme, "food court" means a place inside a shopping mall comprising licensed food factories and an adjoining seating area (with both tables and chairs/stools) provided by the property management/owner of the shopping mall for non-exclusive use by its visitors, which may include patrons of the licensed food factories.
 
     Application for the Food Courts Subsidy Scheme will run from today until March 31. The subsidy scheme requires an applicant at the time of application to make a declaration, including indicating that the food business is still in operation, and if the business is not operated by the licence holder, consent from every operator(s) in respect of the food business on supporting the application for the subsidy scheme is required. A one-off subsidy ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 will be given to licence holders of food factories according to the floor area of the premises as specified on the licence for their business operation. 

     The application form and guidelines can be obtained from District Environmental Hygiene Offices of the FEHD or downloaded from the website of the FEHD (www.fehd.gov.hk), where details of the scheme are also available. Eligible food factory licence holders should submit their applications to the District Environmental Hygiene Offices of the FEHD in person or by mail. Upon receipt of the completed application form and supporting documents and after verification, the FEHD will disburse the subsidy in approximately two weeks by mailing crossed cheques to the corresponding licensed food premises.

Ends/Monday, March 1, 2021
Issued at HKT 17:10

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