Dim Sum Delight Sdn Bhd, the operator of the two Tim Ho Wan restaurants in Malaysia, closed both early this month as they were not profitable. For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016, Dim Sum Delight incurred a loss of RM895,642.
The local owners were not known to have given any reason for the poor business.
The problem arose however when Mak Kwai Pui, the founder of the Hong Kong-based Tim Ho Wan chain, explained the reason for the poor business to the Hong Kong media.
He had reportedly said that business had been bad because Malaysia’s majority Muslim population did not eat pork.
Traditional dim sum dishes feature pork heavily, and Tim Ho Wan in particular had earned a reputation for its barbecue pork bun.
Mak had also apparently compared running a Chinese restaurant in Malaysia to “operating a sauna business in a remote desert”.
But Malaysian Chinese have taken offence to Mak blaming the Muslim majority population in Malaysia as the reason why he shut down the restaurants. In fact, it has triggered a heated discussion, with many commenting online that it was irresponsible to blame Muslim culture.
Malaysian Chinese journalist Wan Qing was quoted by the Chinese Cross-Border Question and Answer project as saying there was a huge number of dim sum restaurants in Malaysia that were doing well.
“According to reactions from Malaysian netizens on Facebook, the price of Tim Ho Wan is too high, the quality of food is so and so, service is poor and the flavors of the dishes were not localised. These are more likely the main reasons for its failure,” he was quoted as saying.
He was also quoted as saying that the 6.65 million Chinese population in Malaysia was equal to 90% of Hong Kong’s population and it could, therefore, support the Chinese restaurant business.
According to reports, Mak and chef Leung Fai Keung opened the first Tim Ho Wan restaurant in Hong Kong in 2009. The two have since opened more than 40 around the world.
But, this is not the only Tim Ho Wan restaurant to have closed. One of its three Sydney locations is reported to have quietly ceased business operations this month.