The Hong Kong government has given 1,000 restaurants the city’s first permits to allow dogs on their premises starting July 9.
Department of Food and Environmental Hygiene (FEHD) said on Friday that she “conducted an open vote today and allocated 1,000 quotas for allowing dogs to enter the food premises according to the result of the vote.”
Among the 1,000 restaurants, 343 are located on Hong Kong Island, 326 in Kowloon and 331 in the New Territories.
With 111 licensed restaurants, Wan Chai has the largest number of dog-friendly restaurants.
According to the FEHD, restaurants must pay a fee of HK$140 and change their licenses before June 24.
They are also required to display dog-friendly signage at their venue entrances.
Cathay Chu, who runs Wan Land Cafe with her husband, told HKFP by phone on Friday that their two branches had received the permits.
“We are happy that we have now received the permits, which will make our business easier,” Chu said.
“And as dog owners ourselves, we consider the new policy to be progress for the city.”
Wan Land has always been dog-friendly, she said. However, because dogs were banned from restaurants, restaurants had to be really careful and were always worried about FEHD inspections.
“It’s really difficult to run a dog-friendly restaurant. Dogs can only stay in the area outside the cafes. Besides, some customers who don’t really like dogs will be confused as to why there are dogs around,” Chu said in Cantonese.
FEHD officials will visit licensed restaurants on Tuesday and Wednesday to brief their operators on legal requirements, the department said.
Over 2200 applications
FEHD said on Friday that it has received a total of 2,205 applications.
After removing duplicate, self-withdrawn, and known-ineligible applications, such as hotpot and barbecue restaurants, she conducted voting on the remaining 1,616 applications.
Earlier this year, Hong Kong has changed the relevant law to relax a decades-old rule that bans pet dogs in restaurants.
By the Food Business (Amendment) Regulation 2026 entry into force at the beginning of May, all fully licensed restaurants – except hotpot and barbecue restaurants – are eligible to apply for dog-friendly permits.
Under a new regime introduced earlier in May, dogs in permitted restaurants “must be kept on a leash no longer than 1.5 metres. The leash must be held by an adult or attached to a device”.
“Known dangerous dogs”, which are classified by court decision, and fighting dogs will be banned from entering restaurants.
