The Hong Kong government has granted 1,000 restaurants the city’s first permits to allow dogs into their premises starting on July 9.
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) said on Friday that it “conducted an open balloting today and allocated 1,000 quotas for allowing dogs to enter food premises according to the ballot result.”
Among the 1,000 restaurants, 343 are located on Hong Kong Island, 326 in Kowloon, and 331 in the New Territories.
With 111 restaurants granted permits, Wan Chai has the highest number of dog-friendly eateries.
According to the FEHD, the restaurants need to pay a fee of HK$140 and amend their licences before June 24.
They are also required to display dog permit signage at the entrances of their venues.
Cathay Chu, who runs Wan Land Cafe with her husband, told HKFP over the phone on Friday that their two branches had received the permits.
“We are happy that now we’ve got 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 eateries, the restaurateurs had to be really careful and were always worried about FEHD inspections.
“It is really difficult to run a dog-friendly eatery. The dogs can only stay in the area outside the cafes. Besides, some customers who do not really like dogs will be confused as to why there are dogs around,” Chu said in Cantonese.
FEHD officers will visit those permitted restaurants on Tuesday and Wednesday to brief their operators on the statutory requirements, the department said.
Over 2,200 applications
The FEHD said on Friday that it received a total of 2,205 applications.
After striking out duplicated, self-withdrawn, and known-to-be ineligible applications, such as hotpot and barbecue restaurants, it conducted the balloting for the remaining 1,616 applications.
Earlier this year, Hong Kong amended the relevant law to relax a decades-old rule that bans pet dogs in restaurants.
With the Food Business (Amendment) Regulation 2026 coming into effect in early May, all fully licensed eateries – except hotpot and barbecue restaurants – are eligible to apply for dog-friendly permits.
According to a new regime introduced earlier in May, dogs in permitted restaurants “must be kept on a leash not exceeding 1.5 metres. The leash must be held by an adult or tied to a fixture.”
“Known dangerous dogs,” which are classified by court order, and fighting dogs will be prohibited from entering restaurants.
