Food-court statistics are often published inside broader food-service or fast-food categories rather than as a single worldwide market series. Hong Kong provides a defined food-court-stall classification and detailed establishment data, while quarterly restaurant figures show the surrounding market. UK government valuation guidance adds a separate benchmark for turnover-linked rental value.
Contents
- How food courts are classified
- Establishments, people and vacancies
- The wider food-services economy
- Quarterly restaurant receipts
- Fast-food and food-court concentration
- UK turnover and rental-value benchmarks
How food courts are classified
The first point in any food-court analysis is classification. The Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification Version 2.0 (HSIC V2.0) assigns food-court stalls the six-digit industry code 561902. The classification places them within industry class 5619, “other meal service activities.” That class includes cooked-food stalls at food courts and takeaway outlets without seats.
This matters because official totals can combine businesses that do not operate in identical settings. Hong Kong’s annual food-services statistics define the published fast-food-shops group with HSIC codes 5612 and 561902. Food-court stalls are therefore included in that combined group in the 2024 food-services release, rather than being presented as a fully separate annual industry total.
For readers comparing food-court figures across countries, the classification boundary should be kept visible. A food-court stall may be counted with fast-food shops, other meal services, or a broader restaurant category depending on the statistical system. The Hong Kong figures below identify food-court stalls where the source does so and label broader restaurant or food-services measures as context.
Establishments, people and vacancies
Hong Kong recorded 240 food-court-stall establishments in 2025. Those establishments engaged 1,590 people and reported 20 vacancies. These figures come from Table 215-16010: Number of establishments, persons engaged and vacancies, which analyses establishments, people engaged and vacancies by industry sub-class.
The same 2025 classification table gives a useful comparison with other eating places with seats. That group numbered 1,110 establishments, engaged 7,230 people and reported 60 vacancies. The comparison is within the same table and classification context; it is not a global estimate or a measure of every seated restaurant in every market.
| Hong Kong industry sub-class | Establishments, 2025 | People engaged, 2025 | Vacancies, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food-court stalls | 240 | 1,590 | 20 |
| Other eating places with seats | 1,110 | 7,230 | 60 |
The food-court-stall category is therefore smaller than the comparison group on all three reported measures. The published counts also show why establishment totals alone provide an incomplete picture: staffing and vacancies describe the operating footprint and labor demand recorded at the same measurement point.
The source labels these as establishments, people engaged and vacancies, rather than sales or customer visits. They should not be converted into average sales per stall, productivity, vacancy rates or customer volumes without additional data. No such calculations are needed to establish the basic scale: 240 identified food-court-stall establishments and 1,590 engaged people in Hong Kong in 2025.
The wider food-services economy
Food-court stalls sit inside a much larger food-services economy. The Key Statistics on Business Performance and Operating Characteristics of the Food and Accommodation Services Sector, 2024 Edition reports Hong Kong food-services receipts of HK$117,410 million in 2022, HK$142,088 million in 2023 and HK$139,755 million in 2024.
These are annual food-services totals, not food-court-stall receipts. They provide market context for the environment in which food courts operate, while the classification notes explain why a food-court-only total cannot be inferred from them.
For 2024, the same release reports HK$47,071 million in food-services operating expenses, HK$46,052 million in cost of goods sold and HK$44,230 million in compensation of employees. It records a gross surplus of HK$2,402 million and industry value added of HK$46,035 million. Each measure describes a different part of business performance, so they should not be treated as interchangeable profitability figures.
| Hong Kong food-services measure | 2024 value |
|---|---|
| Receipts | HK$139,755 million |
| Operating expenses | HK$47,071 million |
| Cost of goods sold | HK$46,052 million |
| Compensation of employees | HK$44,230 million |
| Gross surplus | HK$2,402 million |
| Industry value added | HK$46,035 million |
The sector included 15,351 food-services companies in 2024 and engaged 223,201 people. For comparison, 2023 included 15,516 companies and 225,468 people engaged. These company and employment totals cover food services broadly, not only the 240 food-court-stall establishments identified in the 2025 sub-class table. The periods also differ: the sector release reports 2023 and 2024, while the detailed food-court-stall establishment count is for 2025.
Quarterly restaurant receipts
Quarterly restaurant data offers a more frequent view of the market around food courts. Table 625-68001: Total restaurant receipts and restaurant purchases reports both measures for Hong Kong from Q1 2024 through Q4 2025.
| Period | Restaurant receipts | Restaurant purchases |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2024 | HK$28,208 million | HK$8,968 million |
| Q2 2024 | HK$26,871 million | HK$8,532 million |
| Q3 2024 | HK$26,748 million | HK$8,705 million |
| Q4 2024 | HK$27,566 million | HK$8,849 million |
| Q1 2025 | HK$28,036 million | HK$8,826 million |
| Q2 2025 | HK$27,095 million | HK$8,561 million |
| Q3 2025 | HK$26,675 million | HK$8,496 million |
| Q4 2025 | HK$27,827 million | HK$8,975 million |
Receipts were HK$28,208 million in Q1 2024, then HK$26,871 million in Q2 and HK$26,748 million in Q3 before reaching HK$27,566 million in Q4. In 2025, the reported sequence was HK$28,036 million in Q1, HK$27,095 million in Q2, HK$26,675 million in Q3 and HK$27,827 million in Q4.
Purchases followed a related but separate series. Hong Kong restaurant purchases were HK$8,968 million in Q1 2024, HK$8,532 million in Q2, HK$8,705 million in Q3 and HK$8,849 million in Q4. The 2025 figures were HK$8,826 million in Q1, HK$8,561 million in Q2, HK$8,496 million in Q3 and HK$8,975 million in Q4.
These quarterly figures are total restaurant receipts and purchases. They are not a food-court-only forecast, and the table does not identify the share attributable to food-court stalls. Their value for food-court readers is directional market context: food courts participate in a restaurant economy that is measured quarterly, while the dedicated stall category is reported through a different classification table.
Fast-food and food-court concentration
Because HSIC 561902 food-court stalls are included in Hong Kong’s combined fast-food-shops group, concentration statistics for that group are relevant but not exclusive to food courts. Statistics on Sectoral Concentration reports 931 companies in the combined group in 2023 and 932 in 2024.
The group’s four-company concentration ratio was 0.79 in both 2023 and 2024. Its eight-company concentration ratio was 0.84 in both years. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index was 0.140 in 2023 and 0.148 in 2024.
| Concentration measure | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Companies | 931 | 932 |
| Four-company concentration ratio | 0.79 | 0.79 |
| Eight-company concentration ratio | 0.84 | 0.84 |
| Herfindahl-Hirschman Index | 0.140 | 0.148 |
The reported ratios and index belong to the combined fast-food-shops group. They should not be described as the concentration of food-court stalls alone. The classification link between the two categories makes the figures useful for understanding the competitive setting, but it does not remove the scope limitation.
UK turnover and rental-value benchmarks
Hong Kong’s data describes establishments and market activity; the UK government’s Food courts valuation guidance provides a different kind of statistic. For a UK food court where the landlord controls kiosks and seating, the 2026 practice-note schedule applies rental-value rates to turnover net of VAT.
| Turnover band, net of VAT | Rental-value rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £1.75 million | 7.00% |
| £1.75 million to £2.3 million | 8.00% |
| £2.3 million to £4.0 million | 9.00% |
| £4.0 million to £5.85 million | 9.50% |
| £5.85 million or more | 10.00% |
The schedule uses a 7.00% rental-value rate for turnover up to £1.75 million net of VAT. The rate is 8.00% for turnover from £1.75 million to £2.3 million, 9.00% from £2.3 million to £4.0 million, 9.50% from £4.0 million to £5.85 million, and 10.00% for turnover of £5.85 million or more.
These are UK 2026 valuation benchmarks, not observed food-court profit margins, rent invoices or forecasts of Hong Kong sales. They are most useful when the question is how a government valuation schedule relates food-court rental value to turnover. Keeping the country, practice-note period, turnover definition and landlord-control condition explicit prevents the benchmark from being mistaken for a general worldwide food-court statistic.