This article only represents the author's own views.
What do you do when your main restaurant business is hurting due to China’s slowing economy and frequent forced closures as a result of the country’s strict pandemic-control measures?
You splash out big money on a hip new headquarters. At least that’s the answer if your name is Jiumaojiu International Holdings Ltd. (9922.HK), owner of the trendy Tai Er restaurant chain known for its “sauerkraut fish.” This somewhat fishy-smelling story has all the trappings of a company trying hard to curry favor with its local government, in this case in Guangzhou, capital of south China’s affluent Guangdong province where Jiumaojiu is based.