A total of 13 restaurants operated without licences for three years at the Soho space of City of Dreams (COD) in Cotai, Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said Thursday, adding her office has ordered eight of them to close.
Senna Fernandes said the predicament was due to facility changes in two of the company’s hotels.
Soho is an indoor food street at City of Dream. It opened in 2014. City of Dreams is owned by Melco Resorts & Entertainment.
A number of restaurants at City of Dreams, such as Starz Kitchen and Chan Kee Roasted Goose, were recently ordered by MGTO to close since they were operating without licences.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the prize-giving ceremony of the 2016 Macau Green Hotel Awards held by the Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) at the World Trade Centre Macau in Nape, Senna Fernandes said her office learnt of the issue when its officials were inspecting Soho, adding that the office started to launch administrative procedures on the unlicensed restaurants last year.
Senna Fernandes said the restaurants were not licensed because of the ongoing changes to facilities at the two hotels, Crown Towers and Hard Rock Hotel, adding her office had been discussing the issue with the licence applicants.
“If (the facility changes) eventually fulfill all the (official) requirements, the licences will be issued (to the restaurants]),” Senna Fernandes said, adding that the procedures related to eight of the 13 restaurants had been completed while the remainder were still ongoing. She also said the eight restaurants were fined and ordered to close. She didn’t say if and when the eight eateries could be allowed to open again.
In an email in response to questions by The Macau Post Daily about the case, a PR official at City of Dream said: “We do not comment publicly on government licensing processes and procedures, however, the company and our restaurant operators are closely working with the relevant authorities on these matters.”
