How it started
Founding
The founders of Café de Coral are Victor Lo Tang-seong (1915–2016), brother of Vitasoy founder Lo Kwee-seong and Fairwood founder Lo Fong-cheung, and his nephew, Lo Kai-muk. Victor Lo had the idea of running a restaurant that would feed the working class of Hong Kong at affordable prices. He incorporated Café de Coral in 1968 and started to operate the first location in Causeway Bay in September 1969 at the age of 54.
The chain gradually expanded over the next decade. In 1977, it started promoting its restaurants through TV commercials. In 1979, it established its first food-processing plant in a move to lower costs and ensure consistency. In 1986, the Café de Coral Group went public. In 1988, it opened its 50th Café de Coral restaurant. The years after this were marked by diversification, when it went on a buying spree.
Acquisitions and expansion
In May 1990, Café de Coral made its first acquisition by buying out the Ah Yee Leng Tong chain for HK$14 million. A year later, it acquired The Spaghetti House, a popular chain that served HK-style Italian food. The same year, it opened up its second food-processing plant. In 1992, it opened both its 100th restaurant and its first restaurant outside Hong Kong in the nearby city of Shenzhen.
In 1996, Café de Coral opened the first location of its new restaurant brand, Bravo le Café. Also in 1996, it acquired Scanfoods, a ham-processing and food-distribution business. In 1998, it started yet another restaurant chain called Super Super Congee & Noodle.
From Wikipedia’s article on Café de Coral, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2