TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Din Tai Fung has ceased operations in Australia after it was fined for underpaying workers.
The restaurant chain confirmed to 7NEWS.com.au that it has “terminated its franchise rights in Australia." It added that “any future plans regarding the Australian market are still under evaluation."
Australia's Fair Work Ombudsman said on April 10 that Din Tai Fung deliberately underpaid 17 employees at its restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne between July 2014 and June 2018. Din Tai Fung was fined NT$81.74 million (AU$3.89 million) after three branches were found to have intentionally underpaid migrant workers and falsified salary records.
On Tuesday, the news channel reported that in recent months, Din Tai Fung's branches in Australia have been replaced with a new chain called Double Chin Eats. The new chain has the Mandarin name Double Happiness written in Simplified Chinese (双囍), indicating Chinese ownership.
The chain's new restaurants have the same addresses as the previous Din Tai Fung branches. The new eateries reportedly have many of the same employees and similar or even identical menu items.
A Double Chin Eats employee told the news channel the menu is no longer focused exclusively on Taiwanese dishes and instead has a “broader range of Asian cuisine.” The worker said that Double Chin Eats is run by a company that had "bought everything from the old one, including the employees."
The report noted that all of Din Tai Fung's branches on Google Maps are listed as “permanently closed.”
The Fair Work Ombudsman told the news channel that two operators of the World Square branch in Sydney, general manager Hannah Handoko and HR manager Sinthiana Parmenas, had paid their fines of AU$92,232 and AU$105,084, respectively. However, the FWO said it has yet to receive payment from Din Tai Fung.
