A union on Monday said it has received over 100 requests for assistance from former employees of a 33-year-old restaurant group.

The King Parrot Group reportedly notified staff on Friday that it was ceasing operations.

The Hotels, Food and Beverage Employees Association said the group's nine fully owned restaurants, including Coast Seafood & Grill in Causeway Bay and Dirty Skillet in Shau Kei Wan, have closed.

Nerine Yip, the association's general secretary, said former staff are claiming unpaid payments in lieu of notice, severance pay and holiday pay totalling over HK$1 million.

“We will first file cases with the Labour Department and try to contact the employer,” she told an RTHK radio programme.

“If that is successful, we hope to learn about the actual situation of the company. In the meantime, we also need to find out how much money is owed to the workers in order to assess whether the employer is capable of paying. If not, we hope the employer will sign a letter confirming that it is unable to settle the payments."

Unionist lawmaker Lam Chun-sing said he has received calls for assistance from about 30 former employees from one of the group's restaurants in Mei Foo, with unsettled payments estimated to be worth more than HK$2 million in total.

Meanwhile, Simon Wong, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said the reported closure of the group shows some restaurants are suffering significantly from people travelling out of town during weekends or long holidays

Some upscale restaurants have even seen a 60 to 80 percent drop in business, he said.