Food and grocery delivery service Honestbee Taiwan on Saturday said that it has suspended its operations in the nation.
The Singapore-based company said it is trying to resolve payment issues and asked its employees not to report for duty.
“We regret to announce that our management team in Taiwan has received instructions from the Singapore headquarters office that we are to immediately suspend all our business operations in Taiwan,” the company said in a statement.
Photo: Chen Ping-hung, Taipei Times
The company said it is awaiting further instructions from the headquarters “to ensure that the operating problems can be mitigated and solutions found, then we will resume our business operations in Taiwan.”
The company launched in Taiwan in January 2016.
The suspension came only days after representatives of a “victims self-help association” on Wednesday held a protest outside Taipei City Hall to demand payment from the firm and asked the government to help get their money back.
Association spokespeople said that Honestbee Taiwan owed about NT$7.79 million (US$250,708) to mostly small businesses and shop owners across the nation.
A total of 286 food suppliers and restaurateurs were ready to file a class-action lawsuit against the company, they said.
Honestbee Taiwan’s official Web site and social media pages were still online as of press time last night, and people who said they were owed money by the company posted messages on them.
“We had 10 restaurant owners who had received back payments on Friday, so Honestbee Taiwan has not declared bankruptcy and is still operating. We will follow up to monitor the development of payments for our members,” association head Chen Chien-hao (陳建豪) said yesterday.
Honestbee Taiwan’s Taipei office had been empty over the past few days and it was closed after the suspension was announced, Chen said.
He said that Honestbee employees were instructed to work from home for their own safety, as there had allegedly been altercations with shop owners and creditors demanding payment, he said, citing unknown sources.
Company officials have promised to deal with the payments and other problems, saying they were waiting for funds to be transferred from Singapore, he added.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
PAWSITIVE IMPACT: A shop owner said that while he adopted cats to take care of rodents, they have also attracted younger visitors who also buy his dried goods In Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕), cats lounging in shops along Dihua Street do more than nap amid the scent of dried seafood. Many have become beloved fixtures who double as photography models, attracting visitors and helping boost sales in one of the capital’s most historic quarters. A recent photo contest featuring more than a dozen shop cats drew more than 2,200 submissions, turning everyday cat-spotting into a friendly competition that attracted amateur and professional photographers. “It’s rare to see cats standing, so when it suddenly did, it felt like a lucky cat,” said Sabrina Hsu (徐淳蔚), who won the NT$10,000 top prize in
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS