High demand for high-priced zongzi

The Dragon Boat Festival is still three days away, but many major hotels in Taipei have sold out their high-priced rice dumplings, or zongzi.

Grand Hyatt Taipei introduced 3 new flavors of zongzi gift sets this year with their prices increased by some 150 NT per set due to rising cost compared with last year.

However, the demand was so high that they kept a low profile and didn't advertise the products. Even so, all the gift sets were sold out last week, forcing the hotel to release their Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes months ahead of time.

Other hotels, including Regent Taiwan, Taipei Shangri-La, Ambassador, Marriott, Hotel Royal and My Humble House Group, have had similar situations, saying that the price hikes by an average of 10- to 15-percent did not scare away consumers. (Photo Credit: Taipei Shangri-La)

My Humble House says their luxurious Michelin two-star rice dumpling set, priced at $4,200 NT for a set of 6, sold out in just 10 days for the initial batch of 300.

Meanwhile Regent Hotel Taiwan expects its revenue for the Dragon Boat Festival gifts to reach 35-million NT in total this year, that's 10 million NT more than the previous year.

Market analysts say over the past two years, business opportunities for rice dumpling gifts have boomed as many companies chose hotel rice dumplings as gifts for their clients, forming a new trend.

The fact that zongzi are mostly handmade by hotel chefs with limited production capacity has also added the value of the products.

Tanan Shangri-La launched its 2023 mooncake gift set "Bright Moon" with a mixture of local ingredients, a french recipe, and Japanese cake skin