Commentary: Singaporeans’ reluctance to pay more for hawker food is endangering the trade

[kobayashiGT]

On 1/7/2025 at 12:05 PM, Ahwhye said:

me too... but seriously whoever think hawker or kopitiam food is any healthier than fast food should think again..

One time I wanted to buy boiled soup (ABC or some veggie soup) for lunch, I was a bit early, they told me come back in 10 min, then I saw them took one big ladle of yellow powder from a plastic jar and stir into the soup pot. I never went back.

 

Ginger powder issit. Wanna make the soup more spicy only lah. 😄

[ER-3682]

Now Supermarket buy Frozen Food also not Cheap...1 pkt of Chicken Fingers also $6.00++

[macrosszero]

Ngl, hawker life is a tough life. Even on your off day you have to prepare for the next day. Wake up earlier than opening time to prep. But the G also raking in the rentals which surely form part of the hawkers’ expenses. But their excuse may be, that if rent is too cheap then the hawkers will be less hungry and open on less days. So charging a floor price is the way to go. But you can go to popular HCs like Tiong Bahru or Zion Rd or Serangoon Gardens and see that 20-30% on any given day are shuttered. Not because they’re resting but because no one CBFed to bid to operate it. Much has been made of the UNESCO hawker culture but the G isn’t doing much to help sustain it - and it being an affordable everyday meal for the hardworking Singaporean.

[Ahwhye]

On 1/7/2025 at 3:05 PM, kobayashiGT said:

 

Ginger powder issit. Wanna make the soup more spicy only lah. 😄

eh... definitely not ginger or tumeric powder, that amount would make the soup ginger juice liao

[Ender]

Now mcdonald also expensive, coz there are hardly any discount on their quarter pounder or big mac anymore.  Nothing to choose for points redemption.

My current favorite is Shiok Burger. The Mala Chicken set is only $5.99 and comes with chili beef cheese fries and lemon coke. And it's jin ho jiak. 

[Throttle2]

No problem lah, no chicken, can eat other meats

hawker too expensive, can eat home cooked, pack sandwich, bring water bottle.

we can do it , we are singaporeans.  Leave the good life to the foreigners who come here lah.

 

[Victor68]

If you compare food court operators rent against hawker center, you will understand the gap between the 2. I don't understand why there are still food court operators if hawker center operators cannot survive. What are the underlying issues?

My POV, many hawker center operators are paying food court rent to 'owners' with licence from NEA but act as landlord. Hawker centers are also badly managed. For the same price, I would prefer food court.

[Davidklt]

On 1/7/2025 at 11:35 AM, kobayashiGT said:

Really leh. I also recently eat more fastfood. More worth it even though it is not healthy. hahaha. 
beggar can't be chooser. 

You are right. MCD is cheaper than some chup chai peng nowadays.

[Davidklt]

On 1/7/2025 at 4:57 PM, Ender said:

Now mcdonald also expensive, coz there are hardly any discount on their quarter pounder or big mac anymore.  Nothing to choose for points redemption.

My current favorite is Shiok Burger. The Mala Chicken set is only $5.99 and comes with chili beef cheese fries and lemon coke. And it's jin ho jiak. 

Their portions are generous too. MCD ones shrank a lot.

[Davidklt]

But some Singaporeans also one kind one la. Complain about hawker food prices but have no qualms about paying $6 for a cup of premium bubble tea. And queue for it some more.

[Throttle2]

On 1/7/2025 at 5:52 PM, Davidklt said:

But some Singaporeans also one kind one la. Complain about hawker food prices but have no qualms about paying $6 for a cup of premium bubble tea. And queue for it some more.

Yeah, such people are jian huo.... heee heeeeee

[Jellandross]

On 1/7/2025 at 2:57 PM, Beregond said:

But while we are reluctant to pay a higher price for traditional hawker food. 

We are quite OK with paying the same high price for non traditional hawker food? Or fusion food. Or western food?

Raman,  spaghetti, bababa. Even if they are the same quality and quantity as our hawker food.? 

It's the unconscious bias in ppl's mind. Nothing to do with actual food quality. 

Hawker food = blue collar price 

Foreign food = premium price 

I enjoy my $15 Tai Hwa BCM once a while but my friend say $15 might as well eat Jap ramen because it's "more worth it". I ask him what is your definition of "worth"? He say hawker food cannot be worth the premium price no matter how good. Which is not even an answer.

 

[RadX]

In end blame us again lo

 

whats new…

[Sosaria]

On 1/7/2025 at 11:08 AM, SGMCF328 said:

Fear mongering? No one force them to bid for the stall at >$3K per month (I think the recent record was $10K for a food stall at hawker centre? siao). Now that budget meal (with minimal liao and small portion) priced at $3.50, still cannot make money? Or was it the high cost of living which make a monthly income of $3K looking pathetic to the stall owners?

A hawker food advocate, I find myself turning to fast food more often than before, because a value meal with sides and drink cost <$6, while a plate of chicken rice with a few pieces of paper-thin chicken meat or a plain looking bowl of laksa without egg or hum with coffee cost >$6, the sum just don't add up.

Like it or not, high property price (with coffeeshop changing hand at 8 digits figure) does has an impact on commoner like us, and now we are blamed for NOT supporting hawker?

Is it reasonable to say that everyday Singaporeans rely on hawker food, hence it ought to be cheap amid high costs of living? Food writer Pamelia Chia weighs in.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/hawker-food-price-affordable-stall-rental-rising-cost-manpower-4836616

SINGAPORE: In recent years, the financial sustainability of Singapore’s hawker trade has become a pressing concern. Hawkers face numerous challenges, chief among them being rising costs of manpower and raw materials.

Some hawkers report operating costs exceeding S$10,000 per month. Yet, the public’s expectation for affordable food options forces them to operate with extremely thin profit margins, sometimes as low as 20 to 30 cents per bowl.

The ramifications of this financial strain are profound and manifold. For one, it deters younger generations from entering the trade. Some established hawkers, like Melvin Soh of the 17-year-old hawker business Toast Hut, have closed their businesses due to an inability to meet potential hires’ salary demands.

In the case of Toa Payoh zi char stall Hong Sheng Restaurant, which recently ceased operations after 50 years, older hawkers actively discourage their children from taking over. These are not isolated incidents but symptoms of a systemic problem.

However, implementing higher pricing is challenging for many hawkers. When hawker Douglas Ng raised his fishball noodle prices by 50 cents, his business dropped by 40 to 50 per cent.

How can we understand Singaporeans’ reluctance to pay for hawker food and the complex landscape of hawker food pricing?

According to former head chef Nurl Asyraffie Mohamed Shukor, who now runs hawker stall Kerabu by Arang, patrons at hawker centres expect fast, cheap and filling meals.

In an 8days interview, he explains: “A lot of people don’t understand my food and they ask, ‘why is it so expensive?’ They don’t understand the work behind it. For the chicken, I need to brine it for two hours, then marinate overnight. The whole process is very tedious but they only see rice, chicken, and salted egg on the plate and think it should be S$3.”

However, this seems not to be the case for BlackGoat, a popular hawker stall serving Western-style cuisine, with prices ranging from S$9 for a brownie to S$59.50 for 495g of striploin, significantly higher than traditional local hawker fare. According to BlackGoat’s reviews, customers deem the food “value for money”.

It appears that hawker patrons expect local fare to remain cheap, but are willing to spend more money on other cuisines. Is it a case of double standards?

While Singaporeans’ reluctance to pay more for hawker food could be attributed to internalised bias - where Singaporean cuisine must justify its worth, while foreign cuisines, such as Italian or Japanese, are priced without question - the issue is more complex.

Singaporeans perceive traditional hawker food as “everyday food” rather than an occasional luxury. While fishball noodles may require more work and incur higher production costs than aglio olio, for instance, one could argue that it is the frequent consumption, rather than its lack of inherent value, that drives consumers to demand lower prices.

After all, there are successful entrepreneurs who sell local dishes at premium prices outside traditional hawker centres.

For example, the air-conditioned restaurant The Coconut Club offers their signature ayam goreng berempah nasi lemak at S$22.80, while a bowl of prawn noodle at Zhup Zhup, an open-air restaurant, ranges from S$14 to S$20.

During a recent visit to Zhup Zhup well before dinnertime, I was surprised to see most tables occupied with customers. However, for most hawkers serving traditional fare at hawker centres, the notion that prices should be kept low persists.

Hawker centres provide accessible and affordable food options to all Singaporeans, rich and poor. In a 2018 National Environment Agency survey, 83 per cent of respondents said they eat hawker food at least once a week.

Hawkers are in an unenviable position as not only the providers of daily sustenance for Singaporeans, but also protectors of a UNESCO-recognised intangible cultural heritage. With chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease on the rise, there is an additional responsibility for hawkers to serve healthy options.

Is it reasonable to thrust these burdens on hawkers? Should hawker food still be considered everyday food, and hence kept cheap amid the high cost of living in Singapore?

In discussions on hawker food pricing, one cannot neglect the elephant in the room: Rent. In response to my commentary on the necessity for hawkers to raise their prices, some netizens suggested that increased hawker prices and consumers’ willingness to pay would only encourage landlords to further increase rental fees, leading to a cycle that does not benefit hawkers.

However, contrary to popular assertions of high hawker rents, data from the National Environment Agency (NEA) indicates that the median assessed market rent for non-subsidised market and cooked food stalls has remained at approximately S$320 and S$1,200 per month respectively since 2019, and only about 4 per cent of cooked food stalls in hawker centres are paying rent above the assessed market rate.

Proponents of keeping hawker prices low also argue that raised hawker food prices would disproportionately affect lower-income households. However, here’s the irony: The typical earnings of hawkers themselves fall within the second lowest income decile.

Having lived in Australia and currently residing in the Netherlands, I’ve observed that it’s common for locals to leave work punctually at 5pm or 6pm, allowing ample time to shop for groceries and cook at home. While affordable food options exist in these countries, they are not comparable to Singapore’s hawker food, which is accessible and fully integrated around workplaces and in housing estates.

In countries where eating out is expensive and people are compelled to cook, a shift in working culture is demanded. However, in Singapore, the situation is reversed: Hawker food greatly conveniences and subsidises the lives of Singaporeans.

To safeguard our hawker food culture, one of the solutions might be hiding in plain sight. We will need a healthier working culture - one that encourages Singaporeans to cook more at home, like that in other developed countries. While it may seem counter-intuitive, I believe that this cultural change would not only alleviate the pressure on hawkers to provide low-cost meals, but also potentially go a long way in preserving the trade for the future.

The debate about hawker food prices elicits complicated emotions in me. As someone who grew up on S$3 chicken rice and 50-cent char siu bao, the abundance of affordable yet superlatively good hawker food has always been a point of pride when speaking about my homeland or hosting international guests.

The confluence of good food and low prices in a developed country is so uniquely Singaporean. Yet as the hawker situation grows increasingly dire, I catch myself when I laud this.

Because when we talk about the affordability of hawker food as one of its key defining traits, or when we relish being a First World country where superb meals can be had at Third World prices, what are we celebrating?

Another article that is floating "test balloon" about further jacking up hawker food prices and getting us used to it.

[Throttle2]

On 1/7/2025 at 6:17 PM, Jellandross said:

It's the unconscious bias in ppl's mind. Nothing to do with actual food quality. 

Hawker food = blue collar price 

Foreign food = premium price 

I enjoy my $15 Tai Hwa BCM once a while but my friend say $15 might as well eat Jap ramen because it's "more worth it". I ask him what is your definition of "worth"? He say hawker food cannot be worth the premium price no matter how good. Which is not even an answer.

 

Singapore lang 99% is about brand, not Quality.  

 

[Throttle2]

Make your votes count.

Dont complain hor. 

What are the cost components of a hawker meal, everybody knows.

what is really killing them, everybody knows.

But until now I havent heard a hawker asking for an apology leh..... wahahhwahhhahhahha....

Well Done , I clap for you...

 

 

93 Mountbatten Road Points

Edited January 7 by Throttle2

[Atonchia]

On 1/7/2025 at 5:52 PM, Davidklt said:

But some Singaporeans also one kind one la. Complain about hawker food prices but have no qualms about paying $6 for a cup of premium bubble tea. And queue for it some more.

Different group of Singaporean.

This bubble tea and cafe lepak group won't go coffeeshop or HC for meals daily. 

Probably order grab food, so of course more expensive.

[macrosszero]

On 1/7/2025 at 6:17 PM, Jellandross said:

It's the unconscious bias in ppl's mind. Nothing to do with actual food quality. 

Hawker food = blue collar price 

Foreign food = premium price 

I enjoy my $15 Tai Hwa BCM once a while but my friend say $15 might as well eat Jap ramen because it's "more worth it". I ask him what is your definition of "worth"? He say hawker food cannot be worth the premium price no matter how good. Which is not even an answer.

 

I'd throw in a guess its the airconditioned premises as well as table service and even things like quality (disposable) chopsticks and a napkin. You don't get that with hawker food. 

Some may call these frills, but if hawker food is first meant to fill the stomach and second be tasty then people aren't going to expect Michelin star quality.

Honestly, IMHO Michelin stars ruin my dining experience because first the queues come then the prices go up and then the quality starts to suffer

Boon Tong Kee is my pet peeve example. I have not patronised them in 20 years but still the tour buses bring loads of tourists who don't know any better other than outdated recommendations