Deep Dive Podcast: Is it sustainable for hawkers to offer budget meals?
Nothing gets Singaporeans more emotionally riled up than hawker food and their prices. But how do budget meal options affect the income of food sellers?
To help alleviate cost of living pressures, all coffee shops leased from the Housing and Development Board (HDB) will need to offer budget meal options by 2026. But how do such meals, which cost about S$3.50, affect incomes of hawkers?
Steven Chia and Crispina Robert speak to Dr Teo Kay Key, research fellow at IPS Social Lab, and Fabian Lim, co-owner of JOFA Meepok, JOFA Grill and JOFA-Oji Donburi.
Here's an excerpt from the conversation:
Crispina Robert:
So rent is one thing. You also have to pay for things like washing?
Fabian Lim:
Yes, for trash collection (and something called) ORA which is extra for using the space outside. You have an internal space and an external space where you (place) tables.
Steven Chia:
Basically, you're paying for (using extra real estate space)?
Fabian:
Yeah. And in some places they offer you plate cleaning. They wash your bowls for you so you pay them for that.
Crispina:
So all of this adds up ... and this is why you need to charge a little bit more for your bowl?
Fabian:
I think it's fairly reasonable. At the end of the day, we still have to run a business, right?
Steven:
Kay Key, what has your study discovered (about how much more we are willing to pay)?
Teo Kay Key:
We didn't get into the calculations, but we did talk to some of the hawkers who were willing to have a conversation with us. And the topic of rent kept coming up, as well as utilities.
So these are the two main overhead costs that they keep talking about when they say that, "I don't want to increase price, but then I have no choice, because all these things are adding up, and I cannot sustain selling it at S$2 anymore."
(But) they (also) feel very bad about increasing their prices. They have this kind of anxiety, or feeling bad for their customers for charging more.
Fabian:
That's very relatable. I charged S$4.50 for two years and then now I have to raise it to $5...
Steven:
Do people get very upset by this 50 cents increase?
Fabian:
I think some people are more price sensitive, yeah. Some they are more understanding.
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