First of 20 hawker centres to be built by Govt to open in Aug
SINGAPORE — The first of 20 new hawker centres to be built by the Government will open in August under the management of Fei Siong Food Management, which will run it on a not-for-profit basis.
Co-located with Ci Yuan Community Centre in Hougang, the centre will have 40 cooked-food stalls with 640 seats.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) had selected Fei Siong’s proposal over four others for its “strong emphasis on achieving social objectives and preserving traditional hawker food”, said the agency as it announced the appointment yesterday.
The NEA last year called for proposals from social enterprises to manage the centre in Hougang on a not-for-profit basis, following recommendations made by the Hawker Centre Public Consultation Panel two years ago to have more non-profit entities running hawker centres.
Fei Siong, which will set up a social-enterprise subsidiary to manage the centre, will be tasked with maintaining “moderate food prices to ensure affordable meals for the residents”, said the NEA.
Among the firm’s proposals is for it to take the lead in setting affordable prices by operating two stalls that offer food at lower prices. For example, it will charge 80 cents for a cup of coffee and S$2.80 for a bowl of its signature fish-ball noodles. These prices will set a benchmark for the remaining 38 stalls, which will also be required to include two affordably priced items in their selection based on price guidelines set by Fei Siong, said Mr Tan Kim Siong, group managing director of Fei Siong Food Management.
The firm will attempt to keep costs affordable for vendors by maintaining Hougang’s market rental for hawker stalls, which ranges from S$1,500 to S$1,800 a month on average.
All profits will be channelled back to the hawker centre. Half will fund schemes with social objectives, such as giving food coupons to the low-income. The other half will go towards training programmes and assistance to stallholders.
Among the initiatives to be funded is a new Entrepreneurship Programme aimed at grooming a new generation of hawkers who are keen to enter the trade, but lack the capital and knowledge to run a stall, said Mr Tan.
The programme will enlist retiring stall operators as consultants and will help with set-up costs, transfer knowledge of recipes and share business-management models with selected aspiring hawkers. It expects to rent at least 20 of the stalls at the new hawker centre to participants of this scheme.
Hawker centres are traditionally managed and run by the NEA. However, last year, the agency awarded NTUC Foodfare the tender to manage a non-profit hawker centre at Block 208B in New Upper Changi Road, also on a not-for-profit basis.
The shuttering of Kampung@Simpang Bedok in 2013, Singapore’s first hawker centre run by a social enterprise, due to a lack of financial support, has led some to question whether social enterprises are suited to run hawker centres.
But Mr Tan pointed to Fei Siong’s track record in managing 107 food outlets and stalls islandwide. It can also tap economies of scale to lower costs, such as food bought in bulk.
In March, the Government said it would build another 10 hawkers over the next 12 years. HOLLY MATTHEWS
