She left her office manager job at an MNC. A year on, she’s an award-winning hawker

SINGAPORE — Ms Michelle Yee, 35, recalled how when she first announced her plan to open her own hawker stall, her mother was worried that she would not be able to take the long working hours and tough conditions.

“There was a lack of confidence because everyone knew that there would be long working hours and the dishes I wanted to make was very laborious,” Ms Yee told TODAY in an interview at her stall on Wednesday (Oct 2).

“Even I wasn’t confident of myself, I’m surprised I could survive till now.”

She did not only survive. A year after taking the plunge, the owner of Hakka Hamcha And Yong Tou Fu stall in Smith Road is one of the recipients of the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) Promising New Hawker Award.

The award is given out to aspiring hawkers who have participated in the NEA’s Incubation Stall Programme, or equivalent programmes at the new hawker centres operated by socially-conscious enterprises.

Ms Yee, who has a diploma in business and accounting, had left a comfortable 9-to-5 job as an office manager at a multinational corporation. After six years with the firm, she said she had lost her passion for the job and wanted to have a business of her own.

“I wanted to have something that is created by and belongs to us, me and my husband,” she said. Her husband, Mr Alan Kok, 39, used to be a system field engineer.

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Then she stumbled upon the NEA’s Incubation Stall Programme.

Since the launch of the programme in February last year, more than 60 people have applied for incubation stalls, of which 20 have been successful.

Successful applicants are offered rental rebates and incubation stalls that are pre-fitted with basic equipment to lower the upfront capital investments and operating costs for when they are starting out.

Since then, NEA has made several enhancements to the programme, one of which included allowing the stallholders to convert their incubation stall to a permanent stall.

Having taken the leap, Ms Yee is not looking back.

“I feel very happy working with my husband and I get a lot of job satisfaction from what I’m doing now. Everytime I get positive feedback and encouragement from customers, I really appreciate it and it encourages me to carry on.”

What Ms Yee enjoys the most in her new job is interacting with her customers.

“For new customers and for those who don’t know about our dishes, I would actually spend time to explain to them what the dishes are about and some history about the food.”

Ms Yee got the recipe for her hamcha, or thunder tea rice, from her mother-in-law.

“The veggies that we use, we have to grind them. Why do we have to cut them so fine? Because as my mother-in-law always told me, it will bring out the taste more. At first, I didn’t really understand why but now I do.”

Ms Yee opens the shutters at 7am to start preparing the dishes and calls it a day only at 7pm. Despite the hard work and long hours, Ms Yee said that she hopes more youth will consider becoming hawkers.

She said: “I wish it (NEA’s Incubation Stall Programme) can encourage more youngsters to join this line. A lot of hawkers are getting older and some are looking to retire, some wish to continue but their health and body (are deteriorating).”