SINGAPORE HAWKER CULTURE O
n December 16, 2020, Singapore’s hawker culture was added to the Unesco list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Singapore’s hawker culture refers to a unique
community and lifestyle of vendors cooking and selling meals in 113 hawker centers across the city-state. The UNESCO distinction was timely, highlighting the importance of protecting the vendors during the financially challenging time of the pandemic. According to data from Singapore Food Agency (SFA), in 2020, there were 13,958 total licensed hawker stalls, of which 6,138 were selling cooked food. What makes these hawker stalls special is how each one specializes in cooking a specific dish, often mastering it over decades. For Singaporeans, the hawker center is an extension of their home. They buy their breakfast, lunch, dinner, even their kopi, teh tarik and snacks from the hawker centre. With offerings so cheap, most families buy a rice or noodle meal for SGD $3.50, rather than cooking at home. It is more convenient given the busy work schedules of Singaporeans. Despite the hawker culture’s place at the core of Singapore lifestyle, younger generations are often not interested in continuing the family business. The long hours, hot and tiring working conditions and small profit margins turn off the younger generation. The average age of a hawker vendor is now 59 years old.
Adapting to circuit breakers When the pandemic forced lockdowns, known as circuit breakers in Singapore, hawker culture was severely affected. All dining was prohibited in hawker centers, limiting their sales to takeaway. Some hawkers chose to stop trading because they lost money staying open. Although many restaurants in Singapore quickly adapted to online ordering and delivery systems, hawkers did not easily adapt.
Elroy Lim and Tai Zhang Kai (right) set up Hawker Heroes to get hawkers online
97
When the pandemic started, friends
Elroy Lim and Tai Zhang Kai immediately jumped in to help the hawkers. Lim remembers: “In April 2020, Singapore had a circuit breaker where everyone was restricted from going out. That’s when we saw hawkers, especially those in the central business district (CBD), affected badly because offices were closed. We decided we had to step in and do what we could to help the hawkers in the CBD area specifically.” These two corporate professionals in their early 30s started Hawker Heroes, with no experience in the food industry, deliveries, or creating an online ordering system. “We felt there was a need because we saw the older hawkers really suffering,” Lim says. He went to each stall, one-by-one, asking why they didn’t want to do online delivery platforms. He found the two main reasons were the high commission charged to hawkers in the multi-layer system that they go through and the need to learn the right technology. The two determined friends came up with a simple food delivery solution, easy enough for non-tech-savvy hawkers to use. While other delivery services charge 20-30% of their food cost, Hawker Heroes
“We saw hawkers, especially those in the central business district (CBD), affected badly because offices were closed. We decided we had to step in to help”
charged an additional 10% of the food cost to the customer, plus a flat rate of $8 for delivery island-wide from one hawker centre. Hawker Heroes served six hawkers located within the CBD.
“I can claim we are probably one of the
first to have a so-called mix-and-match model enabling consumers to buy across various different hawkers,” says Lim. While there was a lot of scepticism from older hawkers at first, wondering who this young man was, walking around asking them to try food delivery, with many of them losing money some decided to give it a try since there was no financial cost to them. One vendor selling muffins doubted anyone
ASIA PAC
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132
