Search Tips - Right Food Hawker Stall

If you are looking for a food hawker stall space, the first source can easily come from a few sources: NEA (especially on the licensing issue), the property agent and lastly, the stall owners themselves. I would advise new food entrepreneurs to understand the food business you want to be in. That is the most important step so that the following steps for you will be much easier and you can filter out the other things that you do not need to know too much about.

Be Focus on your Food Business
For example, if you already determine the food that you are selling, when you look at the necessary legislation required for the business, you can zoom in on the essential materials you need to be aware of to start the desired food business. At least give a thought on the food menu and the current market condition. The more thought you put into it, the more reason you would give yourself to set up that particular business.

Prevent information Overload
Another reason why you should understand the food you are selling is to prevent information overload. Life is simply too short and there is always tonnes and dozens of things to learn in any line. By understanding what you want to sell, why you want to sell and what is the current local demand, you give yourself the reason and this can sharpen your focus on the things you need to do to get the business going profitably.

Know essential Legislation rules to get Business Going
In every country, there are different legislations to comply in business. In Singapore business, this is no exception. There is always some kind of certificates and license to obtain and certain rules to comply. However, you do not need to know everything! Just need to know the sufficiently enough to run your business. Try not to think too much about the finance first. You can start thinking about that when you are scouting for the information on the legislation as well as seeking for equipment traders or food suppliers.

Sign the right Contract
Another reason why you should learn about the legislation is because you will find that there are some stall owners who would sign an informal lease contract to sublet the stall to you instead of using the official application form provided by the NEA. One of the reasons provided by the agent was because there might be some unnecessary high charges from the law suits due to any early withdrawal or compensation from either parties.

On the surface, it may seem like a good deal for both parties but I think such agreements should be avoided where possible, especially for new food entrepreneurs. It gives lesser commitments from the stall owners who sublet the stall to you and give you the false security of being able to withdraw from the stall without incurring too much costs. I can assure you that they will not make it easy for you to consider that option. Also remember that in any successful business, one should be more far sighted and this definitely does not help in making the business profitable in anyway.

Franchise or Not?

Having a successful hawker food business has re-defined itself and become more competitive these days. Modern food hawkers are finding ways to expand their food business so that there is scalability for the food business to grow exponentially. One of the most effective ways is to through Franchising.

To work towards the food franchise, it is important to start planning at the very beginning to produce the quality food product smoothly and consistently across various operators. The franchiser gains the franchise fee and from the food supplied to the franchisee, while the franchisee eliminates the hassle of re-designing the process from scratch and re-sourcing for food suppliers.

Besides that, the other main benefits are:-

1) Optimise the process of the making the food product

For every food business start up, it is very important to optimise the process in producing the quality food product you want to serve to your customers. The design of the process should consider various factors such as the selection criteria and the purchase of the food suppliers, the menu, the recipe, the food storage space and the food preparation area and design. Some of the hawker stalls do not have a back kitchen and the food hawker vendors need to consider the space constraints to store the food supplies. This also makes it more necessary to design the process well within the limited space.

2) Repeatability of the same quality food product

If the process is not repeatable, the business will not scale well. However, there may also be some concerns on the protection of the intellectual property rights for the business. Thus, to have the best of both world, some franchisers would take out certain portion of the process that may significantly affect the quality of food and simplify the process for the franchisee to produce the same quality food.

3) Scalability towards Autopilot

In any business growth, it is essential to consider the business scalability. When the business is repeatable and scalable, it allows the business to expand further for the unit franchise to expand into master franchise without affecting the quality of food across the operators.

'Secret codes' shouted in Coffeeshop

If you own a coffeeshop, you might be more familiar in the cultures than I do. I would like to share in this blog about some of the 'secret codes' that are commonly used in coffeeshop. Though you might not hear it as often as before, but you will know what it means when these codes are shouted across the coffeeshop.

Milo
If you order a cup of Milo (sweet cocoa drink), you might hear 'Tak Giu'. In chinese dialect, it means kick ball (usually referring to football). To connect 'tak giu' with milo, some of you might recall the milo advertisement on the soccer players and even have the drawings on the milo tin. Soccer is a common language across the world and so milo has been associated strongly with soccer this way. Strangely, for Ovaline (another cocoa drink brand), they simply call it 'Ah Hua Tian' (the Mandarin way of calling ovaline).

Tea
This one is very creative. They call it 'Diao Herh'. This is also chinese dialect which means 'fishing'. Perhaps they found that the tea bags attached to the string resembles fishing as they steep the tea bags in the cup of hot water with the action of hand, pulling and releasing the string. Then you'd twirl the strings around the cup handle, doesn't it resembles parking your fishing rod to wait for the fish?

Holicks
This one is quite rare but I was told that some call it 'Ho Ho Ho'. Some of you might be grinning by now because the old advertisment has the answer. For those who are lost, there was one part in the older Holicks advertisement singing 'Ho Ho Ho Holicks'. So that is the story about Holicks.

I guess that's how the hawker business survive with a little humour attached to the past. Perhaps it is also time for aspiring entrepreneurs can start or pioneer some new special codes and share it among our generations so that we can share about it to our children.

Opportunites and Dilemma at Lunar New Year

It's the third day of the Lunar New Year and I wish all bloggers and readers here a Happy Prosperous Lunar New Year. As a Chinese, Lunar New Year is a time for family get-together and for reunion dinner (on Lunar New Year Eve). It is also a time to visit our relatives and catch up with each other as we talk about the old days. For the younger ones, it is time to play some Mahjong tiles, poker cards and share chinese goodies together.

Food Business Phenomenon
With all these busy things to do during Lunar New Year, are there opportunities for food business? The answer is YES. By the way, it is a public holiday in Singapore on the first three days of Chinese New Year this year. Some food business would take at least one day off for their family, while the rest of them would work as usual. The fast food restaurants are among the first on the line, such as Mac Donald and KFC. As for the food hawkers, most of them are open on the second day of Lunar New Year. In addition, the food pricing are pasted over at their light box panel to a higher price (i.e $2.50 change to $3.00, etc).

Food Business Opportunity
In fact, most of the food business near entertainment centers are doing quite well with the constant crowd looking for food before or after the movies or carnivals for example. Pasar Malam (i.e. Mini Bazzaar) are strategically situated beside the carnival to catch the crowd.

Though visiting relatives are still traditionally practised, I think it is slowly fading off into an opportunity for a small family day. In addition, modern parents have grown to be more and more dependent on hawker and fast food that during festive seasons, it can be quite a hassle for them to cope with the home cooking while entertaining themselves at the same time. Thus, this modern trend becomes an advantage for food business owners to take profits during this festive season while they can.

The Dilemma
But sometimes, I wonder if it is really worth working so hard for their customers? Chinese New Year only comes once in a year and once it is passed, you have to wait for the next year that sometimes never comes because you know that you will continue on to work through the festive seasons anyway.

I think it is a dilemma for many food business who wants a good balance of family life besides having good business. In fact, it is one of the unspoken reasons why many aspiring food entrepreneurs decide not to take the step forward; to make this sacrifice if the business is not doing well or should the business require them to 'try their luck' during festive seasons and hopefully, take their share of profit.

It might be easy to think that it is the business owners' personal decision, but sometimes, it can also be a business decision. Whatever the reasons it may be, I am sure that the hawkers will find their way to enjoy themeslves while operating their food business during the festive seasons; with a pair of mandarin oranges to standy, and to wish their stall neighbours a Happy Prosperous New Year if they turn up for business. At the end, it is their patriotic customers who benefit if they open their food stalls during festive seasons.

No demand, No supply!