Make your hawker food stall attractive?

When it comes to the set up of the food stall, it is very important to make it as attractive as possible. However, some new food entrepreneurs fall into the common trap of over-investing in decoration of the stall. To prevent overspending, it is neccesary to keep a check list of the start-up cost and do a research on the current market price for the equipments you need to buy before assessing the budget you want to keep. This should apply not only to your renovation, but also the other things in your checklist.

To make your food stall attractive, you can consider:-

1) Make sure there is sufficient lighting at the stall

A dark or not well-lited stall makes your potential customers wonder if your shop has started its operation or not. In contrast, positioning spot lights at strategic angle can help your food more appetizing. Some stall vendor may not like to use spot light partly because it can be quite costly, but if it means drawing your customers by many folds, why not?

2) Get a good second hand equipment

For young start-up, it is always good to save cost wherever possible. To purchase a stainless steel frame for the display and serving your customers, it can be really expensive to buy a brand new one. To give you a good 'feel' of the price range, it can be as low as $3,000 to $5,000 for a second hand basic setup that includes the gas stove stand, the delivery and the setup.

You may find many second hand equipment shops along sims avenue, geylang and even little india area. Warning: Cheap second-hand equipments does not mean that it is good. You need to check that the items are in good conditions before you make the purchase. Also, the second hand goods are based on first come, first serve basis as they are limited for selection. Another thing to note is to make sure the frame suits your how you intend to operate the food preparation and serving flow.

3) Stall signage and menu price list

Check your stall for the existing panel. If there is one, you can consider purchasing the vinyl adhesive poster to paste over the PVC sheet. Make sure that the stall signage has your stall name. For a chinese traditional look, make your signage bilingual. To make your stall stand out, you may consider adding some food photos on the signage. It is not advisable to put your price list on the panel in case there is any inflation that forces a readjustment to your price. Instead, a separate menu price list can be printed so that if there is any special offer for the day, you can put up your new price list and make it attractive.