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Singapore’s street vendors are known for promoting delicious reasonable food.
Over the past year, the elements have increased due to COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.
To keep pace, many street vendors say they had to raise costs for the first time in years.
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SINGAPORE — Lie Kam Fatt has been running a stall promoting classic Chinese desserts in Singapore for more than 40 years. For 4 decades, he has been promoting a wide variety of Chinese soups and sweet custards, such as black sesame paste and red beans.
In December, he had to do what he hadn’t done in 3 years: he had to raise his prices.
Lie increased Singapore’s costs by 50 cents, or $0. 36 depending on the bowl. It may not seem like much, but for the older, low-income consumers it serves, every penny counts.
“I know some of my consumers will complain, but I may have to close my business if I don’t raise prices. All my ingredients are too expensive,” he told Insider.
Lie has one at Chinatown Complex Market
Lie is one of Singapore’s street vendors who had to raise funds in early 2022 to continue making a profit, as the costs of many common ingredients, such as cooking oil, poultry and eggs, rose over the past year due to COVID. -19, the supply chain crisis and the war in Ukraine. A bak kut teh shop that sold a plate of red meat ribs for S$5 for 18 years without adjusting its value, for example, has just raised the value of the dish to S$6. , and a beverage stand has had to raise another 10 cents for its drinks to SG$1. 50 since December.
For Lie, 65, he said that only almonds, which he uses to make his sweet almond paste, have more than doubled since November last year, from SG$7 a kilogram to SG$14. 50 a kilogram.
“In all my years doing this, I don’t think things get so expensive so quickly. But I have to move on. It was my father’s business and I need it to last as long as possible,” Lie said.
The news is that customers, for the most part, keep coming.
Despite the price increases, many street vendor centers have noticed an approximately 60 percent increase in the number of diners in recent months as part of the lifting of COVID dining restrictions, KF Seetoh, a local food critic, told Insider.
Seetoh, a former photojournalist, has been reporting on street vending centers since 1996. He founded Makansutra Gluttons Bay, Singapore’s most prominent street vending centre, in 1997, which has nine stalls and is known for being one of the few street vending centres offering prospects. of the rooftops of Marina Bay.
“The other young people perceive what we street vendors are going through,” said a former hotel chef who owns a wok hey, or sautéed food, in Chinatown and should only be known by his first name, Daniel. the itinerant industry for a year and a half.
Daniel said the maximum of his had doubled in cost. A 16-kilogram can of Golden Medallion, his favorite cooking oil, went from SG$26 to SG$47.
Meanwhile, a tray of 30 eggs SG $ 4. 70, but rose to SG $ 6. 90 in May. Just a year ago, a kilogram of bird thigh cost sg$2. 60. It has now risen to SG$4. 50.
“Most street vendors source from the same suppliers,” Daniel said. “I started with select providers, most commonly online, where costs can be more affordable. “
Unlike other street vendors, Seetoh rejected the increase in value. He said his positions continue to generate around SG$1,000 to $2,000 per night; however, profits were much lower than before, as their business absorbs the emerging burden of supplies.
“The revenues are the same, but our prices have gone up, because of Russia,” Seetoh said. Their stalls sell a variety of cuisines, adding Indo-Pakistani dishes and Western-style dishes.
Although the selling price is reaching 50%, some street vendors are unable to increase their prices due to the competitive landscape of street food in Singapore.
“Street vendors dare not raise their prices,” Seetoh said. “If you raise your prices, a visitor can simply take a few steps to another stall where your competitor sells food 50 cents cheaper. “
Read the article on Business Insider