Whenever your parents begin one of their “In my day” speeches you roll your eyes, but then you hear that they used to buy Chicken Rice for 10 cents and you go:
“Whoa, food is so expensive now.”
It is indeed. That’s why the government recently announced the building of 13 new social enterprise hawker centres (SEHCs) in Singapore.
The first of the 13 SEHCs will open next year at the Bukit Canberra sport and community hub in Sembawang.
The others will be ready by 2027, joining the seven already in existence.
But What is a Social Enterprise Hawker Centre?
A social enterprise is a commercial organisation that has a social objective. These organisations seek to maximise profits to use for the benefit of society.
In this context, the hawker centres are run by social enterprises like Hawker Management by Koufu, Fei Siong Social Enterprise, NTUC Foodfare, Timbre+Hawkers and OTMH by Kopitiam.
One of the reasons for the establishment of these SEHCs is the increasing cost of living and lack of affordable food options.
Thus, instead of running these hawker centres for pure profit, these social enterprises use their profits to create social benefits.
These benefits include offering more affordable food options at hawker centres and helping aspiring hawkers.
Benefits for Stallholders
Under the National Environment Agency’s new Staggered Rent Scheme, hawkers will get a helping hand for the first two years.
They will enjoy a 20 per cent discount in the first year, and 10 per cent in the second.
The average rent at SEHCs is around $2,000 a month, so stallholders will save around $400 a month for the first year, and $200 a month in the second year.
Stallholders at three existing SEHCs will also benefit from this scheme, namely Yishun Park, Jurong West and Pasir Ris Central.
But it’s only for new stallholders who begin their tenancy between 1 September 2019 to 29 February 2020 are eligible.
Benefits for consumers
SEHCs will also be beneficial for consumers at a time when food prices are rising.
The primary aim of the SEHCs is to keep food prices affordable with a good variety of high-quality options.
So, these social enterprises have to monitor their hawker centre’s food prices to avoid unreasonable price hikes. They also have to ensure their food stalls offer a few dishes that cost S$3 or below.
That’s certainly good news for you and me. Nothing dries up a salivating tongue more than exorbitant food prices.
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