Each Stall in One Punggol Hawker Centre Must Have a Dish That is Less Than $4

Last Updated on 2023-03-29 , 10:27 am

We love our hawker centres.

Convenient and more affordable than restaurants or other F&B chains, hawker centres are fundamental to life as a Singaporean.

Well, good news for people staying near One Punggol Hawker Centre. Each stall in the newly opened hawker centre must have a dish that is less than $4.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Official Opening of One Punggol Hawker Centre

For a country that prides itself on its hawker culture, Punggol didn’t have a hawker centre till recently.

One Punggol Hawker Centre, the first hawker centre in Punggol, began operations in late 2022.

The centre had its official opening on 25 March.

The hawker centre has 34 stalls and a whopping 700 seats.

Moreover, each stall must sell at least one meal below $4, which is good news amidst inflation and ever-increasing food prices.

Lianhe Zaobao reported that such dishes include Hainanese chicken rice and chee cheong fun set meals.

10% Discount at All Stalls

If you didn’t know, the hawker centre is operated by the Timbre Group.

The company is offering 10% off at all their stalls.

You only need to download the free Timbre app from the App Store or Google Play Store.

Don’t be daunted; the app provides step-by-step instructions for you to follow.

Firstly, you will need to sign up and top up your credits in the app.

Note that the minimum top-up value is $5, and the maximum is $100 per transaction.

After topping up your credits, you can order from any stall at One Punggol Hawker Centre and scan the QR code to make a cashless payment.

Take note that the QR code is unique and should not be reused.

Besides the 10% discount, the app will notify you if you have an e-voucher on your Timbre app.

For more details, you can visit the Timbre app website to find out more.

Hawkers to Bear the Price of Discounts

While the 10% discount sounds like good news for customers, it’s not all well.

The hawkers will be the ones bearing the financial burden of the discount.

However, hawkers are choosing to be optimistic.

Rojak stallholder Liang Guowei told Lianhe Zaobao that he hoped the discount would attract more customers in the long run. 

Mr Shen Weixiang, who runs a tang yuan stall in the hawker centre, noted that many customers use mobile apps to pay nowadays.

His observation especially applies to younger customers.

He told Lianhe Zaobao that he sees the discount as a case of “small profits but a quick turnover”.

He added that some customers might come to patronise the stalls in the hawker centres because of the discount.

However, Mr Liang also observed that though the hawker centre initially saw many customers when it first started operating, the current flow of people has decreased by 30-40%.

Technologically Advanced Hawker Centre

One Punggol Hawker Centre is pretty modern, incorporating technology like an automated return tray system and an automatic robot arm that can brew coffee or tea.

The hawker centre also holds weekend markets and workshops every three months.

Timbre Group co-founder and president Tatsuta Hiroshi hopes these activities will help the community connect.

$2.50 Budget Meals

Besides One Punggol Hawker Centre requiring stalls to sell at least one dish below $4, it was recently announced that by 2026, all HDB coffee shops would need to sell budget meals priced at $2.50.

This initiative aims to mitigate Singapore’s rising cost of living.

In November 2022, the results of the TODAY Youth Survey showed that the cost of living in Singapore was the primary source of concern for youths struggling with their mental health.

The initiative hopes to keep food affordable, especially since it is a basic necessity. 

According to Senior Minister of State for National Development Sim Ann, the government currently provides substantial grants to ensure that the maintenance costs of Town Councils do not fall fully on its residents.

These grants are crucial at a time when Town Councils are facing steep cost increases.

Ms Sim added that the government is prepared to consider temporary special funding support to help Town Councils achieve long-term financial sustainability.

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Impact of Rising Cost of Living on Hawker Centres

A recent Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) survey found that out of 263 hawker stalls visited in January, many have not increased prices since late 2022. 

For stalls with a price change, price increases did not exceed 30 cents.

This is amidst rising costs of water and energy.

Channel News Asia reported that hawkers are still reluctant to raise food prices because they fear customers will stop patronising their stalls.

From the comments under a Facebook post by Shin Min Daily News regarding the official opening of One Punggol Hawker Centres, some netizens complained about the prices of the non-$4 dishes being too expensive. 

Others felt that the $4 initiative needed to be revised and the portions needed to be bigger. 

However, some netizens acknowledged that measures like the $4 meal are signs that the government is trying to improve the situation.

Notably, hawkers are business owners too and need to earn a living.

Some netizens also acknowledged the many reasons why some dishes must be more expensive.

Some are also concerned about the viability of hawkers bearing the burden of the discount. 

In 2017, the Singapore Tourism Board rolled out its new slogan, “Passion Made Possible”, celebrating hawker culture.

The founder of the now-defunct nasi lemak stall OG Lemak, Shen Tan, said on the Singapore Noodles podcast, “Passion doesn’t feed people – it doesn’t pay your CPF, it doesn’t pay your mortgage, it doesn’t pay for medical insurance… How do Singapore’s hawkers put out the food at such low prices? It’s because they are subsidising with their salaries!”

A 2018 TODAY opinion article noted that while prices should not increase rapidly, Singaporeans cannot expect hawker food to remain at the same price as the cost of living continues to increase.