Hope

“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” – Tom Bodett

That Saturday morning, the team had an interview with an enterprising young man who had opened a stall in a food centre located at the very heart of Singapore’s Central Business District (CBD). Amoy Street Food Centre had become the food haunt of many who work in the bustling financial ward; from the young and affluent to the old and carefree.

It was close to 10am when we finally reached the food centre. It was not difficult to locate A Noodle Story. The humble little stall is tucked away at the very end of one of the many rows of stalls on the ground floor of the food centre. A Noodle Story is very distinct with its contemporary stall design featuring an infographic of its famed single item menu—the first and only Singapore-style Ramen.

A tall and lanky bespectacled young man was chopping some vegetable outside the stall when a petite and cheerful looking man appeared from the stall’s front. Gwern, 34, is the owner of A Noodle Story together with his partner, Ben. Both met at Shatec where they were trained in the culinary arts. Despite boasting a wealth of experience in the gastronomic line—having worked in some of Singapore’s premier restaurants such as Iggy’s, Level 33, and Waku Ghin—Gwern and Ben decided to pave their own way by venturing into the unexpected hawker business.

We had a short but intimate conversation with Gwern right before his morning service while his partner took over the preparation.

Take a bowl of noodles and say you take 2 minutes (to prepare it)—instant noodle already takes 2 minutes—times 200 portions, that’s 400 minutes, which is 6 hours plus. Means you are working 6 hours plus non-stop. Add in the prep, cleaning up, and washing up.. that’s almost 14hrs a day. It’s very hard work and very tiring.

We talked at length about how he kicked off his hawker business, his daily routine, the challenges he face as a hawker, and many other personal things which took us by surprise. It is a well-known fact that being a hawker requires steel bones and iron veins, but little did we know the dismal returns of hawkers—both the tangible and intangible.

But I will say that many hawkers are not that lucky also. You can see some people working seven days a week, 12 hours a day, it’s really hard life. Some pay $20 000 plus to take over a store, (but) business no good, half a year they close.

Many hawkers start their day very early. “We come in around seven or eight, depends on how much prep (we) need, but it won’t be later than nine,” Gwern said. He went on to tell us in details what happens subsequently, which include cooking 300 spring eggs, slicing cha su, loosening the noodles, and a string of other intricate work. Although the work that goes into operating his small stall sounded incredibly arduous, Gwern spoke with so much gusto that his passion obliterated any trail of exhaustion.

Opening a stall in a hawker centre meant that Gwern and Ben had to differentiate themselves from the rest of the stalls at Amoy. “If I’m selling char kway teow, like the uncle selling char kway teow, people will look at me and the old man, they will go to the old man. Because old means experience, and it means better, means tastier,” Gwern said with a little laugh. It was with this thought that the duo decided to go for a single-item menu which is their famed Singapore-style Ramen.

We need to sell more expensive to cover the rent but yet the government is saying that we need to sell cheaper to provide affordable food for the people.

One of the challenges is the heat actually. During lunch time, wah.. my stove make full blast, the place is enclosed and so small, the ventilation is poor, it can get really hot and stuffy. So the working condition and the environment is poor.

While they have been successful with their novel concept, there are still many concerns surrounding the vitality and sustainability of their hawker stall. For one, the cost of rent is always increasing. With a significantly lower profit margin, Gwern and other hawkers have to sell more ‘bowls’ in order keep up and cover not only their individual pay, but also rent, utilities, food costs, and several others. Gwern said, “I have this guy behind selling fish soup, he open 7 days a week because otherwise, he can’t earn enough to cover the rent.” Despite the assumption that there is low barrier to entry in opening a stall in a hawker centre, such concerns have led to a string of problems. For one, they act as deterrence for young hawkers to enter the business.

I can see that now young people are reluctant to take up this job as I mentioned earlier, you need hard work but low pay and long working hours.

(Young hawkers) are more creative. They are more willing to try new things, but they are also very realistic. Because I’ve seen many stores opening but within half a year, they close. Because if the sales can’t make it, lose money, they won’t continue.

Gwern has taken the initiative to tackle the existing problems that hawkers face such as rising costs by writing in to Mr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. In his letter, Gwern sought to make the prospect of becoming a hawker a more attractive and worthwhile one for the younger generation through better benefits and better working environment. It is through his vision for the younger generation that we realised the real plight of hawkers; the sad revelation that old, existing hawkers have been facing.

We are considered owned business or self-employed so we don’t have CPF contribution, AWS or 13-month bonus and all that. No medical leave or annual leave. So if I happen to fall sick and I (have to) close a day or two, I must still pay my rent.

Despite the apparent predicament and the real set of challenges faced by hawkers like him, we did not sense any sort of resentment or distress from Gwern. It came very clear to us that the love and passion that hawkers like him pour into their craft trump every other possible factors that might rattle their bones.

Hawker culture is actually very exciting… it’s very important because I think most Singaporeans have eaten at hawker centres. Good, cheap food.

Actually our sales and revenue are increasing but we are still quite busy, we are actually very very busy. But we still can cope because if we were to hire a third person, there might not be enough space because of the (store) limitations, and when you hire another person, your sales must be enough to cover.

The team has always felt that the hawker culture in Singapore is dying, especially with the undeniable and apparent ageing of the population. With hawker centre stall owners being predominantly the elderly, it is not hard to imagine the looming extinction of hawker centres. However, Gwern was optimistic and hopeful. “Hawker culture will not die because we still focus in selling affordable food to the public. One of the reasons why I turn to hawker centre is because although we have many competitors, but the competition scene in cafes and bars, it is actually more hot,” he explained to us. “People are always café-hopping and they always go for the latest trend and latest place to be seen. Once they try it and Instagram it, new one let’s go. But for hawker centres, it’s more to good (food), pricing is right, value for money, customer service is ok, you are catering for the long term.”

It’s something unique in this part of the world. Malaysia might have something like that but it’s not well-organised. It’s not as hygienic and they don’t have people coming down to check and all that. So here, it’s more well-maintained, more hygienic, more well-organised.

With such optimism, passion, and hope, our fear of losing our well-loved hawker fares and the open-air food centres dissipated a little. In the numbered moment that we had with Gwern, he had shown us a glimpse of a typical hawker’s life, their concerns, challenges, and vision. His genuineness, sincerity, and passion for the hawker culture seem to be pillars of strength for the uniquely Singaporean scene.

We ended our meet-up with him by visiting his humble stall, watched him in action, and savoured his novel Singapore-style Ramen. It was a delight to have had a conversation with him. You can read more of his personal anecdotes that he shared below. Follow us on our learning journey to find out more about Singapore’s hawkers as we continue to speak with many other hawkers along the way.

On the challenges he has faced as a hawker stall owner:

We have some near misses, almost like cock-up events but in any business, it is sure to happen. We have cases when the electricity was cut off suddenly in the middle of the night and all our meat went bad. In the morning it’s already very rush, so one person will stay to do the remaining prep, another one will take a taxi to the supplier to get the remaining meat, and we cook it instantly, to get ready for service. So, I think in any business, such things will happen. But except that we feel the difference more because we have time limit. People won’t wait for their lunch. Lunch time means lunch time, they will come. If you miss their lunch time, your whole day sales will be gone. Might as well close for the whole day.

On their future plans:

We have plans to maintain it in hawker centres. Actually, a shop at hawker centre is not much different except the volume and price. If I were to set up a shop, my price would be higher but my customers might not be as high a volume. If you sell something more expensive, lesser people will go there, nike hawker centres that cater more to cheap local food for the public. So more people will come. Most people eat at hawker centres.

On whether any of their Shatec friends go into hawker business:

Actually since I came from Shatec, many become cooks or chefs in restaurants but now I can say that more than half are no longer in this line. Some went on to become insurance agent, some help their dad in their business, some work in telecommunications industry. Totally unrelated industry. Because this service industry require long working hours, hard work, and low pay. Unless you happen to make it.

#hawkerculture #food #Hawker #Drinks #wantonmee