KF Seetoh urged those running cloud kitchens to consider switching to a hawker stall or kopitiam stall instead.
A cloud kitchen utilizes a commercial kitchen for the purpose of preparing food for delivery or takeout only, with no dine-in customers. Cloud kitchens enable restauranteurs to expand an existing restaurant or start a virtual brand at minimal cost.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (Jun 8), Mr Seetoh wrote: “Cloud kitchens. I don’t get it”. He explains that those running cloud kitchens still pay for rent, online promotions, commission, and delivery fees.
He added that one “might as well run a hawker or kopitiam stall”. This would enable them to “Get registered with the better delivery app, pay ppl to do digital mktg and sponsored posts backlinked to yr page in the app, AND, also sell to walk in customers who know about it”, Mr Seetoh wrote.
“Cheaper summore”, he added.
Since the 2020 circuit breaker, cloud kitchens that were essentially shared kitchens that mainly catered for food delivery allowed many Food & Beverage businesses to operate.
Here’s what netizens said in response to Mr Seetoh’s post:
Last month, ever since Malaysia announced its plans to halt chicken exports, Singaporeans have been panic-buying, finding alternatives to poultry and debating the topic of fresh versus frozen meat. Weighing in on the latter is KF Seetoh, who says that most of what we consume is frozen poultry anyway.
In a Facebook post on May 27, the founder of Makansutra and advocate for all things hawker wrote: “80% of our chickens, largely frozen, come from places like Brazil and Argentina. Only 20% freshly chilled ones come from across the Causeway”.