‘Their margins are paper thin’: KF Seetoh speaks out for hawkers and coffeshops amid ‘ridiculous’ rental hikes, high gas prices, and rising cost of living

SINGAPORE: KF Seetoh has spoken again for hawkers and coffeeshop operators in Singapore, saying their margins are “paper thin” as they deal with steep rental hikes, high gas prices, and the rising cost of living.

In a Facebook post on Friday (Sep 19), the Makansutra founder called on the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to “seriously rethink” its policies as he highlighted coffeeshop rentals that now reach S$60,000 to S$80,000 a month, along with a sales system that allows HDB coffeeshops to be sold and resold for as much as S$41 million.

“The daily common man meals cannot be based on the highest bidder,” he wrote, adding that the board has become complicit in raising the cost of living in the city-state.

According to him, these rising costs “naturally” get passed down to hawkers and consumers because of revenue-hungry operators.

He also criticised the “thoughtless” budget meal initiative of forcing hawkers to sell a meal at S$3.50.

“Their margins are paper thin; they buy less from the suppliers, make less, and this impacts their earning ability and affects their cost of living. They naturally pass it on to consumers. They are not subsidised for everything in their business,” he said.

Last week, Channel News Asia (CNA) reported on food suppliers’ issues with late payments and falling revenues as struggling restaurant owners took more time to settle their bills, ordered fewer supplies, and turned to cheaper food supply alternatives, which pushed their revenues down by about 20% this year.

“Suggest, and let the hawkers do so out of compassion, not regulation. They know when to offer cheap and even free meals to the needy,” Mr Seetoh said.

He also highlighted that “ridiculous” rents have pushed gas prices in HDB coffeeshops to the highest—about 20 to 30 per cent more than social enterprise hawker centres (SEHCs).

For example, one coffeeshop hawker in Bedok pays S$18.50 per unit of gas, while National Environment Agency (NEA)-run hawker centres pay just around S$10 to S$11.

In June, Mr Seetoh also wrote about the “sky is the limit” rents, high operating costs and manpower issues in Singapore’s food and beverage (F&B) industry, noting that running Urban Hawker in New York was way cheaper than operating in prime Orchard Road and Marina Bay Sands (MBS) food halls. /TISG

Read also: ‘SG has become such an expensive place to do business,’ netizen says as Singapore’s ability to attract and retain talent drops amid rising cost of living

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