A video of a hawker stall operator teary-eyed while the caption noted that business was on a decline has gone viral online, spurring quick action from patrons who flocked to the stall until it sold out.
“He left his high-paying job as an exec chef to start his own stall called Mat Western because he wants to earn halal rizqy,” noted media personality Chef Bob who interviewed the Muslim stall owner, Umar Fabrice.
“Business, according to him, was Alhamdullilah, but he has not been taking any salary for himself for 1.5 years.”
The video, which recently resurfaced on Facebook, continues to explain that business has been on a steady decline following the Chinese New Year period.
“He has exhausted every means necessary to pay off his current debts owed to landlord and suppliers.”
It was at this point that Mr Fabrice was teary-eyed, which Chef Bob said broke his heart to see.
They did the calculations, noting he needed a daily sales of S$1,700 for the next 10 days to survive, or he would face eviction.
It remains unclear when the video was taken, but patrons soon rushed to support MAT Western, located at Block 122 Bedok North Street 2, to the point it had to stop accepting pre-orders on Friday afternoon (May 20).
It posted another update early Saturday morning apologizing to the customers who turned up at the stall but could not order.
“We are receiving a high volume of customers and ran out of stock for all the items. We will only open at 4 PM tomorrow to do our preparations. We really appreciate your kind understanding and thank you for coming,” the post noted.
Mr Fabrice has since clarified that business has been good, although his tears were not shed to gain sympathy.
“I know chef Bob as we are both in the same industry. He is a wonderful person with a kind soul, always passionate about sharing and promoting about food. But there are some misunderstandings in between when he was asking me the questions in the video,” said Mr Fabrice.
“First, I was not crying to get any sympathy. I was sharing with him about some emotional topic about my mom, who visited me last month here in Singapore,” he noted in a Facebook post on May 19.
The owner clarified that he was not referring to the current business situation in the video but some other venture unrelated to the stall.
“Alhamdulillah, the current business has been good. I have no issues with this. We are still planning to expand,” he added.
Mr Fabrice explained that his friends and family became worried about him following the video, hence the need to make things clear.
“Nothing negative is happening within this business at Mat Western. I do not want to affect my partner, who always prefer not to be under the limelight.”
He apologized for the misunderstanding and thanked everyone for the support.
Netizens commented on the post, noting they will continue supporting the business.
“Although it’s a miscom, but most of us get to know a new place of eatery opened by our Muslim brother,” said Facebook user Md Haslam.
“Miscom or not, this was definitely worth the queue. May your business flourish,” another netizen added./TISG