PUBLISHED ONJanuary 31, 2025 9:57 AMByMelissa Teo Maria Siew has spent the bulk of her life in the kitchen cooking her famous soy sauce chicken.
But age has caught up with her and the 75-year-old now hopes to retire and find a successor for her hawker business, Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken, reported Lianhe Zaobao on Thursday (Jan 30).
In a prior interview with Zaobao, she had mentioned her plan to retire after the Lunar New Year and shutter the stall on Feb 12.
"I am overwhelmed by the long working hours. My children are teachers and no one is willing to take over the business. I hope to find a suitable buyer and retire peacefully," she told the Chinese media.
She had placed an advertisement in the newspaper in late January this year with an asking price of $138,000 for the stall and her near-century-old secret recipe.
However, there have been no takers still as of Thursday, reported Zaobao.
Apart from her age, Maria's reason for wanting to sell the business, which is located at Chinatown Complex Food Centre, is due to a decrease in footfall.
This isn't the first time she has tried to sell the business.
In 2018, she attempted to do so for $680,000 and subsequently lowered the price several times.
At one point when the selling price was $450,000, a friend had introduced her to a Chinese businessman who offered her $500,000 for the business.
However, she rejected the offer because the businessman wanted to hire someone else to run the stall.
"I only want to sell my recipe to people who are truly interested and willing to run it themselves," she explained.
"They must have culinary experience, and I will personally teach them for a month until they master [the recipe]."
She added that she is also willing to sell the business to F&B enterprises whose chefs are willing to learn her recipe.
The secret recipe Maria uses is actually created by her father, the owner of the famous Lam Thong Tea House, back in 1926.
Maria told Zaobao she'd picked up the skills from him when she was just nine years old and even helped her father at the establishment.
"This is a traditional craft that my father and I have dedicated much effort to, and it has never been passed on to others. I hope to find someone who is willing to take over this skill and carry it forward," she told the Chinese media.
According to Zaobao, Maria founded Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken back in 1989 and set up her store at Chinatown.
Later in 2001, she shuttered the business as she wanted to rest and only reopened it a decade later in 2011 at Chinatown Complex Food Centre.
Maria isn't the only hawker that has struggled to find a suitable successor.
Back in 2021, the popular China Street Fritters at Maxwell Food Centre made headlines for attempting to sell its 80-year-old brand and recipe for a whopping $1 million.
And while the price later dropped to $500,000, the owners eventually shuttered the stall two years later in July 2023 with no buyer.
However, in September that same year, the original owners made a comeback at a new location — Telok Blangah Heights.
Another more recent example is Ye Mingrong, the owner of dim sum shop Bee Kee Hong Kong Thiam Sim.
Due to health issues, he had tried to find a successor to take over the business. But after failing to do so, he decided to close the business and retire.
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