'Why should I raise prices?' Hawker in Mountbatten has been selling $2.50 kway chap for 11 years

Even amid rising cost of living, one hawker has insisted on keeping the price of his kway chap low ever since his stall opened 11 years ago.

With an attractive price starting from just $2.50 for a set meal, Feng Ji Kway Chap, located at Jalan Batu Hawker Centre, draws long queues daily.

Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, Perak native Huang Sheng Feng (transliteration) shared that he came to Singapore at the age of 17 and worked at a kway chap stall in Geylang for 14 years before deciding to start his own hawker stall business in 2012.

Despite the rising costs he faces in running his business, Sheng Feng shared that he has never thought of passing the cost onto his customers.

"Why should I raise my prices? It is possible to sell kway chap for $2.50 without changing the portion sizes," he said.

By selling his fares at a low price, he can still profit by selling a greater quantity of kway chap sets, he added. Plus, the affordable price has become part of the stall's brand.

But the hawker admitted that it would be hard to make a living if every diner were to purchase the $2.50 set meal only.

"The $2.50 set meal is one of the choices available for those who don't eat a lot and wish to save money. However, the stall offers other food options as well," said Sheng Feng.

Thankfully, most diners would order additional ingredients such as pig intestines, said the hawker, adding that diners would pay an average of $5 to $6 for their meal.

Sheng Feng revealed that he had slowly built his customer base for five years by gradually honing his culinary skills and making changes based on customer feedback.

After deducting the cost of running his stall and paying his wife her salary, the hawker earns more than $4,000 every month, according to Shin Min.

But Sheng Feng feels that running a hawker stall is a tough job - he wakes early in the morning and stays after work to braise the ingredients needed for the next day. In fact, it takes him four hours to clean more than 20 kilogrammes of offal.

"In the first three days after starting my business, I only slept for two hours a day," he recounted.

"Later, I slowly adjusted my working hours and found time to rest. This job is not easy, and you have to work day in and day out, so not many people are doing it."

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com