Hit hard by CB, Korean NTU student revitalises father's hawker business

With dining outside not allowed during the circuit breaker (and in Phase 1 of Singapore's reopening), many F&B owners found themselves struggling to stay afloat, including a humble Korean food stall located in Marsiling.

That was until the stall owner's daughter Chela Suh took business into her own hands.

After finding out about Hawkers United - Dabao 2020, a hawker-for-hawker initiative that connects F&B owners to customers through Facebook for free, Suh decided to advertise her dad's stall through the group on May 15.

It worked like a charm and business immediately picked up. A small crowd (all observing safe distancing) was seen queueing outside the stall just a day after Suh's Facebook post. In an interview with 8days last week, Suh shared that " [their] daily sales went from 60 to 70 orders a day to about 240 orders now. "

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The sudden wave of customers had definitely come as a surprise for her father, who had lost six kg from working overtime in order to meet the surge in demand.

Despite not being able to offer delivery service, support poured in from all over the country, with customers coming even from as far as Tampines just to buy their food. Several netizens in the comment section have also discussed opening group orders among themselves too.

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With her classes and exams at Nanyang Technological University cancelled, Suh's become a familiar face behind the stall. While working, the business undergrad observed how she'd always see [her father] sighing and looking very sad, so [she] thought about how [she] could help him."

Following the stall's revitalisation, the 22-year-old's now looking into engaging "easy-to-use" delivery services for customers who don't have "the luxury of time to come down [to their stall]".

In another post on May 23, she thanked customers for their support, marvelling at how Singaporeans had been "so gracious and compassionate" and cheered: "Singaporeans are super awesome!"

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rainercheung@asiaone.com