Amidst the chatter regarding the management of social enterprise hawker centres, it's easy to lose track of the people at ground zero: hawkers.

Enter Yeo Yujin, a forum-letter writer who has experience in working as a hawker. His Straits Times forum letter, titled Hawkers are business owners; they know what to do provided a very woke response on what hawkers really want.

Although the post doesn't seem to have been shared on Facebook by Straits Times. A post with an image of the forum letter has garnered over 1,000 shares on Facebook.

Business owners

The crux of Yeo's letter dealt with how hawkers, and to an extent hawker food, are viewed.

Yeo writes that hawkers are business owners who know how to "strike a balance between profit and remaining competitive". Accordingly, they will know the optimal number of hours to keep their stalls open to meet demand.

So basically, trust the hawkers to know what they need to do.

Yeo did come up with a few improvements that could attract new hawkers.

Basically keep stall rental and operational costs affordable and transparent, and to make stalls bigger for hawkers' comfort.

Tech's not all

One of the recommendations proposed by the Hawker 3.0 committee was introducing free Wi-Fi to attract customers.

While good facilities are important to attract hawkers and customers, Yeo cautioned that there's no need to focus too much on fringe amenities like Wi-Fi and entertainment since hawkers prefer a faster turnover to ensure more business.

The culture shift involves the consumers as well:

Singaporeans can help encourage the trade by acknowledging that it is not possible for hawkers to keep prices at $3 forever, as costs for everything rise.

Ultimately, hawking is a business and if the government wants hawker culture to continue, it has to be a viable, sustainable career option for potential hawkers.

Yeo also added that hawker centres shouldn't be run by private enterprises if the Government wants them to fulfil certain social goals like providing a social space or cheap food for the needy.

You can read the full letter here.

Top images by Joshua Lee and via Facebook user Yap Yoke Lim. 

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