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The mashed potato machine was quite an iconic feature of Singapore's 7-Eleven.
Image from Flickr/Krista
But most times, there was another absolute legend right beside it.
The Craze Hottis.
When and why did they disappear
The Jordan and Pippen of the convenience store scene disappeared from 7-Eleven stores a while back.
Here's a piece on the mashed potato machine.
But even in that article, we had a quick line about the fate of the other icon.
"According to them, there were multiple considerations such as "hygiene, staff training and cleanliness of the stores" that ultimately led to the discontinuation (of Craze Hottis) in 7-Eleven."
But while they have made their exit from 7-Eleven, the Craze Hottis, unlike the mashed potato machine, is still going quite strong.
There have been sporadic sightings of the machine in some mama shops and weddings.
This is very much by design.
A spokesperson from Tong Garden very kindly dug up old documents to help us with some historical context.
The machines were first set up in 7-Eleven over 20 years ago.
That two-decade-long streak ended relatively recently, with the machines removed in 2017.
Tong Garden then started having their machines in mama shops before making them available for parties and corporate events in 2018.
Understandably this rental strategy took a heavy hit during the last few years.
They also offered this interesting tidbit.
"It took customers a while to realise that this product was sold by Tong Garden in the first place."
Which checks out.
Mention Craze Hottis and most would, understandably, associate it with 7-Eleven rather than Tong Garden.
It makes sense since the branding disparity was quite stark.
While Tong Garden was making headway with that brand recognition, Covid significantly derailed their efforts.
So in a rather ironic sense, all those decades of nostalgia are kinda for nought if the actual distributors invoke none of it.
While all that information is great, nothing beats actually ordering the thing as a customer.
Craze Hottis near your area
To be sure of the process, we rented the machine ourselves.
Here it is:
It's available for rent!
Wha, S$0 as well.
Well, not really.
See, you have to purchase other products before renting becomes a valid option.
Specifically, at least three cartons of this.
Add both these products to the cart, which should now look like this.
Yay, free stuff.
However, it does look like Tong Garden has updated their site since the writing of this article, so the cart looks like this now when you are checking out.
Nay, no free stuff :(
Also, while you can add as many free rentals of the machine as you like, in our case, we were informed that we could only rent one machine.
When we were going to checkout, another problem presented itself. When would this be delivered? And when must this be returned?
There was no such option on the checkout screen.
All those questions were addressed after we made the payment. We got an email asking for our preferred date and time for the delivery. It was all very courteous, professional, and prompt.
The date we suggested was fine by them, and a date and time were quickly set.
However, if you do want to make sure the machine is available on a given day before paying at least S$135, perhaps you can email them at enquiry@tonggarden.com.sg to see if the date you want to rent it on is available.
Their customer service was impeccable. Really patient emails explaining what needed to be done and answering the many questions we had about the process.
This brings us back to this earlier point by the spokesperson:
"It took customers a while to realise that this product was sold by Tong Garden in the first place."
From anecdotal evidence, the Craze Hottis is still a really popular/nostalgia-inducing snack. Also there is not an insubstantial amount of people who think the snack is no longer available.
Perhaps a reason for that might be just how difficult it is to know about the product on the product maker's website.
For example, here's their website:
Here's what happens when you search for arguably the most iconic product on their website.
Granola.
So a bit hard to get.
However, as mentioned above, their website had something of an update, and now it is showing exactly what the people want.
Awesome.
Here's a recap of what steps we suggest you take if you intend to rent a machine.
1. Email them at "enquiry@tonggarden.com.sg" to see if the dates you are looking at are available
2. If they are available, go to this link (that's the machine rental page) and add one to your cart.
3. Then go ahead and click this link (that's the bulk pack page) and add at least three to your cart.
4. Checkout and pay. Provide your email plus the location you want it delivered to.
5. Reply to the email Tong Garden will send, with your preferences and time. Maybe even reiterate the delivery location as well.
And that should be about it.
Also if you're looking to get a more manageable packet-form version of the Hottis, they have that too.
They also have a Shopee store as well.
Delivery day
The delivery was scheduled for sometime between 1-5pm, but arrived even earlier at about 12.40pm.
The deliverymen came to the door number we provided, trolleyed in the machine and four big boxes (the three bulk packets and the free gift).
They helped set it up and gave a quick tutorial on how to use it. Reiterated when they would come back to collect it, and skedaddled.
So all we had to was put in the hottis and tadah:
While the decor of the machine differs quite a bit from the 7-Eleven days (there's a monster now for some reason), it comes with that familiar cup and scooper.
And while there were packets of Hottis available (those were the free gifts):
The more popular choice was evident.
Maybe it's a placebo effect, or perhaps the light thing in the machine is just that potent.
But the Hottis from the machine tasted way better than the packet version.
Personally I feel the reason for the major draw and potentially illusory increase in tastiness were these bad boys.
So you can do this.
Half of the fun people used to get from the machine was scooping out great big piles of Hottis, and the other half was trying to stack way more than what the box could handle.
Good times.
However, the relatively high price point and rather lengthy rental process make it unlikely you would decide to rent it on a whim on some random Wednesday.
But it's good to know it's still around.
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