Hwa Chong acknowledges 'teething issues' with SATS system, exploring new bento designs & on-site kitchen

Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) will continue to work with SATS to make improvements to the new canteen catering system, including exploring new bento box designs and introducing an on-site kitchen to prepare bento meals, its principal Lee Peck Ping said during a media visit to the school's canteen on Jan. 15.

The media was also invited to visit the canteen on Jan. 15, as well as to sample the bento boxes served by SATS.

Engaged students since 2024

HCI launched a hybrid canteen model, which sees self-employed stallholders operate alongside SATS-employed vendors and a catering system, in its high school canteen on Jan. 2, 2026.

It was introduced to address long-term operational challenges such as long queues during recess, limited eating time and difficulty retaining stallholders, the school said in a Jan. 15 factsheet.

This model is separate from the Ministry of Education's central kitchen model that has been rolled out in 13 schools.

HCI stated that they have engaged more than 2,600 students through dialogues since 2024, and conducted food tastings with groups of students, parents and staff.

"This feedback informed our decision to transition to the Hybrid Canteen Model."

New bento box design, on-site kitchen

The high school canteen serves a total of 1,700 students and 170 staff.

It currently has four live food stalls, two of which are operated by self-employed operators.

A third stall by a self-employed operator will open soon.

The principal acknowledged during the visit that there had been "teething issues" since the model's rollout at the start of the year, and feedback has been received from students and parents.

"We take this feedback very seriously," Lee remarked.

Since the launch, the school received widespread online attention over the catering system's food quality and presentation.

He shared that the school has been working with SATS to revise the recipes as well as the food presentation.

SATS will also be exploring new reusable bento box design and materials, as well as other changes such as displaying physical samples in the canteen, and updating the Tappee+ ordering platform with more accurate food images.

"The school is also looking at setting up our kitchen in school, so that some of these bento meals can also be cooked on-site," Lee shared.

Aside from HCI's previous announcement that they will be establishing a Canteen Review Committee, QR codes have been placed around the school canteen to collect feedback from students, according to HCI.

Parents and students may also provide feedback during structured student check-ins, surveys, parent engagement sessions or by email.

In semester two, the school will also introduce a pre-ordering option at live stalls to further address queue times.

"We seek patience from students and parents as we take time to work with SATS to implement progressive improvements and ensure the canteen experience better meets students' needs," HCI said in their Jan. 15 statement.

Eight meal options

HCI students are able to choose from eight meal options, including two vegetarian, everyday.

During the visit, Mothership observed a mix of students having bento boxes and cooked meals.

Queues at the live food stalls were rather long too.

Business has gotten better: Self-employed stall operator

In its factsheet, HCI shared that stallholders were initially approached to either continue their operations as self-employed owners of live stalls, or join SATS under employment arrangements.

Five stallholders chose to continue operating stalls at HCI, three chose to work under SATS, while the rest chose to retire or move to other schools.

Yang Kai Lun Kelen, 42, is one of the stallholders at the high school canteen who chose to remain as a self-employed operator.

His mother has been running the canteen stall for 13 years, he told the media, and he joined her a few years ago.

They decided against joining the SATS arrangement as they wanted to continue running their own business.

On top of that, they are also one of the more popular stalls in school.

"The students hope that we can stay around," Yang said.

Canteen stallholders face several challenges, he shared, such as rising rents and manpower shortage.

However, while Yang said he was worried that his business would be affected by the new catering system, he noted that it has actually improved by about 10 to 20 per cent so far.

Queues at his stall have also been longer.

Explaining this, he said that students who didn't like the catered options or those who had forgotten to place their orders would opt to purchase meals from his stall instead.

Despite these, Yang commented that he feels the new catering system is "quite helpful" as students can pre-order their food in advance.

'Trust that further improvements will be made': Students

Mothership also sat down with a group of students to discuss their experience with the new canteen system as well as their response to the online reactions to the food.

They opined that the bento boxes were "pretty good" and said that comparing it to hawker food is an "unfair comparison".

The new system comes in handy during busy days, when they might only have 30 minutes to grab a meal before their next activity, the students said.

With the new system, they'll be able to pre-order their food, collect their bentos quickly and skip the queue.

One of the students shared that initially, the noodles from the bento box he had were quite "bland and dry", and the vegetables were also under-seasoned.

The bento he ate on Jan. 15 was better, he admitted.

Responding to questions about the recent attention around the school's new canteen system, another student said he felt that the commotion showed that the student body cared for the school.

As a result of the students' feedback, there have been "visible improvements" to the food, he pointed out.

The school has also engaged the students at the start of the week on Jan. 12 to address rumours and news headlines.

"I think there has been improvement, and I trust that there will be further improvement in the future," one of the students, who participated in tasting sessions before the system was rolled out, commented.

Addressing other rumours

A student who previously wrote in to Mothership claimed that the actual price of the catered food is higher than the price estimates supposedly provided before implementation.

HCI told Mothership that no such estimate was provided.

The school also explained that the rumours circulating online attributing the removal of its discipline module from its online school portal where students can check their demerit points, to the feedback on the new catering system, was not true.

The discipline module was taken down in October 2025 as part of an ongoing review of the school's demerit system, the school said, and it has since been restored.

Its removal "was not intended to obscure information or restrict access".

Top image via Mothership