Young Western Food Hawker, 24, Seeks Help Online For Struggling Stall: ‘I Only Earn $20 From Lunch Crowd’
Helpful netizens offered advice on how to improve his business at Tanglin Halt, including changing the stall’s logo that looks like a “furniture or interior design [store].”
It ain’t easy running a hawker stall, as food sellers have to grapple with rising costs and unreasonable customers.
On the verge of throwing in the towel is Western food hawker Teh Soon Tiong, who is currently struggling with a sudden steep drop in customers at his stall Butcher The Grill Bar at Tanglin Halt Market & Food Centre.
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As a last resort, he turned to posting on popular Facebook group Hawkers United to explain his plight and call for support for his business.
Soon Tiong, who goes by Soon, tells 8days.sg that he opened his stall in February this year, and initially enjoyed steady sales.
But he recounts that his sales volume inexplicably declined after September this year. “I saw a 30 per cent drop in customers,” he shares. “I’m not shy to say that the first day of sales was like $800, day two $500, till it gradually dropped to only double digits now.”
He currently opens his stall daily, from 5pm to 12am six days a week and 5pm to 9.30pm on Sundays, after observing that he made the most sales at night.
“Previously I opened for lunch, but business was getting worse and worse. For lunchtime I only earned like $20 to $30? The office crowd wants traditional food like bak chor mee or lor mee, and it had been raining recently so business is not good,” he points out.
Soon had as many as eight staff working for him when times were good, but was unable to continue hiring salaried employees when his business started declining. “I helped them to find other jobs. They have families to feed too,” he says.
What went wrong?
According to Soon, the old-school Tanglin Halt neighbourhood was likely the wrong spot to open a mod Western stall. He reflects: “Some people said it’s the location and maybe they are right. I did my research before coming in. There was a Western stall here which only opened for around two to three hours a day, and I thought there was demand.”
He tried many ways to attract customers, including offering wallet-friendly dishes like chicken chop or chicken cutlet with rice for $4.50. A whole slab of chicken thigh served with “restaurant-quality fries” and the more atas coral lettuce (pictured above) costs $7.90.
“We sell cheeseburgers with Australian grass-fed beef patties for $7.90, and chicken mid-wings at $1 each with a minimum order of five pieces,” shares Soon, who also ran 1-for-1 promotions and gave discounts.
On top of that, he “took up cooking courses and gave out flyers at blocks around the area” to promote his stall. After getting customers’ feedback, he revamped his menu display and upgraded it from a TV setup to a more visible LED board.
But it seems like his Achilles heel is simply a lack of online marketing. Butcher The Grill Bar barely has any social media presence or attention-grabbing posts, despite getting good reviews for its food.
Soon explains: “I don’t have time to do marketing because I’m the only one cooking, taking orders and washing the plates. It’s my pride that I have 119 reviews and 4.7 stars on Google after only a year.”
Netizens rallied to help hawker
After Soon posted his plight on Facebook group Hawkers United, netizens helpfully supplied tough love advice to improve his business, with some offering their own professional expertise and contacts like graphic designers to give Soon a boost.
Some group members who have tried Soon’s food mentioned that his dishes are good.
But netizen Adriane Lee candidly pointed out: “Sorry to be brutally honest, customer saying your food is good is little comfort. What you should be concerned about is how many customers you can get and how many will return. Note that western food is not something that people eat everyday so you are already disadvantaged from the start [sic].”
Facebook user Jermaiah Luke added a photo of Soon’s stallfront and advised: “ Your logo doesn’t look appealing. First impression it looks like you are dealing with furniture or interior designing. These are just my thoughts. Whether you take this advices is up to you. But I do have experiences giving advices to businesses and they improved [sic]. Good luck!”
She also added a comparison collage of Soon’s signboard beside more attractive signboards at other Western stalls.
One Kayjay Wu opined that “Butcher is not a very welcoming name. Immediately reminds me of a particular HK socialite [murder victim Abby Choi].”
Famous F&B owners like Benny Se Teo, who started Western food chain Eighteen Chefs, and Melvin Chew, the second-gen owner of Jin Ji Teochew Braised Duck & Kway Chap at Chinatown and the founder of Hawkers United, also offered support and advice.
Benny highlighted Soon’s issues of stall location and lack of social media presence, while Melvin offered to meet Soon for coffee to guide him in his hawker biz.
Expensive lesson for young hawker
Soon expressed that he is grateful for the advice from netizens. According to him, he designed his logo as such as he “wanted to follow in the footsteps of big [F&B] companies.”
His branding is also predominantly in black as he personally likes the colour, though netizens point out that it is an unwelcoming look. As he was in a hurry to start operating after taking over the stall, Soon admits: “I rushed my logo and my signboard.”
He tells 8days.sg that posting a plea on Facebook was his last resort. “I’m in the crisis stage now. If it doesn’t work, I will just shut down the business. I won’t even bother selling my brand lah. If anyone wants this brand, I will just give them lor,” he says with a small laugh.
Getting influencers to promote his business was a consideration, but Soon points out: “It’s another cost. If I take out my savings for this again and it fails, I will surely die.”
His rental contract at Tanglin Halt Food Centre will expire in two months’ time, and Soon is considering whether to extend his stay there. “I have a phobia of moving to a new location. If business is as bad as Tanglin Halt, I think I will cry,” he confesses.
The young hawker reflected that he was unprepared for the realities of running his own stall. “I just wanted to earn quick money. All my friends are doing very well with their bachelor’s degrees and I’m a dropout from ITE,” he shares. “Maybe I’m too young and need to learn more and stay humble.”
His business is dire enough that he reckons he can “just close down tomorrow.” In doing so, he would lose the $20,000 he invested to set up shop. “It’s a lot of money for my age. But there’s nothing I can do. At least I didn’t lose it to gambling,” he says.
Prayed at temples for better luck
The free thinker was so worried about his shop that he took to praying at temples for better luck. He opines: “Maybe I’m just suey [Hokkien for unlucky] and this is not my year.”
If his hawker business doesn’t pick up, Soon plans to enrol in a polytechnic to continue his studies. “I’m just 24 years old. I can go back to school,” he says, though he expresses that his priority is to sustain his stall for as long as possible.
He shares: “My friends asked me to go clubbing, and I said no because I want to focus on my business. But now it just feels like all my hard work is going to waste.”
But Soon is adopting a resilient outlook despite his career woes, saying: “You have to fall down before you learn. I’m not the only one who is so jialat [Hokkien for dire] now. Maybe I have to close down, work for someone else, learn how to run a stall. I believe there is potential here.”
Butcher The Grill Bar is at #01-10 Tanglin Halt Market & Food Centre, 48A Tanglin Halt Rd, S148813. Tel: 9056-4414. Open daily, Mon-Sat 5pm-12am, Sun 5pm-9.30pm. Facebook, Instagram
Photos: Butcher The Grill Bar
No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.
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