Cheap kway chap set for “students and older customers”
“We’ve been selling this $2.50 set from the first day till now,” says Seng Hong, who goes on to explain that it’s targeted at “students and older customers”. “Number one, they can’t eat so much. Number two, they also can’t spend so much,” he reasons. “It’s also good for business lah – when new customers pass by my stall and they see the $2.50 price tag, they’re more willing to order the small set to just give it a try. And if they like it, I’ll have a new customer.”
He shares that the $2.50 sets only make up a “small portion” of his daily sales, as most customers tend to order more offal. As for how many bowls he sells in total, he replies offhandedly: “Never count. But we sell around nine packets of kway a day – each packet is 3kg.”
How does he keep the price tag low with today’s inflation? By reducing portion sizes? "It's never changed [over the years]. Because honestly, the portion for the $2.50 set isn't a lot, so I can't cut it down anymore. I just make less profits, but to me, selling it cheap is still okay as I can make money by selling more volume,” he explains.
"Some items are going up faster than others. Like in the $2.50 set, there's pork, tau pok and egg. The price of pork and tau pok aren't rising very rapidly, so it [isn’t so bad] when eggs went up in price," he explains.
“I don’t have to make big money, just enough to live and feed my family lah. By selling it cheap, I can also sell out quickly, so I don’t have to hang around until the evening just to make enough,” he reasons. “My evening is free – if my daughter kacau (Malay for disturb) me to go out, I have time to spend with her (laughs).”