GM Turned Prawn Mee Hawker Says Biz Untenable; Feels Guilty He Had To Stop Son’s PSLE Tuition Classes
Prawn mee hawker Nick Cheng, 40, was initially happy when the government announced the easing of border and community safety measures in March this year. “I thought business would get better [as people would dine out more at hawker centres] but it was the opposite. People started going to cafes and restaurants more or travelling instead,” he tells us over the phone.
His halal-certified stall Yummy Raja, which opened last November, is located at Sengkang and mainly serves a younger customer base of “people in their twenties and thirties, as well as young families”. The hawker cooks everything on the stall’s eight-item menu, which includes prawn noodles and turmeric rice sets, while a Muslim stall assistant takes orders.
Since April, Nick saw his number of customers plummet by as much as 50 per cent. “Every time there’s a long weekend, my business won’t do well that month. I assume it’s because the families are travelling or they’re not eating out as much after spending on their holidays,” he laments.