Closure of Stalls at Hawker Centres due to Drop in Business during COVID-19 Circuit Breaker Period

1 Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources since the start of circuit breaker measures (a) how many stallholders operating in hawker centres managed by NEA and NEA-appointed operators have closed their hawker stalls due to a drop in business; (b) how many hawkers have embraced food delivery options and applied for Enterprise Singapore's Food Delivery Booster Package and NEA's one-off $500 funding; and (c) what are the reasons cited by hawkers for not using the food delivery platforms despite the grants.

The Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources (Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan) (for the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources): Since the start of the circuit breaker measures, we have observed that about 20% to 30% of cooked food stallholders have chosen not to operate their stalls. Some stallholders, particularly those in the Central Business District, have chosen not to operate their stalls as the office crowd has thinned and business has fallen. Others like older stallholders have also temporarily closed their stalls.

We have earlier announced our support for hawkers with three months of rental waivers as well as one month of subsidies to defray table-cleaning and centralised dishwashing costs. We will further to support hawkers to ensure that they need not pay for these services during the extended circuit breaker period.

Food delivery services can help to open up a new revenue stream for hawkers, especially during this circuit breaker period. While the demand for food delivery services has generally increased during this period, there are hawkers who remain hesitant in subscribing to such services. Some may not be aware of the various options available or find the commission costs charged by more popular platforms prohibitive. Others may be unfamiliar with and resistant to adopting new technology solutions.

NEA and Enterprise Singapore or ESG, have launched initiatives to support hawkers in adopting food delivery services. The Food Delivery Booster Package by ESG was introduced at the start of the circuit breaker period so that F&B establishments, as well as our hawkers, can enjoy 5% off the prevailing commission rates charged by the major food delivery platforms and 20% lower delivery costs if they engage third party logistics players.

NEA also introduced a one-time funding assistance of $500 for hawkers who adopt food delivery services and has been reaching out to hawkers to encourage adoption. As of today, some 600 applications have been received for this scheme. We will encourage more hawkers to make full use of this funding to set up an additional revenue stream, especially during this challenging period. To facilitate this, we have decided to extend the availability of this $500 assistance by one month till the end of June 2020.

Over the longer term, we recognise that the model for food delivery services, including the commission structures, would need to evolve if they are to be attractive to hawkers. These models must strike a balance among all parties in the food delivery services eco-system, including hawker, delivery person and platform operator.

We are heartened that ground-up initiatives such as Hawkers United and SG Dabao have emerged in recent weeks – these help hawkers to advertise their food for delivery or pick-up. There are also smaller operators with newer models that allow users to aggregate orders within a hawker centre and do not impose direct commissions on the hawker food. I encourage other established companies to review their business models to see how hawker food delivery can be a complementary and integral part of their broader suite of services.

Mr Speaker: Mr Melvin Yong.

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Tanjong Pagar): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Senior Minister of State for her reply. I have two supplementary questions. Our hawkers have been struggling to survive since the implication of the circuit breaker measures. This is especially true for hawkers who do not have the profit margins to adopt food delivery platforms. Many are trying every means they can think of, such as relying on Facebook groups to promote their stalls like the Hawkers United group, which the Senior Minister of State mentioned. They have since garnered over 250,000 Facebook users. While this and the various other ground-up initiatives might sound rudimentary, they are a sign that more help needs to be provided to our hawkers. While I applaud the move by NEA and ESG to provide grants to help our hawkers manage the business costs of food delivery orders, could the Government do more to support the various ground-up initiatives by our hawkers?

My second question is, with social distancing measures likely to continue even after the circuit breaker period has ended, I would like to ask if the Ministry has any medium to long-term plans to help our hawkers, particularly those who are unable to sign up with the food delivery platforms to adapt and survive, post-circuit breaker.

About an hour ago, I just participated in the Tekka Online Market. The process itself was quite smooth and I think the hawkers, the food stall holders are also trying to adapt. Perhaps, the Government can help to structure such a framework to help our hawkers as well.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: I thank the Member for his question as well as suggestions. Firstly, regarding assistance to the hawkers on food delivery services, as I have said, for food delivery services, in order to encourage the hawkers to get on to these food delivery platforms or adopt third party logistics partners, so that they can have an added revenue stream because dine-in is not allowed during this circuit breaker period and it may last a little while longer and beyond that even, we have given this $500 assistance and we are extending this till the end of June, in order to encourage applications. So far, we have 600.

We are actually working very closely with the Hawkers' Associations to encourage the hawkers to come on board. In order to further facilitate this, we will be providing an information package that will include a non-exhaustive list of all the various food delivery platforms, third party logistics partners, as well as those that I had mentioned earlier, the newer, maybe smaller operators but newer models, in terms of where they can allow for aggregation of orders within a centre. And some of these operators do not impose a direct commission on the hawker food prices. Instead, they charge delivery charges to the patrons, whereas some would charge a lower commission like 10% and then, co-funding of the delivery charges.

So, these are available. We will put them up on an information package, including some of these portals like Hawkers United and SG Dabao, so that our hawkers have a good idea of the types of platforms available which they can adopt. Once they have decided on one, the relevant companies will come on board to help them adopt these services.

Beyond that, within the short term, as I have said, we are providing rental waivers, in fact, till June, 50% in June. And then, we subsidise the table-cleaning and centralised dishwashing so that they do not have to pay at all into the extended circuit breaker period.

But we are also looking at the longer term. We will be working with the food delivery companies – in fact, we are already engaging them – to see how they can adapt their model for the hawker centre context, with potentially lower costs for the hawkers. This is not just for the circuit breaker period but beyond.

In addition, in recent years as well as just this year, we have got various programmes to support and sustain the hawker trade. So, this is not just about the circuit breaker but actually, how to help them to remain competitive in this very tough F&B environment. That includes, for instance, a Hawkers' Development Programme where we have worked with Skillsfuture. The hawkers can get onto modules to learn how to market themselves as well as leverage on social media, digitalisation, e-payment and so on. We encourage the hawkers to make use of this opportunity to upskill themselves and further develop their business.

Above all, I would like to encourage all Singaporeans to support our hawkers by patronising them, utilising food delivery services and takeaway, now.