NTUC FairPrice Foundation funds S$1 million to launch Kopitiam HawkerBoss Programme to nurture a new generation of hawkers and hawker culture

• Resources will be channelled over a 12-month period to help selected "hawkerpreneurs" scale their business and create F&B jobs
• This is also an effort to help preserve our hawker culture* by identifying and supporting new, promising F&B hawker talents
  *Singapore's element in the UNESCO representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

SINGAPORE, May 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kopitiam officially announced a S$1 million Kopitiam HawkerBoss Programme supported by FairPrice Foundation, to help nurture a new generation of Hawker bosses to help them kick start or scale their F&B business. Since recruitment for the Kopitiam HawkerBoss program commenced through word of mouth late December 2021, initial response has been enthusiastic and 11 hawkerpreneurs have been selected so far. Of the 11 Kopitiam HawkerBosses, six are first-time hawkers, four are existing hawkers looking to expand their business and one being a planted based food concept that hires the disadvantaged community for its operations. A public open-call is now open for potential hawkerbosses to sign up for the remaining vacancies.

"As an integral part of the way of life for Singaporeans, hawker culture is an endearing familiar concept to most. People from all walks of life gather at our hawker centres to dine and bond. This unique bond of food, space, and community has evolved over the years into Singapore's multicultural society, forming a crucial aspect of Singapore's identity. We hope that this programme will play a part to help preserve this heritage as well as enhance the hawker culture through the creation of new jobs."

Mr Chan Tee Seng, Chief Executive Officer, Food Services Business at FairPrice Group

This programme is also the only hawker entrepreneur programme that is flexible and can be customised to the needs of the hawkerpreneurs throughout the 12 months hawkerpreneurship journey. The team will work closely with each hawkerboss to work through business models, menus, pricing, branding and marketing. The programme aims to create new hawker assistant jobs by supporting promising F&B hawker entrepreneurs not just on stall location selection, rentals but also manpower subsidies. The hawkers will benefit from NTUC FairPrice Foundation's Funding and from FairPrice Group's full range of food-related services and expertise such as sourcing, marketing and branding.

"Kopitiam's mission is to Do Well and also to Do Good and part of our social mission is to nurture our beloved hawker culture and to help deserving hawkers thrive. Being in the F&B industry ourselves, we understand that starting their own F&B business is not easy and requires grit, perseverance and passion to succeed. Similar to any startup journey, it can be fulfilling but also overwhelming at times. We want to be there to provide them with a helping hand in terms of concrete funding and expertise as well as an occasional pat on the back or an encouraging word. We hope this will go a long way to help realise their dream of becoming their own bosses in this competitive space. We work with partners such as The Social Kitchen who hire those with special needs and Hawkers Collective in sourcing for the right candidates and continue to seek out partners willing to join us in this effort." 

Ms Pauline Png, Senior Vice President, Customer and O2O transformation, Food Services.

The programme will access each hawkerpreneurs' needs to see where to best help them:

• Access to stalls within the Kopitiam outlets.
  Across 80 of Kopitiam's hawker centres, coffee shops, food courts in malls or hospitals.
• Rental and/or stall fee subsidies
• Salary subsidies for created F&B jobs
• Access to marketing and branding expertise
• Access to raw material resourcing and supplies to improve hawkers' Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

Interested applicants can visit https://www.kopitiam.biz/hawkerboss-program/ for more information on the criteria for selection for the programme and to register your interest.

The qualifying criteria, list of selected hawkerbosses, their stories and quotes are available in the longer form at:

https://www.kopitiam.biz/media-releases/ntuc-fairprice-foundation-funds-s1-million-to-launch-kopitiam-hawkerboss-programme-to-nurture-a-new-generation-of-hawkers-and-hawker-content/

Appendix starts

Want to be a "Kopitiam HawkerBoss"?

Qualifying criteria for the programme:

• Motivated to create a long term career as a hawkerboss
• Aspiring hawkers who are new to hawker trade
• Existing hawkers who have less than 2 existing stalls and looking to expand their business
• Willingness to commit to hiring 3 new staff for each stall
• Singaporean or Permanent Resident, 21 years old and above

Appendix: List of current Hawkerboss Candidates

Quotes from some of the selected hawkerbosses:

"My first Economic Bee Hoon stall has been running for 2.5 years and I was looking at expanding to my second outlet when I heard about the Kopitiam HawkerBoss program. I knew I had to  grab the opportunity as being a young hawker, resources and experience are limited. I feel more confident in achieving my expansion plans now with the subsidies and expertise the program lends. "shared by Ong Xin Yi, HawkerBoss who owns Yi Qi Fa Nasi Lemak and is looking for a suitable location for her second outlet.

"The HawkerBoss program has helped me a lot on rent and staff wage subsidies to take some financial pressure off this new business I am building. With the savings, I am able to handle the rising ingredient and manpower cost better. The journey of preserving my dad's recipes and allowing more people to have a taste of them is a lot smoother. I am more confident and grateful to have a strong F&V player like Kopitiam journey with me." said Sarah Sng, HawkerBoss of Nonya Pok Pok Kay @ Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre.

"We all know that there are quite a lot of risks and stress at the initial part of the business when we fine tune our offerings to form a stable customer base. The HawkerBoss program provides financial and marketing relief which gives me more bandwidth to build and grow the business." shared by Lew Zhen Wei, HawkerBoss at Lau Pa Sat, running Uniquely Vegetarian.

About FairPrice Foundation

Guided by the philosophy to do well in order to do good for the community, NTUC FairPrice launched FairPrice Foundation in 2008 to focus its giving efforts to provide a better life for the community. FairPrice Foundation focuses its giving on three strategic thrusts – the poor and needy, nation building and community bonding, and advancing workers' welfare. FairPrice has since donated more than $178 million to the Foundation to further these three areas of focus.

About FairPrice Group

FairPrice Group was established in 2019 through the formation of four entities comprising NTUC FairPrice, NTUC Foodfare, Kopitiam, and NTUC Link, with the purpose of making life better for all and to fulfil a vision of being a leader in everything food. FairPrice Group looks to optimise the resources of all four social enterprises and leverage their respective strengths to put customers first, provide better value for all and to make everything about food easy. With an extensive network of close to 570 touchpoints, FairPrice Group seeks to provide an integrated array of products and services, from groceries, ready-to-cook, and ready-to-eat offerings, to on-premise meals, food take-aways, and a rewards programme that delivers personalised and delightful experiences.

About Kopitiam (part of the FairPrice Group)

The Kopitiam brand operates in more than 80 food courts, coffee shops and hawker centres across the island serving thousands of meals a day. Thenewly rebranded Kopitiam brand promises to make good food affordable for everyone as well as connecting family and friends through joyful food experiences.