THE operator of the new hawker centre to be built in Bukit Panjang plans to keep the food there good and affordable.

 

NTUC Foodfare, picked by the Government last Friday to run the centre, is looking into requiring each stall to offer one low- cost dish and imposing price caps on the food sold there.

 

And to ensure that the centre will sell what residents want, the social enterprise will do a survey among those living in the area.

 

It will also find out what is already available from the estate's existing food outlets.

 

The survey will be conducted between August and the year-end, NTUC Foodfare chief executive Perry Ong said in an interview with The Straits Times on Monday.

 

The Bukit Panjang centre, slated to open in three years, is NTUC Foodfare's first venture into running a hawker centre; it already runs 45 foodcourts, coffee shops, food kiosks, cafes and a catering service.

 

The Government, which announced that it will build 10 hawker centres in the next decade, said it may run them in partnership with social enterprises to keep food prices affordable.

 

Seven of the 10 centres will be built in areas now under-served by such facilities, such as Pasir Ris, Yishun and Jurong West.

 

Mr Ong said many of NTUC Foodfare's ideas for the hawker centre are being transplanted from its network of eateries.

 

The group conducted demographic surveys before setting up each of its other coffee shops and foodcourts. This was how it planned the food mix in each of the outlets.

 

In its foodcourt in Ang Mo Kio Hub, for example, it looked for tenants willing to sell familiar fare such as herbal soup to cater to the sizeable community of older folk there.

 

Mr Ong said this planning ensured variety, adding: 'We have all seen hawker centres which have four seafood barbecue stalls in a row.'

 

The group charges its tenants lower rents in exchange for price caps on the food, and requires them to seek approval before raising prices. The result: Basic items such as kopi-o and teh-o cost 80 cents a cup at most - among the cheapest.

 

Each stall in its foodcourts also offers a low-cost dish, in addition to more upmarket fare for those who can afford it, so that 'the hawkers can make a profit while keeping the social objective intact', said Mr Ong.

 

The group is looking into other options to keep costs low for its tenants, such as bulk buying ingredients for them.

 

Mr Ong said NTUC Foodfare is ironing out these details with the Government.

 

Mr Chan Chong Beng, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, said rent is a hawker's single largest cost, so lowering it may be the right step in managing food prices at the Bukit Panjang centre.

 

But he added that it may not attract the best hawkers if price caps are imposed. 'Some hawkers will go elsewhere and charge higher prices if they think people will pay,' he said.

 

Assistant Professor Walter Theseira of Nanyang Technological University's economics division said price caps are unfair to hawkers, who are generally in the middle to lower-middle class. 'A better way to address consumers' welfare is to provide them with food vouchers.'

 

Others questioned if NTUC Foodfare, which rents its properties, would have the stomach to hold rents down if the commercial property market heats up.

 

Former hawker Liang Yixin, 67, said NTUC Foodfare would also have to keep an eye on food quality, in case hawkers cut corners to maximise their profits.

 

'Some hawkers who sell chicken rice may cut down on the chicken and add more rice, for example,' he said.