When
I was looking at the prices of KFC, it struck me that fast food prices
nowadays seem to be cheaper than most Chinese Hawker food.
What has exactly happened? How did it turn out this way?
When I was younger, fast food was considered a luxury meal for my family and we could only occasionally visit there. It was considered a treat for the family as most of our meals were at home or tapao from the hawker center nearby since they were cheaper and more conveniently nearby.
But nowadays, there are KFCs and McDonalds almost everywhere and their prices seem to have moved up a lot slower than say despite the advertising heavily.
It used to be RM1.50 for dry wantan mee at the hawkers but nowadays you will be looking at RM4.50 or RM5.
For this price, I can get KFC burger plus a drink INCLUDING GST.
The reasons I can think of is due to KFC's economy of scale and also that they have more control and buying power over their supply chain
.
But it could also be the case that Hawkers are making a lot more money nowadays and have gotten used to increasingly larger profit margins despite dubious tax-paying practices and they can even afford to higher foreigners to cook for them while they sit nearby to supervise and collect money.
The recent price increases of hawkers stalls using GST as a reason while fast food restaurants have actually managed to reduce prices is really showing up the differences between these two business models and exposing any inefficiencies or possible profiteering behavior.
But I think it is time for Malaysians to reclaim lower-priced hawker food.
Someone seriously need to study the actual cost of running a wantan mee stall and study their cost of goods, squeeze out the supply chain inefficiencies, engage in collective buying contracts and see how we can help hawker stalls lower their prices.
Lim Sian See
What has exactly happened? How did it turn out this way?
When I was younger, fast food was considered a luxury meal for my family and we could only occasionally visit there. It was considered a treat for the family as most of our meals were at home or tapao from the hawker center nearby since they were cheaper and more conveniently nearby.
But nowadays, there are KFCs and McDonalds almost everywhere and their prices seem to have moved up a lot slower than say despite the advertising heavily.
It used to be RM1.50 for dry wantan mee at the hawkers but nowadays you will be looking at RM4.50 or RM5.
For this price, I can get KFC burger plus a drink INCLUDING GST.
The reasons I can think of is due to KFC's economy of scale and also that they have more control and buying power over their supply chain
.
But it could also be the case that Hawkers are making a lot more money nowadays and have gotten used to increasingly larger profit margins despite dubious tax-paying practices and they can even afford to higher foreigners to cook for them while they sit nearby to supervise and collect money.
The recent price increases of hawkers stalls using GST as a reason while fast food restaurants have actually managed to reduce prices is really showing up the differences between these two business models and exposing any inefficiencies or possible profiteering behavior.
But I think it is time for Malaysians to reclaim lower-priced hawker food.
Someone seriously need to study the actual cost of running a wantan mee stall and study their cost of goods, squeeze out the supply chain inefficiencies, engage in collective buying contracts and see how we can help hawker stalls lower their prices.
Lim Sian See
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