It’s great to support hawkers by ordering online and having meals delivered. But do you know the restaurant may make only 50 cents profit, due to delivery charges and other fees?
Say you pay $25 for a meal, plus delivery. 30 per cent of that $25 fee goes to the delivery company.
If this seems too hard to swallow, you can try these new delivery options. At least you know more of the price you pay goes back to the hawkers.
SGForSG is a non-profit food delivery platform for hawkers and small food and beverage businesses.
There are no onboarding fees. Vendors are charged a 5 per cent commission, which is donated to YMCA Singapore’s Wok The Talk initiative that provides meals and groceries to vulnerable people.
Hawkers provide their stall name and photo for the website. They can add menu items, prices and photos of the dishes, if they want.
For less tech-savvy hawkers, volunteers at BySGForSG will put up a listing, add food items and manage online orders and payments. It also does sales reports for the hawkers, so they can get on with running their stalls.
More than 50 vendors are now using the platform. At Pasir Panjang Food Centre, at least 15 hawkers are on board.
FairPrice Group and food delivery start-up WhyQ has launched food delivery platform Marketplace @ WhyQ.
Unlike most delivery platforms, it charges eateries no commission or start-up fees. But customers are charged an extra six per cent on top of their order, to cover costs.
About 100 F&B operators ranging from hawkers to restaurants are now on the platform. These include hawker stall Beng Who Cooks, F&B chain Crave Nasi Lemak, South Korean eatery Dosirak and restaurant Pang’s Hakka Delicacies.
Eateries that have signed up to be listed on Marketplace @ WhyQ can either tap WhyQ’s third-party delivery services or self-deliver.
#savefnbsg is a coalition of over 500 restaurants, ranging from independent restaurant operations to pretty swanky food and beverage groups. They’ve banded together to support each other. Among other things, they’re not happy about paying 30 per cent of a meal’s cost to delivery companies.
They ask customers to order direct from restaurants, so more of the purchase price can go back to the eatery.
You can pick the food up, or they’ll deliver it using private hire, courier and taxi drivers. Any delivery fees are given to the drivers directly.
You can see a list of restaurants to support here.