Fellow KLites, we are facing a dire situation: our restaurant food quality is dipping at a record rate! Some 15 years ago, stall food were cheap and uber awesome. Not anymore. If nothing is being done to curb this calamity, we will soon see ourselves becoming Singapore ( sorry neighbors, but I have to honestly say food over at your place are anything but nice. Too healthy maybe).
My under-educated reasoning tells me these are the causes:
1. Perception of Standards
When in school students were asked what their ambitions were. Because the students were fairly young, their teachers would often give them suggestions. Doctor, lawyer, scientist, engineer, accountant, pilot. From there perceptions were sown into their young minds that these are the only respectable people to be. Parents who labor in foodstalls would also tell their kids to study hard for an office job that pays well and lets you sit in air-conditioned rooms all day long. Who can tell me that office jobs are easy? Do they also come with Dreams?
For people with parents still running a foodstall, consider the following:
Our parents were mostly minimally educated, and don't really know how to make money work for them. They know that you exchange sweat for honest amounts of money. Their calculations are very linear, how many hours of work equals how much income. You on the other hand are educated. What your parents have is more valuable than any salary-paying job out there. Oldtown White Coffee is a classic example.
In an employment you will never be able to reach the top of the ladder, because you will never own it. Don't be mistaken though, company share ownership only gives you the perception you own part of the company so you can work harder.
2. Taking It Easy
Look at all the foodstalls out there today. If they are bad, most probably they're manned by foreign workers. Honestly, I don't trust my Char Siew rice to a Vietnamese, no matter how good they are at Cantonese. Stall owners opt for foreign workers, mainly because of 2 reasons: they are cheap, and their own kids find it embarrasing to operate their stalls because it's got no class.
Its probably not lucrative if you only operate one stall, but what if you have a chain? Come on, if Ramlee can train business owners to make burgers consistent throughout the country, why can't chicken rice be consistent?
Matter of Protection
Foodstalls, in a way, represent a culture in Malaysia. A culture quickly losing its place, replaced by restaurants our parents say ' Con Ang Mos'. Now we are being conned into air-conditioned restaurants with comfy seats and cleaner appearance, and steeper prices and worse food.
Setup a strong union or organization. Provide proper trainings on clean food preperation, move them to better hawkers centers, allow them to plan for chains and franchises. Most importantly keep the secret recipes passing down generations and you will maintain the food quality. Setup a social networking site that will promote hawker food, allow the public to rate and comment so others can see and try.
I don't need to teach anyone how they can spend their RM50 million wisely. I only wish that i can still bring my kids Curry Laksa hunting like I did when I was younger. No not like Paparich or Madam Kwan kinda Con Ang Mo Curry Laksa.
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