14-1-2021 8:36 AM
hfourhappy said: If one has no hawker blood, it will fail.
What you say is partly true. Hawkerpreneurship is in certain people’s blood. Being passionate about their job, the food hawkers always endeavor to whip up flavourful meals to whet their customers’ appetites. Besides, they can endure hardships and long work hours, not to mention stuffy working conditions.
One would assume hawkerpreneurship runs in the family, with kids having inherited their parents’ passion and would naturally follow in their footsteps. But it was not to be. The gruelling work that their parents do knocked the stuffing out of them. Many of today’s strawberry kids do not relish the idea of slogging away at the wok under less than ideal working conditions. They don’t seem to have hawker blood, can't take the heat and stay out of the kitchen.
Given the dwindling numbers of hawkers’ children taking over their businesses, the govt has given the hawker trade a much needed shot in the arm by professionalizing it. It will launch a work-study programme in March to train poly and ITE grads to embark on a career as a hawker. Increased professionalism and the makeover to improve the hawker image may well draw educated food entrepreneurs to the trade by the score.
Someone commented in a counter to the professionalization of the hawker trade that “no matter how you slice it, a hawker, however professionalized, is still a hawker.”