$10,000 Tiger Beer Support Fund for New Hawkers!

From a small hawker stall to a coffeeshop, the young hawkers at Truly Test Kitchen are all about curry rice and home-styled dishes. After Deniece and Joel bought over Deniece’s dad’s hawker stall at Telok Blangah Drive, Joshua, Joel’s younger brother, joined the duo to run the business. The duo gave up their bank job and spent 5 weeks learning how to cook the curry rice from Deniece’s dad.

Their dishes were really well received and they soon moved to a coffeeshop situated in an industrial building at MacPherson. I thought it was a brave move because they took charge of all the stalls in the coffeeshop to sell a variety of dishes. Since then, they have proven to everyone that they can do it and now, they have turned the entire coffeeshop into a central kitchen that focuses on doing delivery through Foodpanda, Deliveroo, Ubereats & WhattoeatSG from Monday to Saturday from 11am to 830pm.

Despite shifting to a delivery-only business model, Truly Test Kitchen stays true to its mission of providing quality food at great value to people from all walks of life while preserving a dying hawker trade.

Such an inspiration, thank you for keeping the true spirit of hawkers alive. Watch their story on Tiger Beer’s microsite. This film is produced as part of Tiger Beer’s street food movement to remind Singaporeans to show appreciation to our hawkers, who have worked hard to provide us with our favourite local dishes.

The rice is drenched with excess of chicken and assam curry. It’s thick and sticky but not overpowering in taste, with a spiciness level that is suited for all. You know that a stall serves great curry rice when you don’t need unique dishes to pair it with. Just a plate of pork chop and chap chye is good enough.

We all know that being a hawker is not easy. The long hours they spend to prepare and cook the dishes, coupled with long hours behind the stove or standing to serve, I truly admire Deniece and Joel who are willing to give up their bank job to wake up at 2am daily to do this.

When asked how they felt about being in the hawker business for so many years, Joel said, “We still gain a high level of satisfaction because we know that we are helping to preserve our hawker heritage.”

Being a keen advocate of our local street food and all aspects of our local culture and heritage, Tiger Beer has always been closely associated with Singapore street food. Now, it’s time to show our appreciation to our hawkers. Share a photo of your favourite hawker together with a thank you note to them, and post it on social media with hashtag #uncagestreetfood. I look forward to reading all of them!

ENJOY A MEAL ON TIGER BEER AT COFFEESHOPS ISLANDWIDE

To celebrate our iconic street food and our hawkers, Tiger Beer will be opening up select coffeeshops over the next four weeks, and residents will receive a $5 food coupon courtesy of Tiger Beer.

The first one will be happening tonight! Stay tuned to Tiger Beer’s Facebook page for updates on time and location. While you’re at the coffeeshop, do show our hawkers the appreciation they deserve by visiting their stall and sharing a photo of them with #uncagestreetfood.

The dates of the next few coffeeshop events will also be released on Tiger Beer’s Facebook page closer to the dates.

TIGER STREET FOOD SUPPORT FUND

Following through to its commitment to helping hawkers, Tiger Beer will launch the ‘Tiger Street Food Support Fund’, with funds reinvested from every 6-can pack purchase earlier in the first phase of the street food movement.

The Support Fund will allow all new hawkers to apply for and receive up to S$10,000 in funding from Tiger Beer, which will be given to successful applicants via reimbursement. This is only open to hawkers who have set up a cooked food stall in a hawker centre or coffeeshop within the last three months, or are looking into entering the trade for the first time. The fund can be used to offset costs for any aspects of the hawker’s business, except for rental costs.

The fund is open to all Singapore citizens and permanent residents. Application of the fund will be open till 15 December 2016, and recipients of the fund will then be announced in January 2017.

Application starts from 15 September 2016 on Tiger Beer’s website. To all aspiring hawkers out there, what are you waiting for?

This post was brought to you by Tiger Beer.