Population woes

[limlim]

WeiHan:

I am not sure how you think about this. I think in term of food, adjusted for food quality, Singapore no longer has an edge over place like Japan. In Tokyo, I can get a big bowl of super yummy bowl of extra miso pork noodle for approximately S$8-9. Yes. In absolute money term, it is higher than the S$4-5 fishball noodle that normally get in foodcourt. But the size is also about double! and it tastes alot better. The soup base is real poultry bones slow cook over many hours compare to the one in our food court that they add MSG.

In Japan, I can get high quality plate of fresh sashimi at ~S$30. I don't think this is possible in Singapore.

So I don't know what is missing....we have cheap labour to cook and the price is already quite high adjusted to food quality.

And I guess Japan's workers salary is also higher.. i.e. their purchasing power is there.

The food is expensive, but the pple can afford it.

[WeiHan]

limlim:

WeiHan:

I am not sure how you think about this. I think in term of food, adjusted for food quality, Singapore no longer has an edge over place like Japan. In Tokyo, I can get a big bowl of super yummy bowl of extra miso pork noodle for approximately S$8-9. Yes. In absolute money term, it is higher than the S$4-5 fishball noodle that normally get in foodcourt. But the size is also about double! and it tastes alot better. The soup base is real poultry bones slow cook over many hours compare to the one in our food court that they add MSG.

In Japan, I can get high quality plate of fresh sashimi at ~S$30. I don't think this is possible in Singapore.

So I don't know what is missing....we have cheap labour to cook and the price is already quite high adjusted to food quality.

And I guess Japan's workers salary is also higher.. i.e. their purchasing power is there.

The food is expensive, but the pple can afford it.

No. The price is not higher in Tokyo adjusted for serving size. In Singapore, I literally see them counting the number of noodles to be put into your bowl and the serving is pathetic. Why is the rental so high that they have to end up counting the number of noodles?

[limlim]

If Singapore median salary goes up… food prices goes up and along with quality, it is a good thing… I feel.


The fittest survived. They got the quality, the price goes up, Singaporeans can all afford as median salary goes up (don’t care about the GDP)… why not?

[pirate]

You should be comparing coffeeshop prices for noodles instead of foodcourt prices. $5 for fishball noodles is on the high side, even for foodcourts. At some foodcourts it is still $3.50.


Anyway, stallholders cannot hire foreign workers as stall assistants (not legally anyways). The foreign workers you see are cleaners hired by the foodcourt operators. So, no. We don’t have cheap labour to cook in foodcourts. Only cheap labour to clean. Restaurants, however, are a different story. And… sashimi is not local fish. They come from temperate waters.

But what edge? Foodwise, we lose hands down to our neighbours up north. So much of our foodcourt food comes from central kitchens. Oh, yeah… it’s supposedly more efficient… because we can’t cook. We prefer to work in white collar office jobs.

[3Boys]

\"A quick check in the heartland revealed that it isn't just the big players that are suffering. If anything, it is the owners of small businesses who seem to be the hardest hit.\"


http://www.soshiok.com/multimedia/photos/1623

[3Boys]

WeiHan:

pirate:

Personally, I think Singaporeans are too addicted to cheap labour and pay too little to get other people to cook for them and wash their dishes anyways. I am a great fan of eateries increasing their prices if they find that they have more customers than they can handle. Singaporeans may grumble, but if the food is yummy enough, they will come back.

I am not sure how you think about this. I think in term of food, adjusted for food quality, Singapore no longer has an edge over place like Japan. In Tokyo, I can get a big bowl of super yummy bowl of extra miso pork noodle for approximately S$8-9. Yes. In absolute money term, it is higher than the S$4-5 fishball noodle that normally get in foodcourt. But the size is also about double! and it tastes alot better. The soup base is real poultry bones slow cook over many hours compare to the one in our food court that they add MSG.

In Japan, I can get high quality plate of fresh sashimi at ~S$30. I don't think this is possible in Singapore.

So I don't know what is missing....we have cheap labour to cook and the price is already quite high adjusted to food quality.

And why is Japan our economic model?

I didn't think sclerosis and decline were so fashionable.

High wages, high cost of living, low growth.......just what we wanted.......

[limlim]

3Boys:

\"A quick check in the heartland revealed that it isn't just the big players that are suffering. If anything, it is the owners of small businesses who seem to be the hardest hit.\"


http://www.soshiok.com/multimedia/photos/1623

Hit by what? High rental?

If we want to save the biz.. why only point to difficulty in hiring as the culprit? Why not point finger at the rental?

Why biz want to ask for govt help in getting workers..

Why cannot ask got govt help to deal with the rental cost?

[WeiHan]

3Boys:

And why is Japan our economic model?

I didn't think sclerosis and decline were so fashionable.

High wages, high cost of living, low growth.......just what we wanted.......

I am not comparing with their economic model. I am just saying that even when we have cheap labor in F&B industry and in addition, even if we assume that Japan model is so much inferior than ours, I am saying that we are losing out in term of food, both in term of quality and price and that is even after we have exploited the cheap labor advantage.

[pirate]

3Boys:

\"A quick check in the heartland revealed that it isn't just the big players that are suffering. If anything, it is the owners of small businesses who seem to be the hardest hit.\"


http://www.soshiok.com/multimedia/photos/1623

The foreign worker dependency ratio, with its quota and sub-quotas for this that and the other actually works against small businesses more than large corporations. Why? Because the number is rounded down.

limlim:

Hit by what? High rental?

If we want to save the biz.. why only point to difficulty in hiring as the culprit? Why not point finger at the rental?

High retail rent is also problem. Plus, many REITs now operate on a rent + percentage of turnover formula. On the other hand, some strata-titled commercial buildings are so badly managed that nobody wants to go there even if the retail rent is as low as office rent. For this, owner occupiers must also bear some responsibility.

But when it comes to the restaurant trade, the other problem is that it is perceived to be unglamorous. It is also hard work. Hence, many children of the restaurant owners do not wish to continue with the trade. Although in some cases, graduate children are able to take over and grow the business. But they appear to be the minority. Many youngsters prefer the comfort of a fixed income job to the heat of the kitchen.

[WeiHan]

pirate:

3Boys:

\"A quick check in the heartland revealed that it isn't just the big players that are suffering. If anything, it is the owners of small businesses who seem to be the hardest hit.\"


http://www.soshiok.com/multimedia/photos/1623

The foreign worker dependency ratio, with its quota and sub-quotas for this that and the other actually works against small businesses more than large corporations. Why? Because the number is rounded down.

limlim:

Hit by what? High rental?

If we want to save the biz.. why only point to difficulty in hiring as the culprit? Why not point finger at the rental?

High retail rent is also problem. Plus, many REITs now operate on a rent + percentage of turnover formula. On the other hand, some strata-titled commercial buildings are so badly managed that nobody wants to go there even if the retail rent is as low as office rent. For this, owner occupiers must also bear some responsibility.

But when it comes to the restaurant trade, the other problem is that it is perceived to be unglamorous. It is also hard work. Hence, many children of the restaurant owners do not wish to continue with the trade. Although in some cases, graduate children are able to take over and grow the business. But they appear to be the minority. Many youngsters prefer the comfort of a fixed income job to the heat of the kitchen.

I just feel that Singapore is heaven of assets rich owners ( property owners, property developers, government etc...) but hardly reward creativity sufficiently.