A one-time funding of S$500 will be provided to cooked food stallholders to help defray costs of providing food delivery services to their customers

Singapore, 18 April 2020 – To further step up assistance to cooked food stallholders operating at Singapore’s hawker centres, a one-time funding of S$500 will be given to stallholders who engage food delivery platforms or third-party logistics partners to deliver food to their customers during the period between 7 April and 31 May 2020, including those who have signed up for food delivery services before 7 April 2020.

Assistance to support hawkers 

2          As part of the elevated set of safe distancing measures as a circuit breaker to pre-empt the trend of increasing local transmission of COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019), the Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) announced on 3 April 2020 that dining-in would be disallowed at all food and beverage outlets, including hawker centres from 7 April. During this period, patrons are not to gather or loiter at dining areas of hawker centres to reduce movements and interactions at public areas. Takeaways and delivery are still allowed. 

3          To assist stallholders who engage food delivery platforms or third-party logistics partners to provide food delivery during this period, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will provide a one-time funding of S$500 per cooked food stallholder operating in hawker centres managed by NEA or NEA-appointed operators. This is to mitigate the cost for stallholders who wish to engage food delivery services but are concerned about the onboarding fees, as well as to help defray other costs associated with food delivery. This funding will be the latest in a series of initiatives by NEA to support cooked food stallholders during this period, which includes subsidy for table-cleaning and centralised dishwashing services, as well as full rental waiver from April to May and a 50 per cent rental waiver in March and June 2020.

4          To receive the funding, stallholders are required to submit documentation of their agreement with the food delivery platform or third-party logistics player, along with any proof of food delivery orders made via them between 7 April and 31 May to nea_hpg@nea.gov.sg. Upon verification, NEA will disburse the full S$500 amount to the stallholder’s bank account. 

5          “Although we are currently unable to dine in at hawker centres, we want to ensure that Singaporeans have ready access to good and affordable food that our hawkers offer. Many hawkers are still not on food delivery services and hence cannot benefit from this segment of the market which has significantly increased during this Circuit Breaker period and likely to further increase over time. By encouraging hawkers to provide food delivery service to their customers through this one-time funding, we hope that members of the public can continue to enjoy food from their favourite hawker stalls during this challenging period,” said Senior Minister of State, Dr Amy Khor. 

Safe distancing measures at hawker centres 

6          While dining-in is disallowed at the dining areas of cooked food sections of hawker centres from 7 April 2020 to 4 May 2020 (inclusive), patrons and delivery riders can continue to enter the hawker centres to do take-outs or fulfil delivery orders, so long as they abide by the safe distancing measures introduced. Patrons and delivery riders must now wear masks, and there should be no consumption of food and drinks at the dining areas within the hawker centres during this period. When queueing at the stalls or waiting for their takeaway orders, patrons and visitors should maintain a 1-metre separation from any other person in the hawker centre. No one should gather or loiter at the dining areas of our hawker centres. All patrons and visitors are reminded to follow the guidance and instructions of NEA officers stationed at the centres. Non-compliant patrons and visitors may face enforcement action, including a composition fine of S$300 or prosecution in court. The cooperation of all patrons, as well as stallholders, is required to halt the transmission of COVID-19 in Singapore.

~~ End ~~

For more information, please submit your enquiries electronically via the Online Feedback Form or myENV mobile application.