Diner allegedly charged 30 cents extra for small bowl with $13.50 pig organ soup, stall says it’s to cover dishwashing costs
A diner was surprised after allegedly being asked to pay extra for a small bowl while eating at a food court in Lucky Plaza.
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, Ms Ou, 49, said she and her sister visited the food court at Lucky Plaza on May 8 at around 1pm.
The siblings ordered a bowl of pig organ soup, two side dishes and yam rice from JiakMee — spending a total of $13.50.
According to Ms Ou, when her sister asked for an extra small bowl, the stallholder said there would be an extra charge of 30 cents.
The sisters eventually decided against getting the small bowl.
“We bought so much food, clearly not just for one person. It’s reasonable to ask for another bowl,” she explained.
“If we had known there would be an extra charge, we wouldn’t have patronised the stall.”
Stallholder says charge is 20 cents, not 30
However, the stallholder in question disputed the amount stated, clarifying that the charge for an extra bowl was 20 cents, not 30 cents.
The stallholder, who declined to be named, said the fee was introduced mainly to control costs and prevent abuse by some customers.
He added that his prices were already lower than many other stalls, with pig organ soup priced between $4 and $5, compared to $7 or $8 elsewhere.
According to him, customers who do not request extra bowls would not need to pay the additional fee. “The charge helps cover washing and related costs, and we inform customers beforehand,” he said.
The stallholder added that he only receives requests for small bowls from two to three customers daily — indicating that the additional charge did not have a significant impact.
Extra bowls and soup refills were once free
The stallholder revealed that extra bowls and soup refills used to be free around three years ago.
“But some customers repeatedly asked for extra bowls or kept refilling soup to share with others, so I felt it was inappropriate and started charging to prevent overuse of resources,” he said.
He added that he was reluctant to increase food prices as he feared losing customers. “I once raised prices by 10 cents and nearly half my customers stopped coming,” he said.
Without raising the prices of his offerings, the stallholder turned to exploring other additional charges.
“Each stall has a different operating method, and I hope customers can understand the cost pressures faced by vendors,” he implored.
Charges are reasonable: other hawkers
Zhang Wen Jun (transliterated), who owns a lamb soup stall in Hougang, told Shin Min that he felt an extra charge on small bowls was reasonable. However, to avoid controversy, he chooses not to provide small bowls at all.
He explained that hawker profits are already low, and providing extra bowls may lead to hawkers potentially incurring additional costs for utilities or paying dishwashers.
Wu Zhi Ren (transliterated), owner of a pork ribs and prawn noodles stall, noted that some hawker centers charge vendors a “dishwashing fee” based on the number of bowls and plates. Hence, the decision to charge an extra fee for small bowls depends on the individual hawker.
“Customers taking an extra bowl is not frequent, so I don’t charge an extra fee for small bowls,” Mr Zhang added.
Explore more on these topics
See something interesting? Contribute your story to us.
