Bento meals for Hwa Chong students prepared by SATS draw criticism online

[sharonkhoo]

@rinsider said in Bento meals for Hwa Chong students prepared by SATS draw criticism online:

@thebottomsupblog yea I agree the dearth of canteen vendors is real! My partner used to work part-time for a certain primary school tuckshop vendor in the Serangoon area and he was only paid $6/hr. Razor thin profit margins and no income during holidays. Their hours may be viewed as short, but considering they’re operating in a school environment, the stall owner would bring back the equivalent of an office worker’s pay at most. But at least they could offer the option of fried food then, like chicken nuggets or hot dogs. Think these have since been phased out.

On the other hand, I know of someone else who operated in different pri schools as an independent vendor. He pooled his profits and savings after less than 5 years and eventually opened a hawker stall at Circuit Road market. I guess to confine your operations to just one school makes it hard to see turnarounds.

I just want to address the issue of not enough canteen stall operators and the low earnings. I know someone who ran a canteen stall in a sec school for several years, but recently retired. It’s hard to make ends meet like that unless they charge a lot (which they can’t because schools cap the prices). There are also restrictions on what they can sell (not too much fried food or “unhealthy” foods, mandatory greens etc which many kids don’t eat, etc). So if canteen food is to be “improved” to be more attractive, not only will prices have to go up, they probably can’t anyway because of the restrictions.

As I said before, if canteen stalls have to close, kids should just be given a choice - catered food or bring your own. My kids were in overseas schools without canteens for years - I just cooked extra the night before (so they got the same food for lunch as the previous dinner) or they got sandwiches. And I’m not a great cook. They didn’t complain, and survived. The school did provide fridges and microwave ovens which I’m sure could be done in SG if enough kids bring their own food.

[rinsider]

https://mothership.sg/2026/01/individual-stallholder-system-remains-primary-model-school-canteen/

Min for Education Desmond Lee gives some reassurance that central kitchens are an alternative at the moment for schools that are exploring them.

[thebottomsupblog]

New developments, and a commentary:

I agree with @rinsider that there are multiple issues surfacing here:

• the sustainability of the old canteen operator system
• the quality (and now safety) of what the central kitchens are supplying
• whether people (especially students) are encouraged to speak up within the school system, which is a broader issue

All of these are worth talking about!

Edited to add: A friend went for what seemed like a bento box tasting session yesterday (HCI open house), and her reviews weren’t bad. But we both agreed on this:

[chenlaoshi]

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/north-view-primary-school-gastroenteritis-food-poisoning-5868191

147 North View Primary School students affected by gastroenteritis symptoms since Jan 13; most have recovered

This is the second major gastroenteritis incident to hit a primary school over the past week, after a separate outbreak at River Valley Primary School.

[sharonkhoo]

I recall reading that HCI is exploring having the food cooked onsite rather than in a distant central kitchen? Perhaps that is a way that schools could explore as a half-measure - food still cooked in larger quantities to save costs and manpower, but without the long transport and storage time. With the large no. of students in each school, this may be a viable plan. They could just offer 2-3 options each day.