Getting inovative in F&B

[cooldude]

Hi all.

Just wondering why is it that there are very few innovative people entering into the F&B business at the hawker stall level. Sure, you do find innovative and enclitic restaurants all over town, but none at the hawker center. I have eaten at dozens of hawker centers and the most popular stalls are the ‘economy rice’ stall.
Why has no one opened an ‘economy Sushi’ stall, for example?

Thanks!

[beppi]

Innovative people do not limit their potential to culinary skills, but also to how to make most money out of it. In this respect, a fancy restaurant clearly is better than a hawker stall. Innovative people are also often better at finding ways to finance such a venture. Hawkers are therefore generally the less innovative - no surprise here.

P.S.: What means "enclitic"? Innovative yourself with words, eh?

[nakatago]

P.S.: What means "enclitic"? Innovative yourself with words, eh?

I refudiate that.

Anyway, at the hawker stall level, there's really not much room for innovation because it's all about the bottom line: good, cheap food and profits due to volume. Also people operating at that level do not tend to exercise their imaginations much (for various reasons).

Let's try something:

You try to come up with a new dish. It's unfamiliar and people would shy away from it. You'd have to exert some effort to convince people to try it. And if they try it, you hope people would want it so you could sell more (again, the bottom line). Then, you try to innovate again to keep from being stale.

It's just too much work when there are easier ways to profit.

That said, the fruits guy in our hawker center tries to innovate. He occasionally posts cards of suggested fruit shake, complete with nice pictures, benefits and laminated cards. In the end, people (which are mostly regulars) still buy the same combinations and rarely try the new concoctions he posts. It's usually new people who try the new stuff because they mistake them as the 'regular' menu.

[beppi]

P.S.: What means "enclitic"? Innovative yourself with words, eh?

I refudiate that.

en·clit·ic (n-kltk)
n.
1. A clitic that is attached to the end of another word. In Give 'em the works, the pronoun 'em is an enclitic.
2. A clitic.
adj.
Of or relating to an enclitic or enclisis; forming an accentual unit with the preceding word.
[Late Latin encliticus, from Greek enklitikos, from enklnein, to lean on : en-, on, in; see en-2 + klnein, to lean; see klei- in Indo-European roots.]
en·cliti·cize (--sz) v.
en·cliti·ci·zation (--s-zshn), en·clisis (-klss) n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
enclitic [ɪnˈklɪtɪk]
adj
(Linguistics)
a. denoting or relating to a monosyllabic word or form that is treated as a suffix of the preceding word, as Latin -que in populusque
b. (in classical Greek) denoting or relating to a word that throws an accent back onto the preceding word
n
(Linguistics) an enclitic word or linguistic form Compare proclitic
[from Late Latin encliticus, from Greek enklitikos, from enklinein to cause to lean, from en-2 + klinein to lean]
enclitically adv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

O.k., there really IS such a word! But is sounds pretty Greek to me ...

[nakatago]

[from Late Latin encliticus, from Greek enklitikos, from enklinein to cause to lean, from en-2 + klinein to lean]

O.k., there really IS such a word! But is sounds pretty Greek to me ...

it should because it is

[cooldude]

P.S.: What means "enclitic"? Innovative yourself with words, eh?

Sorry, typeo. I meant eclectic.

And, I did not know that there was a word like enclitic!!

That said, the fruits guy in our hawker center tries to innovate. He occasionally posts cards of suggested fruit shake, complete with nice pictures, benefits and laminated cards. In the end, people (which are mostly regulars) still buy the same combinations and rarely try the new concoctions he posts. It's usually new people who try the new stuff because they mistake them as the 'regular' menu.

I suspect that that is the key. Most people in Singapore/Asia do not experiment with new dishes. This is not so in the US, where people do try and eat all sorts of stuff.

For example, they have an ‘moving exhibition’ which comes up every few months in my area, and they put up row after row of stalls selling burgers (pretty tasteless ones at that!) or Taiwanese sausages (pretty good ones!), thereby sticking to the tried and true. But, in my opinion, that divides the market and therefore the chances of success are limited here.

Innovative people do not limit their potential to culinary skills, but also to how to make most money out of it. In this respect, a fancy restaurant clearly is better than a hawker stall.

I beg to differ here. I think that the low price and high turnover paradigm is more likely to succeed than an expensive restaurant.
Also, I like to think of McD started as street food – cheap stuff. But look at the number of people flocking to McD joints… I think the image is selling here… Let’s face it, McD is pretty tasteless unless dunked into tomato ketchup, right?

So, the question is, how can one be innovative and sell? If I am not innovative, why should people choose my stall from the other stall selling the same stuff. But, if I am innovative, not many people will try my stuff. Catch 22!
[/quote]

[nakatago]

That said, the fruits guy in our hawker center tries to innovate. He occasionally posts cards of suggested fruit shake, complete with nice pictures, benefits and laminated cards. In the end, people (which are mostly regulars) still buy the same combinations and rarely try the new concoctions he posts. It's usually new people who try the new stuff because they mistake them as the 'regular' menu.

I suspect that that is the key. Most people in Singapore/Asia do not experiment with new dishes. This is not so in the US, where people do try and eat all sorts of stuff.

For example, they have an ‘moving exhibition’ which comes up every few months in my area, and they put up row after row of stalls selling burgers (pretty tasteless ones at that!) or Taiwanese sausages (pretty good ones!), thereby sticking to the tried and true. But, in my opinion, that divides the market and therefore the chances of success are limited here.

Innovative people do not limit their potential to culinary skills, but also to how to make most money out of it. In this respect, a fancy restaurant clearly is better than a hawker stall.

I beg to differ here. I think that the low price and high turnover paradigm is more likely to succeed than an expensive restaurant.
Also, I like to think of McD started as street food – cheap stuff. But look at the number of people flocking to McD joints… I think the image is selling here… Let’s face it, McD is pretty tasteless unless dunked into tomato ketchup, right?

Asians, generally, do not like going out of their comfort zones unless someone convinces them to do so with great marketing. This, in turn, creates a new comfort zone, which will again take a lot of effort to move again. Psychological inertia except that it only applies to states at rest.

[keving1977]

from hawker food to newton 1st law of motion. cool

[ksl]

Innovation starts with free tasting, no free taste no deal, remember Singaporeans are really no different to anyone else when it comes to trying different foods. That's why you need to do a test market first, before diving into any kind of food business, be it gourmet fast food, or hawker.

Those that are well travelled may risk eating other foods, but many factors like hygiene and cleanliness are of more importance to westerners, as we have a tendency to set specific standards.

I think if sampling taste was initiated sales would be improved, I see it often at local food exhibitions, though many foreigners turn down vinegar beverages, because they think acid! Which is more a lack of education in the subject of human needs.

Call it fruit juice and you get a different approach if you see my point.

They will eat apples and oranges one after another, but they don't want acids now you see where i am coming from. The same applies to vegetables which are acids or alkalis.

The approach to the selling of food good be improved a great deal, if only some loving thought was put into the preparation.

My turn off at the food courts is looking at food all warmed up, like a school canteen, though it is a kind of pick 1 meat 3 veg and such, I don't like warm food, I like hot food though who am I to complain, if the majority do not. Service is lacking badly in the local food sector, though some will oblige

[ksl]

Hi all.

Just wondering why is it that there are very few innovative people entering into the F&B business at the hawker stall level. Sure, you do find innovative and enclitic restaurants all over town, but none at the hawker center. I have eaten at dozens of hawker centers and the most popular stalls are the ‘economy rice’ stall.
Why has no one opened an ‘economy Sushi’ stall, for example?

Thanks!

Kovan 9 p.m Sushi at give away price's lah, cannot keep! 50% discount large queue, sales very good

[cooldude]

I guess that is the operating model then.

1. Trial marketing to check the acceptability.
2. Free promo samples

Let me give it a try!

[nakatago]

2. Free promo samples

Let me give it a try!

Be careful with this. Sillyporeans -- no, asians -- are known to be smoochers. Have you been to carrefour?!?!?

[sundaymorningstaple]

2. Free promo samples

Let me give it a try!

Be careful with this. Sillyporeans -- no, asians -- are known to be smoochers. Have you been to carrefour?!?!?

smoochers or moochers? Methinks the latter not the former (unless it's an SPG).

[Strong Eagle]

2. Free promo samples

Let me give it a try!

Be careful with this. Sillyporeans -- no, asians -- are known to be smoochers. Have you been to carrefour?!?!?

smoochers or moochers? Methinks the latter not the former (unless it's an SPG).

Not only Asians... me! I like to sample all the food... at Carrefour, at Isetan, and when I was in the US, at Sam's on a Saturday morning... could have quite a good brunch.

[nakatago]

2. Free promo samples

Let me give it a try!

Be careful with this. Sillyporeans -- no, asians -- are known to be smoochers. Have you been to carrefour?!?!?

smoochers or moochers? Methinks the latter not the former (unless it's an SPG).

oh yeah, moochers. sorry, typed it at bed with the tablet. late night.