FOODCOURT operators are mainly responsible for making cooked food expensive as they compete to secure foodcourt premises from landlords with high rental bids.
To secure the foodcourts in good locations such as Orchard Road, Marina Bay Sands and VivoCity, the operators have to compete against each other and put in high rental bids.
Such bidding battles should not go unchecked as stallholders will in turn have to pay high rental to secure the stalls. The cost will then be passed on to consumers.
I was at VivoCity and was shocked when I had to pay about $7 for a bowl of bak chor mee (minced pork noodles), which would normally cost about $3.50 a bowl at more affordable locations.
Foodcourts' cooked food prices in Orchard Road and Marina Bay Sands are just as high - on average, the prices are 30 per cent to 60 per cent higher than those at hawker centres operated by the National Environment Agency (NEA).
Many foodcourt operators also fail to keep their premises clean. I have encountered rats running around at the foodcourt in Greenridge Shopping Centre on many occasions. The presence of flies and dirty tables are common in privately-operated foodcourts.
Foodcourt operators are not so much in the food business as the property business, where stalls are rented out at a profit.
On the part of the landlords, it makes business sense for them to go for a system where the highest bidder wins to generate high rental income.
There is also the convenience of dealing with a single main tenant.
However, hundreds of thousands of office workers are dependent on foodcourts for their lunch meals. There is a need to prevent the cost of food from rising higher than it already is.
The authorities need to take steps to mitigate the problem of high rental bids.
Tim Tio
