The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) has published a study titled “The Cost of Eating Out: Findings from the Makan Index 2.0”, revealing that the average cost of breakfast, lunch, and dinner in Singapore is S$4.81, S$6.01, and S$6.20 respectively. When adding up all three meals, an individual spends an average of S$16.89 if they eat at hawker centres, food courts, and kopitiams.
The study collected prices from 829 food establishments in 26 residential neighbourhoods and found regional differences for nine out of 18 food items surveyed. The study found that areas with more socio-economically vulnerable people tend to have cheaper food prices.
Here are the key findings
1 – All the drinks and chicken chops were the cheapest in the central region of Singapore. Breakfast sets and fishball noodles were the cheapest in the north of Singapore. Roti prata was the cheapest in the western region.
2 – Food courts generally priced their offerings higher, followed by kopitiams and hawker centres. The food items that did not follow these trends were breakfast sets, chicken rice, economic rice and vegetarian bee hoon sets.
3 – The study found that the cost of food cannot be predicted solely by distance from the city centre or housing prices in the area. The study revealed that areas with more socio-economically vulnerable people tend to have lower food prices.
4 – While the demand is less elastic in the central business district (CBD) areas, competition among stalls selling the same food items acts as a price dampener. Interestingly, the cost of eating out is not dictated by the wealthiest in the area but by the lower-income residents.
The survey comes amid the rising cost of living, with Singapore’s core inflation rate rising by 5.5 per cent in January, the fastest pace in over 14 years and the hike of 1 per cent in Goods & Services Tax (GST) on 1 January 2023.
Around 7.4 per cent of a household’s expenditure is spent on the types of food that hawker centres, food courts and coffee shops serve, according to the Household Expenditure Survey in 2017 and 2018.
Additionally, the study found that most stall owners in the 50 revisited food establishments did not increase their prices, with a majority increasing their prices only by a small margin.
The average price increases at these revisited stalls did not exceed S$0.30 or S$0.10 for most food items.
The researchers found that stall owners often sought to justify their food prices, took pride in keeping their prices the same despite inflationary pressures, and were reluctant to increase prices not to drive customers away.
Using the IPS key findings as the backdrop, the popular CDC vouchers seem more than enough to offset the 9% GST for many households.
More than 1.1 million Singaporean households, or 88 per cent, have claimed the latest tranche of the Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers as at Jan 16.
However, the IPS survey will not reduce the common complaints about the increased food and drink prices. They forgot to include one important factor besides the prices when comparing the food options – Quality.
There is no point if we have cheap, affordable food and drinks when the portions are small and the quality is lacking.
Source: AsiaOne
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