Hawkering on — Raymond and Sheila’s climb off the corporate ladder to success
By: Tan Yi Shu
Tags: Singapore Food, Telok Blangah, Singapore

Text: Tan Yi Shu

Photography: Bernard Wee (@lousycameraman)

It is not every day that you come across elderly hawkers who are extremely conversant in English, to the point where they sprinkle their speeches with metaphors as generously as they garnish their dishes.

So imagine my surprise when Raymond and Sheila, a husband-wife pair of sexagenarians who run a porridge stall at the Telok Blangah Hawker, told me I could interview them in English, as they were fluent in it.

How exactly did this come to pass? What made them decide to cook up a career as hawkers instead of continuing with their first jobs in marketing? Why do they only open their stall twice a week now, and how is that sustainable? This is their story.

When We Were Young

“So how did you two get so good in English,” I blurted out, to their amusement.

Raymond and Sheila acknowledged that they were fortunate to have received decent educations when they were children — something not that common in their generation. At that point in their young lives, neither had contemplated being a hawker. After graduating, Raymond worked at Roxy-Sharp marketing television sets for six years, while Sheila was at a German firm — coincidentally also in marketing — for 13 years.

A young Raymond was no stranger to working at a food stall though, as his family ran — and are still running — a stall at Tiong Bahru Hawker. Although he enjoyed helping out, he did not aspire to take over the business or a run one of his own, as he had a strong preference to do something related to his marketing diploma.

“I wanted to be white-collar worker, in a nice office, doing what my studies had equipped me to do,” Raymond said, a tad ruefully. “Otherwise, all of it would have been for nothing. At that point, I considered being a full time hawker as a step-back, especially since my polytechnic peers were doing very well.”

However, the intrinsically kind-hearted him did not enjoy the rat-race culture common in the corporate world. So when his father asked him again at the age of 30 to consider helping at the stall full time, he thought he owed it to himself to give it a try.

He confessed that he was in two minds back then — being a hawker lacked prestige as compared to his marketing job, yet, the business was brisk and would provide a more stable income. Despite being disillusioned at the start, he gradually threw himself whole-heartedly into the work.

Raymond (in white) helping out at his father’s stall in his younger days

Spread Your Wings and Fly

As often happens in life, hard work leads to good things. His big break came when Violet Oon, a renowned food writer, approached him when he was in his late 30s. She was a regular customer, and asked if he would like to set up his own stall with her help. Having her backing was a big boost to Raymond’s confidence and he decided to take the leap of faith.

That put the wheels in motion for the next 15 years where he ran his first stall at 51 Neil Road Food Court, then later at another food court at Amara Hotel. He counts those years as the most important ones of his career; helping his father gave him the foundation, but running his own stall made him take ownership and allowed him to exercise autonomy –important elements in running a successful business.

“Those 15 years were very crucial. They exposed me to various cooking techniques, I increased my repertoire of dishes, and also consolidated my skills. As I built up my customer base, I eventually realised that I could succeed in this business. I am really thankful that my customers liked my dishes — without them, I would not be here today” Raymond recounted.

Right Place, Right Time

As he turned into his mid-50s, the desire to serve the local community tugged at his heartstrings. He also thought operating a smaller hawker stall with just a few specialised dishes would be more manageable workload-wise. As fate would have it, a stall owner at the Telok Blangah Drive Hawker was just contemplating about retiring, and they successfully negotiated a transfer of stall ownership.

“It really was fate… right place, right time,” Raymond mused.

Raymond preparing ingredients in the wee hours of the morning

In the first few months at Telok Blangah, Raymond ran the stall with a helper, as Sheila stayed home to take care of their three children. Eventually, when their children needed less nannying, she started to help Raymond at the stall. For someone who has never mass cooked before, much less entertained thoughts of being a hawker, surely the transition must have been tough?

“Not at all,” she grinned. “Somehow, I took to it like a duck takes to water.”

Prior to helping at the stall, Sheila usually only cooked for family

At this point, Raymond jumped in with a big helping of praises. She really was a quick learner, he had gushed, and analytical too. For example, while some would hesitate to offer suggestions to the head chef, Sheila often spoke to Raymond about ways to be more efficient, as well as how to improve the food’s taste. Over the years, he grew to rely upon her as his trusted advisor, and credits a large part of his success to her.

“In the early years of our marriage, she sacrificed her career to tend to domestic matters so that I could focus on the business. Later on, when I needed help to run the Telok Blangah stall, she didn’t hesitate at all. I am really very thankful to have married her,” he said.

A Match Made in Heaven

With such affection and admiration for each other, I couldn’t help but ask: how did they meet?

“Fate — right place, right time” Sheila quipped.

Back in those days, word of mouth and referrals were the most common ways of getting match-made. It so happened that Sheila wanted to get a new television set for her family as they enjoyed bonding in the living room over shows. So she approached a family friend who worked as a TV dealer.

“Raymond used to sell TVs, and the dealer was his middleman. He told Raymond that I was single… Raymond not only sold him the TV, but also the idea of setting up a blind date,” she laughed.

Raymond chimed in, “It wasn’t an affluent society back then. But here was a young lady who was willing to spend hard earned money to buy a TV for her family. I admired her sense of filial piety; I just had to meet her.”

Sheila added that being an introvert and naturally shy, she had previously never been open to dating, so she not only surprised everyone, but herself when she agreed to the blind date.

Did they, as common in today’s dating scene, know how each other looked like before the first meet?

“No,” they both said unequivocally. In the days before Facebook and digital cameras, photographs were hard to come by.

And so on D-Day — Date-Day — Sheila arrived at the meeting point in a bundle of nerves. She really did not know what to expect as this was the very first date of her life. When an unkempt looking guy walked towards her, she confessed that she had feared the worst.

Thankfully, the guy walked right by, and Sheila breathed a sigh of relief. Not long after, Raymond turned up, all well-mannered and well dressed, and introduced himself.

“After looking at him, I thought to myself, now that’s fine!” she chuckled.

Things progressed smoothly, and after about a year of dating, they both knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. A match made in heaven!

Service to the Community

Raymond, chatty by nature, is thankful to have Sheila help with the customer facing side of things. “Otherwise, I’ll end up spending more time talking to customers than doing business!” he said.

In the last few years, Raymond and Sheila have progressively lessened their number of working days, as they took up another “job” — looking after and bonding with their grandchildren. They are now just open on weekends, and have also restricted their menu to just porridge and chopped chicken. I asked with some amazement if operating a mere two days a week is profitable or even sustainable.

“Well, we make enough to break even. We are no longer doing this for money, we are doing it for our customers — we know many of them love our porridge. We will continue as long as we are healthy; we think of it as our service to the community,” Raymond said.

This sense of service was never as apparent as during the Circuit Breaker, where people, particularly the elderly, were told to stay home as much as possible to limit exposure to the Covid virus.

Wanting to help, Raymond and Sheila’s youngest son, Leon, started a “Gift-a-Porridge” programme, where he worked with local partners to deliver dozens, sometimes hundreds, of discounted bowls of porridge to those in need and residents living in one room rental flats. Some publicity led to regular customers knowing about the project, and many came forward with monetary donations.

“It was not uncommon to receive $20 or $50 donations from customers,” Sheila said. “But we were really surprised when my cousin donated enough for about 600 bowls of porridge. He told us he had rallied his friends and family to chip in. We were very touched by his effort and generosity, and also everyone else who contributed!”

Raymond added that this project would not have been possible without his son’s initiative.

“I am very proud of him. He has a busy job, yet still made time to volunteer, in the process also helping me to fulfil my wish of contributing meaningfully back to society in a time of great need.”

Delivering porridge to residents during the Circuit Breaker. Photo courtesy of Wah Yuen Porridge and Chicken Rice

Retirement and Hobbies

With full retirement perhaps not too far in the horizon, I asked Raymond and Sheila if they have any hobbies to keep them occupied. Given her proficiency in English, it was no surprise when Sheila said she is an avid reader, especially of the romance/thriller genre. She lists Nora Roberts as her favourite author, and loves stretching out on the sofa by the window to read.

The magnificent view Sheila has of the surrounding greenery and the sea from her sofa

Sheila is fond of keeping herself updated of happenings through the news

As for Raymond, he enjoys taking walks in nature and counts the Singapore Botanic Gardens and Labrador Nature Reserve as places he loves to visit. He takes these walks as good opportunities to catch up with friends, exchanging views on life and encouraging each other to stay healthy. Like his wife, he also enjoys reading, and can often be found immersed in Buddhist scriptures.

Raymond enjoys reading during his spare time, occasionally relaxing in the massage chair to do so

Holding each other’s hands is something that comes naturally for them, even though it does nt happen as much as when they were young. “It’s my lucky day today!” Raymond grinned, as the photo was being taken. “Don’t expect this too often!” Sheila laughed.

Life in Telok Blangah

Having resided in Telok Blangah for about four decades now, I asked them how the area has changed.

“There used to be a bus interchange in the area, where the NTUC is now. There were also frequent night bazaars — the area was very bustling in the past. Now, times have changed. Even though there are many more residents, the overall ambience is quieter,” she said.

“People are still very friendly though, they’ll smile and wave at us when they see us outside of work.” Raymond added.

Raymond and Sheila shared that one of the most fortunate things that happened to them in recent years was how they managed to buy their current house through the sale of balance flats exercise in 2012. They love that it is extremely breezy, with a sea view that they would never tire of.

“You know, we stayed on a low floor most of our lives. So when we came to view this flat, we all went ‘wahhhhhhh’. It felt like we were in heaven!” Sheila recalled happily.

“We were really very lucky to get the flat. We were at that age where there were many potential hurdles, such as length and size of the loan amount, and whether the contra period fit. But it seemed like at every step of the way, we met officers who were very sincere in helping us. We are extremely grateful — we really love the place,” Raymond enthused.

One of Sheila’s favourite quotes and guiding principle in life is “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” After a lifetime of showing kindness to others, it was wonderful to hear about how kindness has rebounded back to them in many ways, and how they are thriving with three healthy children, a beautiful home, and still fulfilling their life purpose of doing good and serving their community.

We wish them all the best and the next time you order from them, try doing it in English!