After failing to find a chef for his hawker stall, a former engineer spent months training a robot he acquired from Wuhan to perfect Hokkien mee (Fujian noodles), a quintessential noodle dish in the city state.
Two years ago, Ang Chip Hong, 53, quit the comfort of his job at Singapore Management University to enter the hawker trade full-time.
“Singaporeans don’t want this job,” he said. “It’s not worth the effort to them to make S$4,000 (US$2,950) a month with long hours standing over a hot stove when you can make S$3,000 a month as a clerk in an air-conditioned room behind a desk”.
Using the stir-fry robot which Ang bought for S$14,000 means he can operate his stall with one staff member who does not need to possess culinary skills. The worker only needs to prepare ingredients and pour them into the machine. Ang is gearing up to open two more outlets before expanding the robot’s food menu.
