Food courts in Singapore are air-conditioned food centres that serve inexpensive cooked food, drinks and desserts. Each food court houses an array of standalone food stalls that are managed and rented out by a food court operator. Food courts serve predominantly local hawker food and drinks but international cuisine like Western, Thai, Japanese and Korean fare can also be found in food courts.
History
Before food courts became widely established, hawker food in Singapore was usually served in outdoor eating places like hawker centres or coffee shops. Although the food served in these premises was reasonably priced and satisfying, having a meal at these places was usually not a very comfortable experience due to the hot and humid weather in Singapore.
In 1985, the first food court, Picnic Food Court, was established in the now defunct Scotts Shopping Centre along Scotts Road. As this was the first food establishment that offered affordable hawker fare in a comfortable, air-conditioned environment, it became a very popular eating place in Singapore. The concept of the food court caught on and soon more and more food courts were established in many diverse places throughout Singapore, including shopping centres, housing estates and industrial parks across the island.
By the mid to late 1990s, food courts were firmly established in Singapore. A few food court operators also began to set up food courts with unique themes to provide a more varied dining experience for their customers. Food court operator Kopitiam, for example, set up a jungle-themed food court at Plaza Singapura shopping mall along Orchard Road in 1998. Food courts that serve halal food also started during this period with the opening of the first all-halal food court, the Banquet Food Court at Jurong Point Shopping Centre, in 1999.
Today, food courts can be found in many shopping centres, housing and commercial estates in Singapore. Besides having themed decors, larger food courts also offer branches of well-known hawker stalls and miniature versions of popular restaurants within their premises. Modern amenities like free wireless access are also provided at certain food courts to attract customers.
Japanese-themed food courts that serve only Japanese cuisine have also appeared in recent years. However, these food courts are quite different from traditional food courts as they have uniformed service staff to serve customers and payment for food items is made at a central cashier rather than made at the stall itself like traditional food courts.
Description
A food court is managed by an operator who leases space from the property owner. The operator designs and renovates the premises to house individual stalls, tables and chairs, then rents these stalls out to vendors. Besides air-conditioning, food court operators provide cutlery, cleaning staff support and sometime even uniforms to vendors so as to give each food court a neat and standardised look-and-feel. The day-to-day operations, the tenant mix and the marketing of the food courts are also managed by the food court operators.
Food available in food courts are very similar to those found in hawker centres. Almost every food court has a chicken rice stall, a fishball noodle stall and a mixed rice stall. Western food stalls that serve fare such as chicken chop and fish-and-chips are also common in food courts. Besides cooked food, there is usually a drinks stall selling hot and cold drinks, a dessert stall and a stall selling fresh cut fruits and fruit juices.
In exchange for the air-conditioned comfort in food courts, food served at food courts are slightly more expensive than what is typically charged in a hawker centre, customers typically pay S$1 to S$2 more for a cooked meal in a food court as compared to a similar meal in a hawker centre.
The main food court operators in Singapore include Food Junction, Food Republic, Kopitiam, Banquet and Koufu. Besides these major operators, there are many smaller food court operators that run a myriad range of food courts, big and small, across Singapore. Food courts under these different operators have their own unique characteristics that set them apart them from one another.
Food Republic is known for its innovative and uniquely designed food courts. Some of Food Republic’s more iconic food courts include its 1960s retro themed food court at Wisma Atria along Orchard Road and its Suntec Convention Centre branch at Raffles Boulevard which is reminiscent of a 19th century European library.
Kopitiam pioneered cashless food court dining with its own Kopitiam Card, a stored value card that allows diners to pay for food in Kopitiam outlets and also enjoy discounts at the same time.
Banquet started the first halal food court in 1999 and since then Banquet food courts have become synonymous with halal food courts in Singapore. Another major operator, Food Junction, one of the pioneers in the food court business, also operates some of its own food and beverage stalls in its food courts and Koufu offers innovative concepts like wireless internet access at some of its food courts.
Author
Jean Lim
Reference
Banquet Holdings Pte. Ltd.. (n.d.). Company Profile. Retrieved December 20, 2009, from http://www.banquet.com.sg/profile.htm
BreadTalk Group Limited. (n.d.). Food Republic Global - Singapore. Retrieved December 20, 2009, from http://www.breadtalk.com/foodrepublic/foodcore.php
Chua, M. Y. (2002, 31 March). Mee pok, chilli, one bowl, halal please. The Straits Times. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from NewspaperSG.
Food Junction Holdings Ltd.. (n.d.). Corporate Profile. Retrieved December 20, 2009, from http://foodjunction.com/htmdocs/corporate_profile/corporate_profile.htm
Huang, L.J. (2007, October 21). A Different Court-Ship. The Straits Times. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from NewspaperSG.
Huang, L.J. (2009, October 18). Courting customers. The Straits Times. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from NewspaperSG.
Kong, L. (2007). Singapore hawker centres: people, places, food (pp. 51). Singapore: National Environment Agency.
(Call no.: RSING 381.18095957)
Kopitiam Groups of Companies (n.d.). Kopitiam Card. Retrieved December 20, 2009, from http://www.kopitiam.biz/kc_card.html
Making dining a pleasure. (2009, November 3). The Business Times Singapore. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from NewspaperSG.
Siow, L. S. (2009, April 13). Japan Foods opens theme food court. The Business Times Singapore. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from NewspaperSG.
Teo, P. L. (2005, October 19). Dishing out nostalgia. The Straits Times. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from NewspaperSG.
Yap, E. (1995, January 6). Hitting the jackpot with food courts – how food halls are tempting the hungry investors. The Straits Times. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from NewspaperSG.
Further Readings
Kong, L. (2007). Singapore hawker centres: people, places, food (pp. 19-31). Singapore: National Environment Agency.
(Call no.: RSING 381.18095957)
The information in this article is valid as at 2010 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.
