Hardwork, good hygiene will pay off: Talib

Tuesday, 16 June 2009 15:54

KUCHING: Food hawkers who work wholeheartedly and are hygienic are likely to earn lucrative income, said Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) chairman Datuk Talib Zulpilip.

He cautioned that the food industry here was not for part-time hawkers or food entrepreneurs.

“As long as you do a good job, you can earn big income. However, there is no way for you to do hawking part-time because nothing can be achieved half-heartedly.

“The food industry here has great potential as we have tourists who want to try local delicacies. It is vital that our hawkers fully focus on their job and strive for quality in terms of food and cleanliness,” he said.

He made these remarks when closing a two-day course on food preparation and handling for hawkers in Satok organise by SEDC in a leading hotel here yesterday. Forty-two hawkers participated in the course.

Talib, who is also Jepak assemblyman, stressed that hawkers must pay due attention to how food was prepared and served as well as the cleanliness of their stalls.

Citing an example, he said those selling ‘kuih muih’ (cakes) must store these goodies in proper airtight containers to keep them clean.

“First of all, if hawkers do not run clean operations, their trading places would stink and attract flies.

“And if the food is not prepared in a hygienic manner, customers could get sick.”

He felt that if these aspects were overlooked, they would risk losing their customers.

While hygiene was a key factor, he pointed out that attitude and manner of waiters and waitresses would also be a deciding factor to win over customers.

As such, he suggested that food entrepreneurs should train their staff well as part of the efforts to keep their customers.

“Remind your staff to smile as often as possible because how you treat your customers will decide whether they will come back later,” he said.

Met by reporters later, Talib said SEDC would continuously organise training courses for hawkers to enhance their knowledge in maintaining food quality and hygiene but not infrastructure upgrading.

“SEDC always makes sure that hawker food has quality and we are confident that hawkers here can make good income.

“We are not talking about upgrading facilities for hawkers because this is under DBKU (Kuching City North Commission),” he said.

He added that SEDC would cooperate with government departments and agencies if there was a need to improve facilities for hawkers at Satok.

Borneo Post
16/06/2009

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