Upcoming Yishun Park Hawker Centre to have mobile payments, large screens for sports matches

SINGAPORE — The new Yishun Park Hawker Centre, which opens for business in September, will not only have stalls offering tasty treats, but also have a slew of tech and community-building features, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Wednesday (June 14).

The hawker centre will have 45 cooked food stalls and about 750 seats when it opens. To ensure affordable meals for the residents, every stall is required to have a minimum of one basic meal at S$3.

Among the tech features to be introduced are a mobile application that will allow patrons to place meal orders electronically, as well as cashless payments with store credits. Customers who pay through the mobile app will also get a 10 per cent discount for food and drinks.

The Timbre Group, which is the managing agent for the hawker centre, has also proposed a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tray return system that is integrated with a centralised dishwashing area. In its press release, the NEA said the RFID tray return system would help reduce the cleaners’ workload as they do not have to sort and return used crockery. The agency, however, did not say how the system would work.

Besides the tech features, Yishun Park Hawker Centre will also have programmes to promote community and family bonding. These include organising activities at a Games Square, where pinball machines and arcade games would be available for residents. Sports matches will also be aired on large screens.