Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Home-based businesses allowed to resume, but bakers find ingredients in short supply

SINGAPORE — On Sunday (May 10), baker Azeezul Rahmat visited several supermarkets and stood in a line outside baking supply store Phoon Huat for two hours. He was hoping to buy supplies to restart his home-based business Baking Alley on Tuesday after a two-week shutdown, but all he found each time were empty shelves.

Ms Siti Hartini Hamdi (third from left) with students at a cake-making workshop she held before the circuit breaker started in early April 2020. She has trouble finding baking ingredients now.

Ms Siti Hartini Hamdi (third from left) with students at a cake-making workshop she held before the circuit breaker started in early April 2020. She has trouble finding baking ingredients now.

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — On Sunday (May 10), baker Azeezul Rahmat visited several supermarkets and stood in a line outside baking supply store Phoon Huat for two hours. He was hoping to buy supplies to restart his home-based business Baking Alley on Tuesday after a two-week shutdown, but all he found each time were empty shelves.

“We can’t find flour or vanilla essence anywhere and the containers we use to pack our goods are sold out,” the 28-year-old said. Caught in this situation, he cannot resume taking orders from customers this week as he had initially planned.

Home-based businesses were told on April 25 that as part of tighter measures to restrict business and social activities and stem the spread of Covid-19, they had to shut down if their operations involved pick-ups or deliveries. About a week later, the Government announced that they could resume operations on May 12.

The shutdown affected many home-based food businesses and was an especially painful blow to those who had accepted orders for Hari Raya Puasa, which falls on May 24. 

And although the lifting of the restrictions is in time for such businesses to fulfil these Hari Raya orders, many bakers are now encountering a different obstacle: A lack of baking ingredients and supplies.

Some online sellers on platforms such as Facebook and Carousell are offering such goods, but with a huge mark-up in prices.

Mr Azeezul said: “We even considered turning to online resellers but when we saw one listing of a small bottle of vanilla essence going for S$16 when usually it costs only about S$2, we decided against it,” 

It was a tough decision to make. In previous years, during the fasting month of Ramadan leading up to Hari Raya Puasa, he earned as much as S$1,000 a week, up from the usual S$500 a week he typically earns in other months.

“But I would rather not take any new orders than to buy such costly ingredients because we sell one box of tarts at S$16. I won’t be able to make a profit if I buy S$16 vanilla essence,” he said. “But I’m also worried about the future months and how are we going to cope if we continue not being able to buy ingredients.”

Full-time home baker Siti Hartini Hamdi, 39, had a similar experience. She came across a listing on Carousell on Sunday, for a 25ml bottle of “artificial vanilla flavour” for S$14.

A listing on Carousell on Sunday, for a 25ml bottle of “artificial vanilla flavour” for S$14.

“I never expected this. It makes sense for resellers to sell limited-edition Hello Kitty toys from McDonald’s or things like that, but now they’re really taking advantage of the situation we are in. If you’re looking at finding some extra money, this is just not the way,” Ms Siti said.

When TODAY looked up the Carousell seller on Tuesday, the listing had been deleted.

Typically, Ms Siti can sell 100 sets of cakes in her monthly bake sales but she was able to accept just half of that for May. 

Another home-based food business owner who cannot fully resume her business for the time being is Fatimah Silma Ifthikar, 42, who sells finger foods such as curry puffs and other savoury pastries such as rissoles. 

“I have had to refund some of my customers quite a bit of money because there is a lack of flour and bread crumbs and it feels like I’ve had to go on a hunt to find these items. Prices are high and it just doesn’t seem worth it right now,” she said. 

On Sunday, Ms Fatimah visited a Phoon Huat store with her daughter in an attempt to get her hands on some of these ingredients, only to find out that the store — which specialises selling products for baking needs — had put up a strict safe distancing system. Customers are only allowed in on alternate days, depending on the last digit of their national identity card number.

“We couldn’t even go in together. The wait to get into the store is long and it still doesn’t guarantee that you’ll find what you’re looking for. On top of that, the shop gives you just 10 minutes to shop before it rings a bell and your time is up,” she said. 

When TODAY visited the Phoon Huat outlet at Holland Village on Tuesday, three people were in the queue. 

“Before the identity card system, the queues were very long,” a salesperson said, adding that many ingredients are often out of stock not because of supply problems but because demand has increased “tremendously” since the circuit breaker began in early April.

“People are staying at home with nothing to do, so they are baking.”

Since ingredients are hard to procure, the SG Home Bakers Facebook group has become a place where bakers are now alerting each other to sightings of ingredients at supermarkets or stores islandwide.

Ms Siti said: “For example, someone will post if vanilla essence is back in stock at Jurong West NTUC (spuermarket) or flour is available at a shop in Punggol. Whenever I see someone post something that I might need, I will send my husband on an errand.” 

Others are trying to help their fellow bakers in different ways. Ms Eslynn Shu, 37, a full-time administrative assistant who also runs a home-based bakery on the side, said that she has been giving up her own supplies to her Malay-Muslim friends.

While she is used to baking and selling at least 15 cakes a month, she has taken only six orders this month. 

“The income from these cakes is just extra for me but I know that this is a crucial time for Malay-Muslim bakers so I don’t join in the queues to snatch ingredients from them. I share my existing spare ingredients with them,” she said.

“I also participate actively in the Facebook groups where we share ingredients. Whichever supermarket I go to, if I see any baking ingredients they might need, I will just update in the group.”

Related topics

Covid-19 coronavirus baking Home-based business Phoon Huat supermarket

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.