We refer to the report “Hawker slams tender for stalls at Bukit Panjang” (Oct 9).

NTUC Foodfare had shared the selection criteria for cooked food stalls in July, at the tender launch of the upcoming Bukit Panjang Hawker Centre. We had moved away from tendered rent being the only criteria, with an aim to provide a more robust selections of stalls that can contribute to the variety, vibrancy and affordability of good food.

We had purposefully introduced a new set of criteria that would not award the stalls based on the highest rental bids, as is done in other hawker centres. We also did not want to discriminate against age or taste alone in our judging criteria as this may be subjective. This is done so that individuals with the best ideas and passion for food can compete fairly regardless of their background.

This new evaluation criteria is based on a scorecard with only 40 per cent weightage for tendered rent, while the remaining 60 per cent consists of quality, variety, selling price, operating hours, experience and concept. The same criteria were also shared with interested tenderers during their briefing, so that they understand how to bid for the stalls.

We received more than 300 bids for six kiosks and 26 cooked food stalls, and, as shared in the briefings, only shortlisted cooked-food stall tenderers with the best scores were required to participate in a food-tasting exercise by a selection panel, as part of the due process towards the final stage. The food tasting allowed us to evaluate the offerings proposed, in terms of the proportion, quality and taste.

We are happy to share that the overwhelming response for the bids for the stalls had brought forth proposals with attractive selling prices, interesting menu offerings and food types from many individuals with a strong passion for food, especially local hawker favourites.

We saw a good mix of tenderers — second-generation and young hawkers eager to carve their own name while carrying on their family tradition of hawkers, as well as established hawkers with good brand names — eager to bring their best to the table.

To date, more than 50 applicants that made the cut have been invited to participate in the food-tasting round, and successful applicants will be informed and offered a stall by this month.

We regret that we are unable to accommodate more hawkers because of the limited number of stalls.

We would like to encourage others who are keen to try their hand in the food industry or help keep the food heritage alive, but have failed to secure a place at our centre, to keep trying at the other hawker centres or upcoming sites when they are available.