Making ends meet as a hawker is a challenge, and Raymond Tan can certainly vouch for that.
Despite gaining popularity for serving up a unique wok hei-heavy congee, the hawker is set to close his stall Reimondo Seafood Congee at the end of the month.
The announcement was made on the stall’s Instagram account, and Raymond thanked his customers for their support.
Reimondo Seafood Congee’s final day of operations will be on May 30.
8days reported on Thursday (May 25) that Raymond chose not to renew the lease on his hawker stall.
He mentioned business inconsistencies as a factor in this decision. The stall is on a $1,000-a-month profit margin, which Raymond accepts as risky.
While he admits that things may improve should he find a new location for the business, that is a risk he is not willing to take.
Manpower cost was another issue for Raymond as he hired two full-time assistants to run Reimondo Seafood Congee.
AsiaOne has reached out to Raymond for more information about the closure of his food establishment.
Apart from the seafood congee, fans of the stall rave about the tea smoked salmon ($12.90), where a combination of tea dust and applewood is used to smoke the fish for an hour.
Ex-convict turned hawker
Raymond’s path to becoming a hawker wasn’t straightforward at all.
In his youth, he spent time in the boys’ homes and prison for shoplifting and housebreaking.
He even started a car rental and repair company, which turned out to be successful. It was bringing in the big bucks and he became a millionaire within two years.
But Raymond admitted that, during that period, he spent little time with his wife. Gambling issues then came along and he was within a whisker of taking his own life, he revealed in an interview with food blog Seth Lui.
His comeback came in the form of starting his first hawker stall at MacPherson, which specialised in crabmeat wanton mee.
In 2020, he headed to Pasir Ris and opened Reimondo Seafood Congee.
Address: 110 Pasir Ris Central, #02-07, Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre, Singapore 519641
Opening hours: Daily 11am to 3pm, 4.30pm to 8pm. Closed on Wednesdays
ALSO READ: With no successors, famed hawker stall China Street Fritters to shutter after 81 years
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