1. There are differences between food courts/private owned coffee shops/restaurants & hawker centres. For food court/coffee shops & restaurants, food served there are high because they have much overheads to bear - rentals as well as the renovations & upkeep costs.
However for Hawker centres, which are managed by NEA, much of such costs had been borne by taxpayers - the land, the constructions, the piping, etc right down to the tables & seats. They only need to pay a min $500/mth rental bid & if successful, it is HUAT all the way if they are good in food management skills.
Furthermore, although much of our food resources are imported, but we are a port city where ALL kinds of goods passes thru. With economies of scale, such imports are less costly here to this small island of ours than to other nations.
Thus the Hawker trade is not endangered in any way, unless they attempt to sell their food at high prices which the Free Market policies will come in play - why pay for more when there are others who serve the same at lower prices, more so when their livelihood had been subsidized by taxpayers?
2. It's like the medical industry. There are differences between private & govt doctors. The private doctors do earn millions compared to the govt bonded doctors, because those in private practice are on their own - space, equipment, supplies, etc, but govt doctors have everything provided for them to heal others.
3. Ultimately, knowing this forum, there will be some who will say why the same rules do not apply to Ministers salaries as everything had been provided for them by taxpayers. Thing is - doctors are figuratively dime a dozen. Should we have a shortage, there is the World to tap upon, to keep medical costs low for taxpayers.
However, Ministers are rare. The higher the responsibilities, the higher the salaries to attract the best. NO citizen would want a foreigner from Shanghai, although armed with 4 PhDs to become our Finance Minister, & equally for sure none would want Elon Musk to be our Prime Minister.
