180 more coffee shops to start offering budget meals by end-July

Around 180 coffee shops will start offering budget meals by end-July under a scheme to provide Singaporeans with more affordable food options, more than doubling the pool of participating coffee shops to 330.

- Anjali Raguraman

These newest participants of the budget meal scheme will also start accepting CDC vouchers progressively from July 1, said the Ministry of National Development and Housing Board.

The 180 coffee shops are run by nine private chain operators: Badaling, Broadway, De Tian, Chang Cheng, FoodFare Kopitiam, Kimly, Kim San Leng, Koufu and Select.

They comprise 60 rental HDB coffee shops that will voluntarily offer budget meals ahead of their lease renewal, as well as 120 privately owned coffee shops.

This means almost a third of privately owned coffee shops will offer budget meals by end-July 2024.

Out of every 10 coffee shops that are within the HDB heartland, more than four will be offering budget meals or drinks, said Senior Minister of State for National Development Sim Ann on July 1.

At present, there are about 150 rental HDB coffee shops islandwide offering more than 1,000 budget meals and drinks.

Budget meals are defined as lunch or dinner options that are typically priced at $3.50 and below, and drinks priced at $1.20 and below. Under the initiative, all rental HDB coffee shops that renewed their tenancies from May 2023 have been required to offer at least four budget meals and two budget drink options.

There are a total of 776 HDB coffee shops in Singapore, of which 374 are rented out by HDB and 402 are privately owned. HDB is on track to have all 374 rental HDB coffee shops offer budget meals by 2026, said the agencies.