Millennial hawker opens ‘snack library’ stall selling labelled old-school tidbits at $2 a pack

Long before bubble tea and viral croissants, the trendy snacks of choice among youngsters in Singapore were tidbits like ‘iced gems’ and ‘ABC biscuits’. Or you may have come across a tasty morsel that you were obsessed with as a kid, but never quite knew the name of.

Which is why millennial Gavin Tan, 35, has labelled all his goods at Snack More, the stall he opened at Yuhua Market in Jurong East. It specialises in over 100 types of nostalgic tidbits like biscuits from tins, dried sour pickles and coffee beans sold by the weight, and old-school candies.

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg. The goodies are portioned into individual packets, which Gavin displays by hanging on hooks on a rack. Neat handwritten labels inform customers the name of the biscuit they are eyeing.

It’s like a snack library — ’cos you can (finally) learn the official moniker of the mystery tidbit that you have been crunching on for years. The items he sells include classic delights like the aforementioned iced gems, animal-shaped ‘zoo biscuits’, five spice powder-flavoured ‘big and small ear’ biscuits, all kinds of wafers and sandwich cookies, and even Merlion-shaped cookies.

We also spied ‘off-brand’ versions of name brand snacks like chocolate-filled biscuits similar to Meiji’s Hello Panda, and Famous Amos-style mini choc chip cookies. All these are sold at a flat $2 a packet, and three for $5.50. “I want to sell traditional biscuits in a modern way. Most of the younger generations don’t know what these snacks are, but people can learn their names quickly this way,” Gavin tells 8days.sg. His name labels, he says, are taken directly from the official product names that his suppliers use.

University graduate turned chicken seller

Gavin’s main job these days is selling fresh poultry at West Coast Market. “My father started his stall called Chen Ayam there in 1981,” he shares.

After graduating from RMIT with a degree in economics and finance, Gavin did not join his family business right away. “I wanted to go out and see the world,” he laughs.

A natural-born salesman, he gravitated towards sales-related jobs and enjoyed hustling for business. “My first job was working at a pasar malam selling chilli crab mantou. It was very tough income, so my partners and I agreed to stop. We didn’t lose money, but we only earned a bit of profit,” he recounts.

Another job he picked up was supplying a dormitory canteen operator with food. “If he wanted kuehs, I would Google for suppliers and collect the kuehs at 5am from the lorries coming in from Malaysia. One time, the operator wanted a small supply of economic rice. Being young, I just said ‘yes!’ to everything. But I couldn’t find any supplier, so I ended up cooking everything myself,” Gavin laughs.

The father-of-two later opened his own whole beverage distribution company, but has since left. “Our company was on track, but my business partners and I have different visions so I sold my share to them,” he says.

In June this year, Gavin set up another business, a live seafood stall called Red Ocean at West Coast Market near his chicken stall, and a same-named dine-in hawker stall at the coffeeshop just a few steps away.

He reckons that doing sales “helped build my character.” He explains: “I like the challenge of convincing unfriendly [business owners] to be my customer. There were people who knew I studied in university and saw me pushing cartons for delivery. They said, ‘Boy ah, why don’t you get a job in a bank with air-con?’ But I knew what I wanted to do, so I didn’t mind.”

Modernising a traditional business

Having left his drinks company, Gavin saw his departure as an opportunity to help his ageing dad. “He’s struggling as he’s getting old, and nobody wants to work in a wet market. I have been helping my dad since I was in Primary 5,” says Gavin, the middle of three kids whose two brothers are now working in banking and IT.

Using his knowledge from running a distribution business. Gavin modernised his father’s stall. He explains: “I set up e-commerce for his stall to bring in younger customers. We also attract a lot of young adults staying around our area by offering vacuum-packing and marination services for our chickens, similar to supermarkets. You can even buy ready-prepared chicken curry sets home to cook.”

Other than biscuits, sour plums, coffee beans and candies, Gavin also offers nuts and crunchy prawn rolls at his stall. "I want to have as many things in my stall as possible," he says. All these are sold at the stall and via an ‘online wet market’ (www.freshstop.sg) and a Shopee store that Gavin had set up. Other than his own tidbits and poultry, he also partnered his stall neighbours to list their produce online.

This includes seafood, eggs, fruits and even yong tau foo. He recalls: “My dad’s business was badly affected during the Covid-19 lockdown. Nobody was going out. If we didn’t go online, we would be very jialat [Hokkien for ‘in dire straits’].”

3 packs for $5.50 snacks

At his own stall Snack More, Gavin is also an aggressive upseller. We witnessed him convincing half-hearted aunties to buy more snacks, simply through his attractive pricing model at one biscuit pack for $2 and three for $5.50.

“Most people who want to buy two packs will end up getting three this way. It’s a psychological thing. I think this is more effective. You want to maximise sales with every transaction — that was what I learnt from my corporate days,” Gavin reckons. “The older generation tend to focus on selling a single item as cheaply as possible, but that won’t grow sales.”

Other sales tactics he employs include using wholesale-priced items to draw customers, like selling a 24-can carton of Coca-Cola or 100-Plus at $12.50. “That works out to about 50 cents a can. These two are the most popular drinks in our nation,” he says.

And yet more upselling: Gavin also offers his customers chilled bottled drinks at $1 each if they buy snacks or candy. “I use some things that are cheap to attract people to buy more things that are normal-priced,” he reasons.

But he admits that business has been slow at his stall, due to the ulu location at an obscure corner of Yuhua Market. “This corner is a bit challenging lah,” Gavin says. He tries to increase his stall’s visibility by making it a Shopee parcel collection point (which was how 8days.sg discovered this stall), and offering prepaid mobile phone cards top-up services.

He adds: “I’m also on GrabFood, Deliveroo and Foodpanda, and I included my neighbours’ food [a dried provisions stall and a 24-hour curry puff kiosk] too. They help with my business, and I help with theirs.”

Try before you buy

Gavin also believes in letting people sample his wares before they commit to buying. “I tell people — don’t be stingy, just let customers try. It will bring you sales. They usually buy after they try, like our 40 to 50 types of dried plums,” he says.

But his stall is also invaluable during certain occasions, like the recent Hungry Ghost Festival. “Our iced gems sold out, ’cos people would buy them for prayers. It’s our bestseller. Our different types of pineapple biscuits are selling very well too,” Gavin shares.

This millennial has also spotted business opportunities in catering to Westernised holiday seasons. He says: “I created a Halloween bucket for parents who want to do trick-and-treat with their children, and I do a Christmas theme too. E-commerce makes everything very accessible, especially for young people."

Snack More is at #01-91 Yuhua Market, Blk 347 Jurong East Ave 1 #01-91, S600347. Open daily 7am-4pm. Online store via Shopee and www.freshstop.sg. More updates via Facebook.

Photos: Yip Jieying

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.

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