Promoting elderly hawkers on Instagram during this ‘dapao’ food season

With Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) in effect, hawkers are seeing a reduction in business, with some raising concerns that many smaller stalls are at risk of closing down.

With people not being allowed to dine in, hawkers have to rely on takeaways and food delivery services. However, many of these hawkers are elderly and are not well-versed with technology and are unable to tap on the latter channels to earn an income.

Thankfully, there are some initiatives that are seeking to help these elderly hawkers, such as the Instagram account @wheretodapao that seeks to drive traffic to their stalls. 

The account features three different hawkers every day. It also shares the history behind the stalls and how COVID-19 has impacted them, hoping to encourage more customers to visit.

To those who are looking to help support this initiative, you can do so by sharing with the account about different hawkers that need help. 

Simply submit a short write-up on Whatsapp about how the hawker was affected by the pandemic, and their story of how they came about. Do also provide the stall location and opening hours. 

Despite only starting the initiative three days ago, @wheretodapao now has 18,600 followers. 

With continued support, the initiative can help keep many more hawker stalls in Singapore alive and keep the hawker culture thriving. 

Let’s continue patronising our elderly hawkers’ stalls to support their livelihood!