Part of street food’s charm is customers get to wander from stall to stall to order the generations-old dishes that only the hawkers know the secret recipes of that make them so flavourful, and then savour these dishes while seated at a rickety table with friends or family, enduring together the heat from both the food and the humid weather.
This is a scene less familiar now ever since the Movement Control Order (MCO) was enforced in Malaysia, which prohibits citizens from gathering at public places, let alone eating together in the streets.
Most street food vendors are already struggling as it is to compete with big restaurants, the drop in sales during the MCO period is only widening the gap further, with most vendors unable to do large delivery orders the way their restaurant rivals would.
To help these small businesses stay afloat during this trying time, Tiger Beer has last Friday made a donation to them to the tune of RM1.5 million.
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| Tiger Beer is lending a helping hand to street food vendors through the fund. |
“Tiger has long been a champion for Asian street food, so it was important for us to help support the people who create the dishes we all love. We hope that the Tiger ‘Save Our Street Food’ fund goes some way to easing their financial burden during this tough time, and look forward to supporting them further as conditions improve,” said Roland Bala, Managing Director of Heineken Malaysia Berhad, in a press statement.
“We also invite the public to join us in supporting the local coffee shops and food courts where many of our favourite street food vendors operate, with the purchase of vouchers to be redeemed once restrictions are relaxed. For every RM10 spent, Tiger Beer will contribute another RM17, helping these outlets get back on their feet,” he added.
RM1 million of the fund has been made available immediately, which will benefit street food vendors operating in more than 1200 coffee shops and food courts nationwide.
As mentioned above, the public can also show their support by purchasing vouchers that can be redeemed at any participating coffee shops and food courts across the country when they reopen. Supporters can log on to www.drinkies.my/TigerSOS and purchase a voucher for a big bottle of Tiger or Tiger Crystal (RSP RM17) at only RM10. The outlet will then receive the initial RM10 voucher price, plus the full RM17 RSP value from Tiger Beer for each voucher redeemed.
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| The public can also support by buying Tiger Beer vouchers. |
Apart from the fund, Tiger Beer is also working on additional initiatives with the Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors’ General Association to help the wider industry.
The Tiger Save Our Street Food fund is part of a comprehensive package of support for F&B operators and the wider community by Heineken Malaysia Berhad (HEINEKEN Malaysia), who has also recently announced that it was providing 80,000 meals to more than 3,000 B40 community members located around the brewery premises.
Tiger Save Our Street Food is part of a wider regional initiative from Tiger Beer, #SupportOurStreets, which also encourages consumers to stay off the streets as part of continued safe distancing measures across the region.