Tiong and his assistants preparing food customers.
KUCHING (Jan 25): Some Chinese eateries in and around Kuching city are no longer charging more for the food sold at their premises after the second day of Chinese New Year this year.
According to those met, the third day of Chinese New Year should be treated as a normal day, although the Chinese New Year celebration was still going on.
They said every year on the third day of the celebration, most eatery business operators will either open or close, but if they are opened some of them will not charge more for the food.
“If my business resumes operation after Chinese New Year, then my food should be sold at the normal price – no more charging more for the food because it’s not the main day of the celebration anymore,” said Paul Tiong who sells Sri Aman-style fried noodles at Jalan Alwi.
As for Dylan Tan who sells Sarawak Kueh Chap at Jalan Sekama and Tabuan Tranquility Commercial Centre, he said that he won’t be open for business until Thursday this week.
For Tan, Chinese New Year is a time spent with his family and he does not mind taking a long break and he won’t charge his customers extra for his food.
“When my business resumes operation this week, I won’t charge my customers extra. My customers will pay the regular price,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Kuching Coffeeshop and Restaurant Owners Association when contacted yesterday commented that although normally Chinese food businesses would hike the price of their food during Chinese New Year, the practice of charging more for their food and drink differs from each business owner.
Some would either charge more from the first to the third day of Chinese New Year, while some would charge more on the first and second day or on the first day only.
“Even the price hike differs during the Chinese New Year, some would charge RM1 or RM2 more for their food and maybe RM0.50 more for their drinks and so on. It all depends on what they see as reasonable,” said the association’s education chief Kapitan Tan Yit Sheng.
It is common knowledge and widely accepted by everyone in Sarawak that eateries, especially those operated by the Chinese community, will charge more during the Chinese New Year period.
This is because Chinese New Year is a huge occasion and working during the festival is to sacrifice one’s time with family while some take the opportunity to raise prices.
Efforts to contact the state Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) to comment on the matter were however unsuccessful at press time.