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I think it would be safe to say that almost every Singaporean has visited a cai fan (economy rice) stall at some point in their life. Those same Singaporeans have also possibly ended up paying much more than expected after choosing their dishes. “S$10?! But I only ordered 3 dishes!” Well, the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) aims to rectify that by introducing colour-coded labels, starting with cai fan stalls run by Koufu.
This new pricing scheme is planned to be rolled out to all 77 of Koufu’s foodcourts and coffee shops by the end of 2025 as part of CASEs “Price Transparency for Economical Rice” project. For Koufu’s stalls, blue labels are for seafood (S$2.50 per serving), orange for meat (S$1.50 per serving) and green for vegetables (S$1 per serving). There are also white labels for “premium items” and the prices for those would be handwritten.
The new initiative was rolled out on 24 Mar 2025 at Hong Le Mixed Veg Rice Stall at the Koufu food court located in Plantation Plaza in Tengah. Hong Le’s other outlets will also have this system in place by mid-April.
CASE president Melvin Yong said that it was fairly common to hear consumers complaining about the final price of their cai fan after choosing the items they wanted. “The dispute often centres on the ambiguity of the prices of the dishes on display. Having colour-coded labels will allow consumers to make informed choices and prevent any potential disputes over prices,” he said.
He also said that it was important for consumers to know the prices of what they were buying. In addition, he also hopes that other cai fan operators would work together with CASE to roll out this initiative at their stalls.
Operators who are interested in implementing this labelling system can contact CASE to find out more.
Taiwan Fan Bao: Taiwanese-style cai fan with saba fish, chicken thigh & $3.50 pork belly buns
