The archive · Small Business & Money · Strategic decision · 2009–2016
Hawker Chan: a $2.50 hawker dish wins a Michelin star — and becomes a franchise
A Singapore hawker keeps his soya-sauce chicken rice at ~S$2.50, wins a Michelin star in 2016, and licenses the stall's name into a global franchise.
Hawker Chan
What it had to solve
Malaysian-born Chan Hon Meng had cooked soya-sauce chicken at his Liao Fan stall in Singapore's Chinatown Complex since 2009, selling a plate for about S$2.50. In July 2016 the first Michelin Guide Singapore gave the stall a star — a first for a street hawker — and queues formed overnight.
How it works
Malaysian-born Chan Hon Meng left school at 15 to work in Singapore kitchens and learned a Hong Kong-style soya-sauce chicken recipe. In 2009 he opened his own stall, Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle, in the Chinatown Complex Food Centre, selling a plate of braised chicken and rice for about S$2.50.
In July 2016 the inaugural Michelin Guide Singapore awarded the stall one star — the first ever given to a street hawker stall — and the plate was widely billed as the world's cheapest Michelin-starred meal. Chan went back to his wok the next day, keeping the recipe, the price and the working day unchanged.
In October 2016 he partnered with Hersing Culinary to turn the stall into a quick-service restaurant brand called Hawker Chan. The brand grew into 30+ franchised restaurants across eight countries — from Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand to the Philippines, Kazakhstan, the UAE and Laos — while the original Chinatown stall stayed open, making the star itself the seed of a franchise business.
Why it lands
- Keeping the S$2.50 price made the star newsworthy — 'cheapest Michelin meal in the world' is a story money can't buy.
- The recipe and name were already a repeatable format, so the brand could be licensed without a central kitchen or a price increase.
- Partnering with Hersing Culinary gave one hawker the operations, compliance and franchise sales machinery he could never build alone.
- The original stall kept cooking, preserving authenticity — and the queues — while the franchise expanded overseas.
What it did
The plate was crowned the world's cheapest Michelin-starred meal and the stall drew queues of hundreds a day. The rebranded franchise spread to 30+ restaurants across eight countries — Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, the UAE and Laos — turning one hawker's braising routine into an exportable brand.
What you can take
Fame is distribution, not the product: instead of raising prices, Chan turned the star into an exportable format — same dish, same price, licensed name — and the brand became the business.
Since then
Hawker Chan expanded through Southeast Asia and beyond, with outlets in Bangkok, Taipei and Melbourne from 2017, London pop-ups in 2018, Dubai in 2023 and Chennai in 2023. When Michelin's 2021 Singapore guide was published on September 1, the brand was no longer listed; its representative told CNN the recipe and daily fresh preparation had not changed and that the brand would continue to serve affordable meals and try to win the star back. The franchise network stayed in place and the original Chinatown stall kept serving the same soya-sauce chicken rice.
Sources
- Our Story — Liao Fan Hawker Chan
- Michelin stars awarded to two Singapore hawker stalls
- Meet the Man Behind the World's Cheapest Michelin-Starred Dish
- Famed Singaporean eatery Hawker Chan loses its Michelin star
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