We are often taught to measure work by how long we can endure it. Leaving, especially when something is still standing, is often mistaken for giving up. For the millennial behind Eva’s Pancake, closing her $1.20 min jiang kueh hawker stall on 16 February after six years marks a poignant end to one chapter and the beginning of something new. “It wasn’t an easy decision, but I’m focusing on my Early Childhood Education course,” Eva Lee, 33, tells 8days.sg.
Accountant turned hawker
Eva first entered the hawker trade in 2020 under the National Environment Agency (NEA)’s incubation stall programme. Previously, Eva, who has a diploma in accounting from Johor, was an accountant. Under the programme, she underwent an eight-week apprenticeship with min jiang kueh chain Granny’s Pancake before setting up a kiosk in a coffeeshop at Toa Payoh Lorong 4.
When her tenancy at the Toa Payoh coffeeshop came to an end in late 2023, Eva was allocated a unit at Geylang East Market & Food Centre under the NEA programme.
Being a hawker takes a toll on health
Why close shop after devoting so much time to the business? Eva tells 8days.sg that the physical toll has become harder to ignore. She still wakes up around 4am daily. She sets up shop early so she can start selling her pancakes by 6.30am, working through to about 1.30pm or when she sells out. By the time she cleans up, restocks and preps for the next day, it’s already close to 5pm.
Eva points out the strain on her right wrist, which has become injured from constantly pouring batter and working the griddle. There is also discomfort in her legs, where long hours of standing have caused varicose veins to surface. “It’s tiring,” she says with a laugh. “My back hurts, my wrist hurts. I really respect the older hawkers who can do this for decades. I don’t know how they manage.” She adds, half-jokingly, “If I continue like this, I think one day I might really fall sick.”
Not earning much
Eva, who is attached, whips up about 200 pieces of min jiang kueh a day, and earns on average about $6.2K a month, but only takes home about $2K after paying her parents who help out at the stall, rent and other expenses.
“Overall, I have broken even but I don’t earn a lot of profits,” she adds. “But the finances is one of the factors [resulting in the closure]. Sometimes I’d think, if I worked 12 hours for someone else, I could probably earn more.”
“Every time I took the MRT home and saw people getting off work, I was also ‘ending work’, but I’d been up so much earlier than them. Over time, that feeling of imbalance just kept growing,” the Singapore Permanent Resident adds.
Prices of min jiang kueh kept low
She also chose to keep her min jiang kueh affordable despite the increasing cost of ingredients, selling at $1.20, a 10-cent increase from last time we spoke to her in 2022. “I didn’t want to keep raising prices,” she explains. “Min jiang kueh shouldn’t be expensive.” Most of her pancakes like peanut and coconut cost $1.20, while those with two fillings cost $1.50.
Parents help daily; now deserve to retire
Family was another consideration. The stall has always been a family effort. Her 69-year-old father, who used to work full-time as an air-conditioning technician, quit his job to help her run the business, and was present at the stall during our visit. Her 65-year-old mother, a housewife, also helps out behind the scenes. “They’ve worked very hard already,” Eva, the third of four siblings, says. “I want them to have a proper rest and spend time with my siblings too.”
Eva cites not wanting to disappoint her regulars, some of whom have even dropped by from Toa Payoh, as one of the reasons she considered staying. “I didn’t want to give up so easily,” Eva confesses. “This is something I started with my own two hands.”
Any regrets becoming a hawker?
On whether she has any regrets becoming a hawker, Eva says: “It’s both. I do have regrets, especially about how it’s taken a toll on my parents, and how they’ve had to work so hard alongside me, without much time for themselves. But when customers come back to encourage me and tell me the food is good, it feels worth it. And if I hadn’t tried at all, I think I would have regretted that even more.”
And if she could turn back time, how would she have done things differently? “I wouldn’t change a thing,” she quips. “If I hadn’t decided to do this back then, I wouldn’t have known that I could stick with something for so long and see it through to the end. And in a way, it feels like a perfect ending.”
Why pivot to teaching young kids?
Eva tells 8days.sg she plans to take a short break after Chinese New Year before easing into her next phase in life. She is currently taking a part-time Early Childhood Education course at Asian International College.
“I am trying to get a certification here. Because it’s a part-time course and situated near this hawker centre, I can manage my time better,” she adds. “I head there to study after work on some days.” And after the festive period, she tells us she will begin a brief internship at a local preschool to get a feel of the work on the ground.
“I enrolled for the course at my friend’s suggestion,” she says. “She’s an early childhood teacher. I started to learn what an early childhood teacher does through her.”
No plans to go back to accounting
“[Being a hawker] taught me about responsibility and perseverance,” Eva shares. “It also made me realise that I want to do something more long-term, something that feels more human and meaningful.”
Compared to being a hawker, Eva says that being an early education teacher is, in some ways, just as tiring. She is training to work with kids aged between two and 18 months. “Watching them grow up feels very meaningful to me.”
She adds: “A lot of people think infant teachers are just babysitters. But they actually influence a child’s social and emotional development in a big way. They’re unsung heroes.”
She is set to graduate by April this year. “Where that takes me, I don’t know – but I have no plans to go back to being an accountant.”
When asked how she feels about starting over, Eva, with her signature double French braids and infectious energy, is hopeful. “I’m optimistic,” she says with a laugh. “Holding on to my stall would have meant staying in the same place, and I realised that in order to move forward, I have to be willing to let go.”
Eva’s Pancake’s last day of operation is on 16 Feb 2026. #01-61 Geylang East Market & Food Centre, 117 Aljunied Ave 2, S380117. Open Thur to Tue 6.30am-1.30pm. Closed on Wed. Visit Instagram or Facebook for more info.
Photos: Sng Ler Jun, Alvin Teo
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