PRICES of food in school canteens remained the same even in the face of lower profits, operators said. 

They told The Malaysian Insight they realise that many students, especially those in rural areas, will find it difficult to afford any increase in price. 

Norhazly Daud, a school canteen operator in Kelantan, said the price of food remained the same even though the cost of ingredients kept increasing. 

“If this situation continues, more school canteen operators will go out of business because they are unable to bear the losses. 

“The main problem is cost. For example, for a packet of nasi lemak that costs 50 sen, there must be egg and anchovies. The costs exceed the price of the packet. 

“When we raise the price a bit, we get complaints and are reprimanded by the school.

“We have to pay rent and pay the workers as well. That’s not to mention the teachers who also want food at student prices even though in the tender, different prices are set,” he told The Malaysian Insight. 

He admitted, however, that he could not do anything because he was aware that schoolchildren in rural areas could only afford cheap food. 

“Many are poor, so low prices must be set. The situation of canteen operators in urban schools may be different,” he said. 

He said the school canteen business could not be compared to other food businesses. 

“It is really challenging because we are struggling to set low prices suitable for students while the costs of raw ingredients are soaring. 

“We face the dilemma of keeping prices low by reducing quantity. When this happens, we will be blamed,” he said. 

Mohd Suhaimi Salleh, a school canteen operator in Seremban, is burdened with similar problems. 

He said most school canteen operators had to increase food prices at the beginning of last year and maintain it for the current school session. 

“We just wanted some room to breathe when the school session commenced. Now we have this problem,” Suhaimi said. 

“When we can operate as usual, we will be able to cover the losses incurred during the movement-control orders. We have to think about other problems such as the price of raw ingredients. At the same time, food prices also need to be reasonable,” he said. 

He said many people did not want to continue working in canteens after horrible experiences during the pandemic.  

Back then, employers had paid them daily instead of monthly salaries. 

“So, they think working in a school canteen is risky,” he said. 

Suhaimi added that increases in the raw ingredient costs forced them to raise food prices at the beginning of last year. 

He said if a packet of nasi lemak previously cost RM1, it was now RM2. 

“We are also stuck. We feel sorry for the students. I also have children in school, so I understand the situation.” 

He said in addition to ingredients, the price of food containers had also increased.

P. Saraswathy, a canteen operator at a Tamil national school in Penang, said to bear losses, she prepared two different sizes of food packets. 

“One is a small pack sold at a cheap price. These are usually bought by young children. 

“The big pack is sold between RM2 and RM3. 

“The important thing is that the prices are still reasonable and cheap compared to food sold outside,” she said. 

Earlier, the Education Ministry gave assurances there would not be issues with the food prices in school canteens, as some fear. 

Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the price of food in school canteens was based on guidelines and agreements between the operators and the school. 

She also said the ministry would pay attention to the proposed standardisation of food and drink prices in school canteens based on locality. – March 28, 2023.