To help residents find budget meals in housing estates more easily, the Government has piloted a new initiative called the Great Budget Meal Hunt to crowdsource recommendations of budget meals in Housing & Development Board (HDB) coffee shops. This initiative is a collaboration between HDB and the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) that encourages the public to submit recommendations of budget meals on the CrowdTaskSG¹ portal, so that the public can access affordable meal options more easily.

2 The recommendations submitted by the public will also be progressively listed on BudgetMealGoWhere, a website that provides a listing of HDB coffee shops offering budget meal options islandwide. Budget meals include lunch or dinner options that are typically priced at $3.50 and below and drinks priced at $1.20 and below.

Crowdsourcing budget meals

3 The public has been actively submitting new budget meal recommendations and verifying other user-submitted budget meals or existing budget meals listed on BudgetMealGoWhere through the CrowdTaskSG portal. The public can also access the Great Budget Meal Hunt via the LifeSG app².

4 Since the soft launch in end October 2023, the public has submitted over 1,600 recommendations of budget meals and verified over 2,500 budget meals across some 310 coffee shops islandwide through the CrowdTaskSG portal.

5 From today, the recommendations submitted by the public will be gradually listed on the BudgetMealGoWhere website, starting with over 240 budget meal and drink options available across 130 coffee shops. To make it easier for the public to identify user-submitted budget meal listings, a “Public Contributions” label will be added above the name of each coffee shop offering the submitted budget meals.

A “Public Contributions” label will be added to help visitors identify user-submitted budget meals.

6 Besides contributing information on budget meals, the public can also access the latest statistics on the Great Budget Meal Hunt Info-bites webpage that is available on the CrowdTaskSG portal. These include hourly updates on the number of submissions in each region islandwide as well as the most recent submission by the public.

Screenshot of the Great Budget Meal Hunt info-bites webpage

7 All Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents aged 18 and above with a Singpass account can register as CrowdTaskSG users and participate in the Great Budget Meal Hunt. By completing challenges, users can gain stars and level up to unlock different elements of the Great Budget Meal Hunt, such as Badges and more complex challenges.

Online listing of HDB coffee shops offering budget meals

8 BudgetMealGoWhere (www.go.gov.sg/budgetmeal) contains a listing of coffee shops and the available budget meal options, starting with locations nearest to the postal code or address entered by the user. Launched on 19 May 2023, the BudgetMealGoWhere website has had more than 300,000 unique visitors since its launch. The public can identify budget meals at the participating stalls by looking out for the budget meal decal sticker on the food display signage.

Customers can look out for this budget meal decal provided at HDB coffee shops.

9 BudgetMealGoWhere started with a list of about 40 HDB rental coffee shops let out via Price-Quality Method (PQM) tenders³, where tenderers were required to include budget meals as part of their tender bids. Since May 2023, all HDB rental coffee shops will have to offer budget meal options upon their tenancy renewal. As of 15 Jan 2024, there are over 250 coffee shops (including those owned by HDB and private owners) listed on BudgetMealGoWhere. By 2026, budget meals will be offered at all 374 HDB rental coffee shops⁴.

Providing affordable meals in the heartlands

10 The Government will continue to work closely with F&B businesses and operators to refine and expand the implementation of budget meals, while also considering their commercial interests. Over the past 5 years, from 2018 to 2023, 97% of HDB coffee shops have not had their rents increase. For HDB rental coffee shops leased out via PQM tenders since 2018, the rental rates for the winning PQM bids have also generally been lower – by 27% on average – compared to those awarded under the e-bidding system before. For other HDB rental coffee shops, HDB will be offering a rental discount of 5% off the market valuation-based renewal rents for a period of one year from the time of the tenancy being renewed, subject to verification that the new budget meals and drinks have been implemented.

11 The Government remains committed to ensuring that residents have access to affordable cooked food options within the heartlands. To achieve this objective, HDB provides a good supply of coffee shops in every HDB town and estate. Over the past five years, HDB has completed 31 new coffee shops, including 5 coffee shops in 4 towns⁵ completed last year. Another 21 coffee shops are slated for completion in the next five years, in tandem with the completion of new BTO developments to meet residents’ needs. The Government also welcomes other coffee shop operators in HDB estates to participate voluntarily in the budget meal initiative in offering budget meal options.

¹ CrowdTaskSG (www.crowdtask.gov.sg) is an initiative by GovTech. It is a web portal for government agencies in Singapore to engage citizens and gather insights through crowdsourcing tasks. These tasks include surveys and multiple-choice questions.

² LifeSG consolidates digital government services and information across multiple government agencies, providing simpler access to services for life's key moments and daily living. To access the Great Budget Meal Hunt on the LifeSG app, users can tap on the banner titled “Crowdsourcing affordable eats” on the homescreen.

³ Since 2018, new HDB coffee shops have been let out via Price-Quality Method (PQM) tenders. This approach allows HDB to better meet the needs of residents while ensuring rents remain sustainable for operators, as PQM tenders are reviewed holistically based on a range of criteria, and not just based on price alone.

⁴ Since 1998, HDB no longer sells coffee shops, and only rents them out. There is a total of 776 coffeeshops in Singapore, of which 374 are rented out by HDB to private operators and 402 are privately-owned.

⁵ 2 new coffee shops in Clementi and 1 each in Punggol, Bukit Batok and Woodlands.

Public Invited to Submit Recommendations of Budget Meals at HDB Coffee Shops Islandwide