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Nanyang Technological University (NTU) students have launched a petition urging the university to protect vendors at CresPion Canteen, as a change in management threatens to displace existing stalls.<\/p>\n
Titled “Save Our CresPion Canteen”, students are concerned that rising rental costs and renovation fees imposed by the incoming operator could force vendors to shut down or relocate.<\/p>\n
As at Tuesday (Nov 3), it has garnered 1,533 signatures on Change.org.<\/p>\n
The student group NTU Financial Aid and Friends also shared the petition on Instagram, highlighting concerns over the potential loss of affordable food options on campus.<\/p>\n
NTU’s Office of Commercial and Auxiliary Services (OCAS) is changing the canteen’s operator to Food Paradise, with renovation scheduled to begin on Dec 11.<\/p>\n
According to the petition, every existing stall is currently facing the possibility of having to quit,<\/strong> with vendors having to decide whether they can afford to continue operating under the new arrangements.<\/p>\n The petition states that existing vendors currently pay around $3,600 in monthly costs to the outgoing operator, Food Haven.<\/p>\n This includes rental, cleaning and management fees, as well as the Gross Turnover (GTO), which refers to a percentage of a stall’s monthly sales paid to the landlord on top of its base rent.<\/p>\n According to the petition, which cites figures obtained through interviews with stakeholders who wish to remain anonymous, monthly costs under the new arrangement are expected to exceed $7,100, in addition to a 5 per cent GTO.<\/p>\n Vendors will also have to fork out an additional $20,000 in renovation fees, the petition claimed. It amounts to more than five months of their previous rent.<\/p>\n The students felt that the increased operating costs could eventually translate into higher food prices or force existing vendors to leave.<\/p>\n “These vendors are the heartbeat of CresPion, providing relatively affordable meals to students who reside here and in neighbouring halls,” the petition stated.<\/p>\n It added that replacing the existing stalls with new operators could result in more expensive food options, further limiting access to affordable meals on campus.<\/p>\n The petition outlines four demands for NTU OCAS, including allowing existing vendors to remain without having to bear the additional renovation costs and steep rental increases.<\/p>\n It also calls for the university to keep rental and food costs affordable, arguing that higher operating expenses could eventually be passed on to students and other customers.<\/p>\n “Currently, there are no other alternatives as cheap as what CresPion Canteen offers,” the petition stated.<\/p>\n The students pointed out that vendors already experience up to four months of reduced income during school holidays, when student traffic on campus is lower.<\/p>\n They also urged NTU to reconsider what they described as profit-maximising practices, arguing that the university, as a public institution, should prioritise the welfare of its students and workers.<\/p>\n AsiaOne has reached out to NTU for more information.<\/p>\n [[nid:698735]]<\/p>\n asyiqin.nadzri@asiaone.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nanyang Technological University (NTU) students have launched a petition urging the university to protect vendors at CresPion Canteen, as a change in management threatens to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=97603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/97604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=97603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=97603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=97603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Vendors face up to two to three times increase in monthly costs<\/h2>\n
Students call on NTU to protect existing vendors<\/h2>\n
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