Singapore Local Coffee and Traditional Kaya Toast
Big business is brewing in the kopi and kaya toast trade. Cafes specialising in local coffee, or kopi, and traditional kaya toast started flourishing in 2006 and the scene is fast heating up.
The growth of these cafes, including the popular chains Ya Kun Kaya Toast and Toast Box, is fuelled by Singaporeans’ craving for their daily dose of caffeine at affordable prices.
A cup of kopi - Malay for coffee - at Ya Kun Kaya Toast costs $1.30, barely half the price of a cup of daily brew at American coffee chain Starbucks, where it costs $3.50. Its price is also competitive to a cup of coffee sold at a coffee shop or hawker centre, which costs about $1.
Sweetening the deal for consumers is the cheap nosh at these home-grown cafes: oozy soft-boiled eggs and kaya (coconut jam) toast with slices of butter cost less than $2 each.
Since January, no fewer than 24 such cafes have sprung up, bringing the number of coffee-and-toast shops here to at least 178.
Another 21 stores are in the pipeline, due to open by the end of the year. These upcoming joints will be rolled out by new players and established brands.
