SITIAWAN: A hawker can’t sell his nasi lemak for RM5 but the RM1 ones are selling like hot cakes!

Masri, 51, discovers his nasi lemak business has plunged drastically, probably because of the inflation.

Masri, who is selling at Pekan Gurney new village market in Sitiawan while his wife at another market, used to sell a packet of nasi lemak at RM5.

After discussing with his friend, a hawker from Kuala Lumpur, he made up his mind to switch from selling RM5 a packet to RM1, and his business picked up instantly.

The friend told him the situation in Kuala Lumpur was similar, where majority of consumers had changed their spending habits.

Many only want to have cheap breakfast to fill their stomachs. The price of food is important to many consumers.

Many wage-earners in Klang Valley have been badly affected by the sharp increase in the prices of goods. To cut their expenses, many have opted for cheaper food to fill their stomachs and not to bother so much about the “content” of the food, said his friend.

“My friend told me to try selling nasi lemak at RM1 instead of RM5. I tried and the result was unbelievable!” he said.

To control his cost, Masri reduces the portion of rice by half and only uses one type of ingredient.

A packet of chicken nasi lemak will only have chicken while a packet of ikan bilis nasi lemak will only contain ikan bilis. The same for egg and fish.

Both Masri and his wife were able to sell 400 packets of RM1 nasi lemak initially.

Masri said he could make a net profit of RM200 for selling 400 packets.

“My workload has increased now, as I have to pack more. But it is still better than having lots of unsold nasi lemak!” he said.

Masri wakes up around midnight to cook nasi lemak and start packing at 2 a.m. He leaves the house at five.

He has eight children and the two youngest are five and nine years old.

Now they sell an average of 300 packets a day.