PENANG: A hawker is selling a plate of fried rice cake with two eggs at only RM3 in Ayer Itam, Penang.

62-year-old hawker Wei Ming Xing’s stall at Teoh Guan Hup Coffee Shop often sees long lines of patrons queuing up for his koay kak (fried rice cake).

Patrons dining at the coffee shop will have to wait for him to fry the rice cake, and then bring it to the table themselves.

This is because Wei is doing one-man show frying, packing and collecting payment all by himself.

Despite rising goods prices, Wei said he had no intention of revising the selling price of his food at the moment.

Some of his hawker friends have advised him to increase the price slightly, but he still sticks to the same old price on the grounds that he is still able to manage with that price.

The reason for maintaining the price is because most of the residents in the area belong to the B40 group, he said.

“One should not be greedy. As long as one can make some money, it is fine to make less,” he said.

Wei does not even check the payment made by his patrons. Some pay him less and some don’t even pay him, but he will not go after them.

“Some of the customers have no money to pay, but some who are well off pay me more,” he said.

However, Wei said if the price of egg increases next month, he may have to charge 50 sen or RM1 more.