Porridge seller wants to sell business after 57 years of work

Calling it a day: Oo (centre) attending to a customer at his porridge stall in Cecil Street.

GEORGE TOWN: A popular moi (Hokkien for porridge) seller, once famous for introducing the squat-and-eat concept to his patrons, is about to call it a day, no thanks to modernisation.

Oo Chin Chye, 64, said the laborious task of preparing dozens of side dishes ranging from vegetables to fish and meat had taken a toll on him.

He is now looking for the right buyer to take over his outlet in Cecil Street here.

“I prefer to hand over my place to someone who is familiar with the food business. I will guide him for a few months before letting it go.

“I am getting old and my body can’t take it anymore. Besides, the rental is steep and I just can’t get enough workers to run my daily operation.

“If I can’t get someone to take over the business, I’ll call it a day when the lease for this place ends in June next year,” he said at his outlet.

Oo said he inherited the business from his father, who first started the business in Weld Quay in 1938.

He remembers helping his father as a seven-year-old boy when they moved to the former Sia Boey (Penang Hokkien for “Town’s End”) market in the late 1950s.

The place, said Oo, was in its heyday then as many customers, especially trishawmen, would patronise his stall for porridge with the side dishes, all freshly prepared in the simple, basic kitchen by a team of helpers.

The plain porridge provides a neutral base to go with small servings of dishes ranging from fried fish, stir-fried vegetables and salted duck egg to salted fish.

“Most of our customers would squat on wooden stools placed on top of long benches lining our porridge stall.

“To them, this was comfort. This was also a time when we used firewood to cook.

“But it all came to an end when we had to vacate the old market in 2004 to make way for development,” he said.

Oo said things were never the same after they shifted to a market in Macallum Street Ghaut where the seating was like any other shop. They moved to the present premises in 2010.

Asked why he did not hand over the business to his three sons aged between 26 and 34, Oo, with his eyes lit up, said: “They have decent jobs and are doing well. Two of them are engineers while another is a teacher.”