They are intended to provide a more sanitary alternative to mobile hawker carts and contain many stalls that sell different varieties of affordable meals.

Such centers are typically managed by a governing authority that maintains the facility and rents out stalls for hawkers to sell their goods.

Most of the stalls from hawker centres are converted from former dai pai dong (cooked food stalls) by strict regulations and management; the Hong Kong Government regarded the provision of cooked food centres as a way to eliminate traditional dai pai dongs from local streets in the 1970s.

Stalls in cooked food centres usually provide local cuisine, with those selling exotic delicacies a minority.

[1] In 1967, the first two hawker centers in Malaysia were built in Kuala Lumpur as part of a programme to improve hygiene standards and clear the roads of streetside stores.

[3] Moving to fixed locations is often unpopular with hawkers, who fear losing customers and the higher fees needed.

[6] The Penang government pledged to restore the Gurney Drive hawker centre, considered the most well-known, which had previously relied on both domestic and international tourists.

[7] Overall business in Penang's hawker centres decreased by 50%, as national regulations limited their opening hours.

In many cases, they were built partly to address the problem of unhygienic food preparation by unlicensed street hawkers.

Particularly in Singapore, they are increasingly being replaced by food courts, which are indoor, air conditioned versions of hawker centres located in shopping malls and other commercial venues.

They had a reputation for unhygienic food, partly due to the frequent appearance of stray domestic pets and pests.

Many hawker centres were poorly managed by their operators, often lacking running water and proper facilities for cleaning.

Sentra Wisata Kuliner are areas that provide various food dishes consisting of several small stalls or stands from culinary street vendors.

The government of Surabaya has made culinary street vendors (pedagang kaki lima) a tourist destination so that their image may change for good.