These eateries, which serve affordable and nutritious meals including rice, various meats, fish, and vegetables, act as community hubs where people can quietly support others by asking, "Do you take cơm treo today?"
The news of Mr.Chan’s act soon became publicized and non-governmental Organizations started to cooperate with Mr. Chan to implement the suspended meal scheme.
Slowly, more and more food stores, including bakery, dessert, and meal shops in Sham Shui Po adopted the system, too.
He spoke about his organization starting at the grassroots, and how he has strived to strengthen the social responsibility of his chain restaurants by launching schemes of suspended meals.
A Pending Meal initiative was started on social media in April 2015 by Sarah Rizvi, focusing on restaurants in Dubai.
The idea spread to other areas including Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, U.S.A, Canada, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan.
The initiative is purely encouraging people to give back to community by providing less fortunate with a meal so that no one has to stay hungry.
The value of this rising trend lies greatly on disseminating the attitude of sharing and giving what we owe to others, so as to bridge the gap between the poor and urban people.
“It’s about communities coming together and looking after people directly in their communities.”, says John Sweeney, the founder of a page advocating suspended coffee, in an interview with TruthAtlas.
Similarly, some people believe that the companies are more likely to cheat on the scheme since they will charge a sum of administrative expenses after holding the fund-raising events like suspended meals.