Who says Yishun is all bad? This condo resident delivers food to his neighbours at no charge

James Chen, a 37-year-old senior marketing manager living in Yishun, delivers food with no delivery fee.

Mr Chen stays at the executive condominium Signature at Yishun and delivers food to people staying there as well as the nearby condo The Criterion. 

He often delivers food four times a week and receives up to 20 orders.

It all started when he created a WhatsApp group with 10 people in July.

The point of the group was to discuss food and share related articles, however, he realised that many people in the group did not have the time to go to the eateries being discussed. 

Mr Chen, who was first featured in Shin Min Daily News, then took it into his own hands to deliver them the food. 

He would announce in the group when he was going to certain eateries or a new stall and wait for the "orders" to come in. 

Through word of mouth, the group now has more than 90 people.

He does not charge any delivery fee, and the only money he gets back is the money he uses to buy the food.

According to The Straits Times, Mr Chen said he was doing this in the spirit of neighbourliness and as part of the "sharing economy".

Mr Chen is often travelling around Singapore to get his family good food and told ST: "Since I am already in the queue, I might as well offer to buy food for my neighbours to save them the time of queueing up."

He has travelled to places as far as Westgate mall in Jurong East to buy Taiwanese steamed cakes.

He also hopes to share good food with neighbours who may not have the time to venture far, such as those who are pregnant or have young children to look after.

"Food is as common a language to Singaporeans as Singlish is," he said.

Once, he received an order of 30 packets of food.

He admitted it was tiring, but was happy to continue providing the service.

Mr Chen said he would like to work for a food delivery company in the future, but he emphasised this was not the reason why he started his service.

"After all, these people are my neighbours," he said.

Ms Cindy Chan, 26, who is Mr Chen's neighbour, said: "There are a lot of mothers here who are stuck at home... our home is not near the shopping centre, and the food court nearby would not normally have many options."

The business manager has been "ordering" food at least once a week from Mr Chen since September.

Ms Chan added: "Whenever he delivers the food, it's always fresh and warm."