§1.5Seven Rules We Won't Break

Every mechanism in Parts II–VII is derived from, and can be tested against, seven rules. Where a proposed feature conflicts with a rule, the feature loses.

1. P1
   Give before you askThe institution's first public acts must transfer value to hawkers – insurance for the oldest of them, first – before any request for documentation, data or time. Trust is a ledger; open it with deposits.
2. P2
   Raise what hawkers earn, not just cut costsCutting a hawker's costs cannot save a trade whose prices officials hold down. Protect affordability by helping the diners who need it, and let the cook set the price.
3. P3
   Buy services, never exclusivityThe aim is to spread knowledge. Pay masters generously to teach and document; never pay to restrict who else they may teach. No recipe ownership, no non-competes.
4. P4
   Let the business carry successionA busy stall with long queues has goodwill it can sell. A successor can pay the retiring cook out of future takings; gifts are kept for dishes the market cannot carry.
5. P5
   Set the graduate up in a stall, not just train themEvery apprenticeship ends in a stall, help with the rent, financed equipment and an income top-up – or the training money was spent to re-learn a lesson already paid for.
6. P6
   Measure hawker-years, not signaturesSuccess is people still cooking years later, dishes with young practitioners, incomes worth staying for – graded by an independent evaluator who publishes no matter what.
7. P7
   The community can kill itCo-design with veto thresholds, an elected Hawker Council with vetoes over the Seed Bank's own decisions that concern hawkers, a Government casting vote (the vote that settles a tie) used only in public, and a sunset clause (the rule that winds the Seed Bank up if it fails its tests) that winds the institution up and returns funds if hawkers do not engage.