Muhammad Ezam Abdul Gani, 52, posted the video last month, showing himself arriving at Upper Boon Keng Market & Food Center in the luxury car.

The clip quickly went viral, attracting more than 505,000 views, 10,600 likes and hundreds of comments.

Many viewers were impressed that a hawker appeared to own a Rolls-Royce.

But Ezam later revealed that the luxury car was not his. The video was a publicity stunt to promote Seven Claypot, the Muslim-owned stall selling claypot assam pedas that he had helped his aunt revamp, AsiaOne reported.

Photos shared on social media show hawker Muhammad Ezam Abdul Gani showing up in a Rolls-Royce Phantom to promote his aunt's hawker stall.

The stunt appears to have paid off.

When Seven Claypot opened on Aug. 15, the stall was taking around S$600 (US$467) a day. After the Rolls-Royce video went viral, daily sales surged to over S$1,200.

By the end of September, Ezam had already recovered the S$35,000 he invested in renovating the stall, far earlier than the nine-month break-even period he had initially expected, The Straits Times reported.

The video also expanded the stall's customer base beyond the surrounding Boon Keng neighborhood.

Diners began traveling from Woodlands, Jurong and Choa Chu Kang to try its claypot assam pedas, which starts at S$8 for a serving of stingray or red snapper tail, India's NDTV reported.

Ezam said he was surprised people believed he owned the Rolls-Royce.

"It was supposed to be a joke and I didn't expect people to take it seriously," he said as quoted by The Straits Times.

The idea came from two of his longtime friends, a car dealer and the Rolls-Royce owner, who had eaten at his aunt's stall. They suggested using the luxury car in a promotional video.

The attention has given Ezam bigger ambitions for Seven Claypot.

He hopes to hire a full-time cook, open a nearby cafe and operate five outlets in Singapore within two years.

Ezam comes from a food-and-beverage background. His parents previously sold nasi padang in Tampines, while he has worked as a hawker assistant, cook, hotel employee, club bouncer and delivery driver.

He returned to the F&B business earlier this year after leaving his job as an operations coordinator at a marine fuel trading company.