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FOOD | Jan 13, 2010

Dishing Up Streetside Success in Jakarta

One of the greatest things about the Jakarta melting pot is how it has evolved into a paradise for food lovers. In every city corner, one can find a variety of dishes, from Acehnese to Italian, from the famous Javanese gudeg, to a South Jakartan version of Japanese tempura.

We spoke with three vendors who parlayed their experience selling on the streets to opening successful eateries with solid reputations. They willingly shared with the Jakarta Globe what their years of hard work had taught them.

Lesehan Bu Mega

For the past 13 years, Partini has been running an eatery that provides an array of Indonesian cuisine.

Located at Blok M Square in South Jakarta, Partini’s lesehan , or Javanese for “sitting on the floor,” is one among several other similar eateries.

But the mother of nine said she was easily more recognized because of her generous figure.

“Some customers call me Bu Mega because they said I look like her,” the 50-year-old said with a laugh, referring to former President Megawati Sukarnoputri. “So my lesehan is also popularly known as Lesehan Bu Mega.”

“No one knows who Partini is,” she added, referring to her real name.

Bu Mega displays the dishes in boxes that are then placed on a table. True to the lesehan style, there are no chairs for diners to sit on, just mats and tables.

Yet, people keep on coming. Partini has managed to maintain loyal customers, including street musicians, famous actors, housewives and House members. Foreigners, she said, are also among some of her regulars at the lesehan.

“The key [to success] is your hospitality,” Partini said. “No matter how delicious the food you sell is, if you fail to make them feel at home, then don’t expect them to come back.”

At 5 a.m. every day, Partini goes to the market about 200 meters from her house in Bangka, South Jakarta, to buy vegetables, fish, meat and spices for the day’s dishes. She usually spends about Rp 3.5 million ($380) per market visit. “I spend a lot because I sell a lot,” she said.

Partini prepares no less than 40 liters of rice and, assisted by her children and helpers, 50 kinds of dishes every day.

“I always supervise the cooking process to make sure everything is OK,” she said. “I also make sure that cleanliness is taken cared of here. I don’t want my customers to get sick after eating my food.”

Partini employs 17 people, including her children. “And I pay all my employees daily. So when they are not in, they don’t get paid.”

In addition to Blok M, Partini also has a second warung , or streetside eatery, located behind Setiabudi building in Kuningan, South Jakarta, managed by her daughter, Eni, which they opened in 2000.

While not revealing how much she makes, Partini provides a clue.

“The total to pay all of my employees is Rp 600,000 per night, and the cost of renting the space is Rp 5 million per month. So you can figure out how much I should make to cover all that,” she said.

But success was did not come easily. Partini said that when she started out in 1996 a few hundred meters from what is now Blok M Square, she had to be patient.

It was not until she had been open for about six months before people started to recognize her eatery and bring their friends over.

She said she feels happy and grateful for what she has now. “How can I not be? I started from zero and I can say that I am now on level 10.”

Bubur Ayam Bang Tatang

There may be hundreds of bubur ayam (chicken porridge) sellers roaming the streets of Jakarta, but Tatang’s is definitely among the most famous in town.

Known as Bang, short for abang , or elder brother, 47-year-old Tatang started selling porridge using a small cart in 1980.

Unlike most sellers, however, he did not roam the streets in search of customers, but stayed put along Rawa Belong in West Jakarta.

Tatang said it took him five years to develop his business by gaining more and more customers who spread the word about his porridge.

Eighteen months ago, he decided to rent a kiosk in the same area and move his business there.

“[The development of the business] may have been slow, but if I compare it from now and then, it looks great,” he said.

“I used to use only four liters of rice for one day, now I use 23 liters.”

Assisted by his younger brother, he prepares bubur ayam between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. every night. He sells the dish for Rp 15,000 — three times as much as most chicken porridge sellers are charging.

“You can’t say it’s expensive if you haven’t come here and tasted the porridge,” he said. “Once you do, you can understand why I charge more.”

The secret to the delicious taste of his porridge is the free-range chicken he uses.

“The savory taste in the porridge tastes so much better and healthier than when you use MSG [monosodium glutamate],” he said. “I use the chicken for the shreds and the broth for cooking the porridge.”

He also added that he includes five times the amount of shredded chicken in a single serving compared with other sellers of the dish.

Tatang said, however, that his business depended a lot on the availability of the free-range poultry in the market.

“I only use free-range chickens, so I don’t sell porridge on the days they are not available,” he said.

Tatang said he can sell up to 300 portions in one night and earns a minimum of Rp 1 million.

Thanks to his hard work, Tatang has been able to send his two children on to university.

Asked what the key to his success was, Tatang said, “It’s simple. The key is persistence and commitment to quality.”

Ayam Bakar Ganthari

Situated just a few hundred meters from the KFC fast-food chain in Bulungan in Blok M, Ayam Bakar Ganthari, or Gahthari Grilled Chicken, has been around for more than 15 years.

Founded and owned by a former employee of a private company who wanted a challenge, Ayam Bakar Ganthari now has 13 outlets in Jakarta and Bekasi.

Hari Wahyono moved to Jakarta in 1994 after quitting his job in Malang. Just a few weeks later, he decided to start a small business selling grilled chicken in a small corner.

He said he chose grilled chicken as it was one of his family’s favorite dishes. “Our mother used to feed us her grilled chicken and we always loved it,” the 42-year-old said. “So I already knew how to make it.”

In less than a year, people started to come and bring their friends to Ganthari, which he said comes from the Javanase word gontho, or willingness.

Hari then asked his elder brother Hariyanto — who is ironically, a vegetarian — to help him run the eatery in early 1995.

Although they started out grilling only seven chickens a day, Ganthari eventually grew to utilize up to 1,500 a day between 2000 to 2007 when it had five outlets.

However, Hariyanto said that while he still has loyal customers, business today is not as good as it was before.

“It started just before 2009 when there was this economic crisis,” he said. “But that’s business; there will be ups and downs.”

Hari said there have been offers from others to expand Ganthari into a franchise. But he was not interested.

“I don’t want it to turn into something modern because they want to have it in malls,” he said.

“Since I started up until now, Ganthari has always been the place on the street that anyone can go to.

“The concept was and is ‘not far from simplicity.’ Everyone is welcome here.”

Although Hariyanto declined to talk about earnings, he said he still manages to run the business with the help of loyal employees.

“There is no such thing,” Hariyanto said when asked if there was a secret to his success. “But there are three important things we always remember in running the business.”

First, he said, is fast service.

“No matter how good the food is, if you serve too slowly, people won’t like it,” Hariyanto said.

Second is the taste and cleanliness of the food and drinks served. Last employees should be treated like they are part of the family.

“However much money you have to build a business, if you don’t treat your employees well, your business won’t grow.”

Source: Jakarta Globe

Indonesian Lifestyle 2008