UNAIR NEWS – Building a culinary business with risks is not an easy thing, especially in another country. As the founder of restaurant Mas Surabaya located in Apeldoorn City, Netherlands, Joseph Wibisono explained his experience in building Indonesian culinary business during Bussiness Talk on Friday, June 9.
At first, he came to the Netherlands to work as a nurse, and he had no entrepreneur background at all. However, because he and his wife had the same cooking hobby, they both agreed to start opening the food business. According to him, the first challenge when it comes to opening the food business in the Netherlands is learning the market demand and preparing the budget.
“We see a business opportunity because there is only one Indonesian restaurant around the area. After that, I learned market demand in the Netherlands by joining several business communities, “said Joseph.
Meanwhile, Joseph had to prepare around 50,000 euros to purchase of stock materials, permits, rent places, and various other things. He explained that licensing business in the Netherlands is not too complicated as long as the owner has a work visa follow the government standard regulation.
“Netherlands is very strict about food business standards. There are food cops that will check the food temperature, smelly suction, waste flow, cleaning schedule, “he said.
The third is a marketing strategy, and he revealed that the first three months of business is always the hardest time.
“At first I did not understand anything about promotion strategy, and then I decided to use social media to promote my business, “he said.
To attract customers, he also chooses the name of his restaurants. Mostly, Dutch people are more familiar with the name of Jakarta or Surabaya that is identical to Indonesia. Thus, the name of my business culinary is Resto Mas Surabaya.
“During this pandemic, our customers are increasing because we also provide takeaway by online order. 90% of our customers are Dutch. “said him.
Entrepreneurs and several academics of UNAIR have also joined the virtual event. One of the speakers, Dr. Gancar Premananto, CMA explained that culinary business opportunity is everywhere.
“We held this event to improve overseas business knowledge as well as connections between businessman,” said Head of Management Masters program, UNAIR. (*)
Author: Intang Arifia
Editor: Feri Fenoria
