Don't Throw Away Your Name, Treasure It! Or Perhaps Your Name is Useless?

Today I pick this topic, which prior I have planned it to be post under other community, either Foodie Bee Hive or Satu Jiwa. I have been posting some post in Satu Jiwa Community as a form of supporting the use of my national language, Bahasa Indonesia.

As usual, during the process of taking some shots, I see something that was interesting. I saw many small restaurant which most of them in form of Shophouse Eateries were not focusing on their name again.

They are focusing more on the online service, such as GRAB FOOD or GO FOOD. Nowadays these two apps manage to give them many orders more than any inhouse delivery or direct visitors. So I can understand why if the owner or the entrepreneurs think it is better to show their customer that they are one of the certified partners or top performing merchants in those apps.

As you can see on above image, even at their counter, they are more proud having big banner about GO FOOD than having theire own name or other identification logo displayed there. So this style has become a mainstream for most shophouse eatery businesses.

Well you can debate me with many reasons, but one thing I believe that once you don't care with your name, your symbol and your logo, you are entering the commodity market. In Commodity Market, everything will heavily based on the price, in the end it's all about how cheap you can go.

I think a small restaurants or shophouse eateries won't survive this type of market, because there are hawkers, people who sell their dishes on cart, and the food trucks. These people have lower overhead, and because most of them can not hire employees, the owner will run the business directly. So the taste and service will be maximized, because the owners themselves are there, hands on the daily activities.

Ok this is the wider perspective, we can see that the right one, Mie Aceh Abue, still proud with their name. I believe that noodle eatery will survive longer, because I know they have been hanging on for long time there before the online food delivery services have flourished.

I hope my words here can reach some of the struggling small restaurants here... be proud of what you are, don't go directly into commodity market... without name, without your own brand, and without legacy.

Or perhaps you have different opinions? please share it on the comments below.

What Did I Eat There?

I ate nasi padang there, a Minangese culinary. Most people here love this dish, not only local Indonesian, but many expatriates and tourists love it too.

I intentionally came to that shophouse because I saw on my Go Food apps, that restaurants was one of the best sellers. It's hard to measure whether it is a good one or not, unless you come there directly in person. Many merchants look great, but the fact they run their kitchen in their house, a ghost resto... some even did not care about clean and hygienist issue.

I am a bit out of the box person, I like Minangese Fried Chicken. I even had an ex who thought my tounge was broken, because I went to Nasi Padang Restaurant when I wanted to have chicken, not going to Colonel Sanders outlet.

I have this deep fried cow lung, I like cow lung whether it is deep fried or in any style of soup. In my younger days, I often had these as my snack... while watching footballs and trolling my friends when Manchester United got beaten.

However I need to be extra careful with these food, whether it is lung, brain, or intestine. They would make you get high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

So what I think about the food?

1. It was not cheap. I spent 44k rupiah (almost 3 USD), not expensive but not a cheap one. Definitely not suitable for a frugal food, thats why I did not post this on Satu Jiwa Community which I try to endorse frugal living. This one should cost me around 2 $HBD
2. The place was well maintained, everything looked neat and clean. a very good job for the staffs there. However I saw only 3 tables which have been seated.
3. The taste was... so so... I could not say they were bad... but I have many reference about how a cheap but good taste nasi padang should be, and they are not filling those criteria.

So my hypothetic was about the discounted and cashback from the apps which made the store was getting many online orders. With the price and taste, and having relying apps name not their own brand... It's llike they are digging their own grave.

We only need another competitor in same segment, then sell cheaper, and they will be kicked out from the market. It is sad to see business which look like healthy by having many orders... then the other weeks they might gone out from the business.

When you are running business, make sure your name... the brand and symbol or logo... are the one that drives your customer to trust you... don't throw it away just because of some great apps give more orders than you can do your own... because we never know when those apps will leave you alone again.

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