Kue, entrepreneurial spirit, and Indonesian women

Puspawarna

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Today I suddenly realized that FOUR of my Indonesian friends, all women, have small cookie/cake businesses. Given that I am not all that social and don't have a zillion local friends, that seems like a huge number. And without trying at all, I can think of several additional examples of small food/catering businesses run by women here.

So I was wondering - is that just a random coincidence, or is running a food business a very popular activity for women here? If it is, why might that be? I can think of a few reasons but I don't know if they are correct. I assume there are not as many bureaucratic barriers here as there would be in, for example, the United States, to starting a food service. And, if you are determined and talented enough, running a catering business is something you can teach yourself how to do. (I'm tempted to say, "and most women know how to/like to cook" but I am not sure that is true in Indonesia. In the cases I am most familiar with, my friends don't do the cooking themselves, they just tell their staff what to do!)

Has anyone else noticed how popular this business activity seems? In any case, I applaud the entrepreneurial spirit of all the women who are doing this.
 
Today I suddenly realized that FOUR of my Indonesian friends, all women, have small cookie/cake businesses. Given that I am not all that social and don't have a zillion local friends, that seems like a huge number. And without trying at all, I can think of several additional examples of small food/catering businesses run by women here.

So I was wondering - is that just a random coincidence, or is running a food business a very popular activity for women here? If it is, why might that be? I can think of a few reasons but I don't know if they are correct. I assume there are not as many bureaucratic barriers here as there would be in, for example, the United States, to starting a food service. And, if you are determined and talented enough, running a catering business is something you can teach yourself how to do. (I'm tempted to say, "and most women know how to/like to cook" but I am not sure that is true in Indonesia. In the cases I am most familiar with, my friends don't do the cooking themselves, they just tell their staff what to do!)

Has anyone else noticed how popular this business activity seems? In any case, I applaud the entrepreneurial spirit of all the women who are doing this.

Where we live it is very popular for women to ran small food stalls in the front yard of their house behind the fenced area. The husbands go of to their office jobs and the wife's run a small business albeit there household staff do the work. One next attracts many customers 7 days a week.

My wife tried it a few years ago and opened a store to cook her specialties in the evenings after work. Went well for a while as she let the household staff keep all the profits. Unfortunately one of the staff took off with all the takings and was last seen heading to Bali.That was the end of that experiment!
 
Where we live it is very popular for women to ran small food stalls in the front yard of their house behind the fenced area. The husbands go of to their office jobs and the wife's run a small business albeit there household staff do the work. One next attracts many customers 7 days a week.

My wife tried it a few years ago and opened a store to cook her specialties in the evenings after work. Went well for a while as she let the household staff keep all the profits. Unfortunately one of the staff took off with all the takings and was last seen heading to Bali.That was the end of that experiment!

That reminds me of ANOTHER female food entrepreneur I'd forgotten, the wife of a friend of mine. She ran a food stall for a while, but found that it was exhausting work and she wasn't making enough money to make it worth the huge effort, so she stopped.

Sorry your wife's food stall didn't work out, Brian. But I applaud her efforts.
 
Our nephew is in the LeBaran cookies/treats business; kind'a seasonal. We are silent partners so hoping it goes well. This is the third year.
 
Quite a few of my FB contacts sell stuff, and yes it's predominantly women. Mostly food, but sometimes cosmetics or arts and crafts....seems like a national past time...
 
Common also among expat Indonesian women in my home town in Australia. Catering from home, very tricky birthday and cup cakes, making tempe from scratch, some have opened restaurants. One in particular has gone industrial scale with bakso and sambal.
 
Given the labour market, it makes perfect sense that folk look into alternative means of income.

eg: The recent Big Bad Wolf sale was full of entrepreneurial sellers, folk 'helping' sell your home, import export.
 
It is very common. Health regulation for domestic food business is simply not enforced in Indonesia, so any woman with a kitchen can do it. My mom used to run a rantangan (lunchbox) business for her entire office building back when I was a kid.

I think it is less about entrepreneurial spirit and more about necessity. The vast majority of households in Indonesia can't survive on single income. Hell, most can barely survive with dual income. Both of my parents worked office jobs, and mom still had to supplement it with all sorts of projects. Despite all this, up until my middle school we were solidly lower middle class. My parents are too proud to ever call us 'poor', but we were limited enough financially that I could only afford one pair of shoes a year for school. I remember affixing black electrical tape to patch the holes on the shoes.
 
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Indonesian women love to cook. (unfortunately not for me *sad face). And selling food is the most convinience to make money. FYI, I am now juragan Sambal... check out my page on FB Fatima’s Sambal, Sambal Indo made in Texas!!! *winks
 
Can you ship? I'll order some to be delivered to my house in Hawaii if you can send it.
 
Of course food plays a very important role in Indonesian society; visit any place or meeting and there will be food. Not just coffee and a cookie.

There are two additional reasons I see for the huge amount of home baking and catering: The lack of any hygienic and bureaucratic hurdles to start a (baking and catering) home business makes it an easy start-up. And I see an amazing tendency to copy successful concepts in this community. If someone is perceived to do well, in no time the business will be imitated.
 

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