Small Business

colroe

Active Member
Charter Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2016
Messages
91
I am married to Indonesian lady. I have KITAP, non working. As I am getting a little fed up with retirement lifestyle in Medan city, was thinking of setting the wife up in a small business, in which I would officially have no part. Of course a friendly eye over the books or management in the evening would be carried out. My question is:- does anyone have recommendations for a small business which would bring in a small income each week? I have thought of food warung, clothing in markets, but these are very competitive and I guess not so profitable. Any ideas?
 
I am married to Indonesian lady. I have KITAP, non working. As I am getting a little fed up with retirement lifestyle in Medan city, was thinking of setting the wife up in a small business, in which I would officially have no part. Of course a friendly eye over the books or management in the evening would be carried out. My question is:- does anyone have recommendations for a small business which would bring in a small income each week? I have thought of food warung, clothing in markets, but these are very competitive and I guess not so profitable. Any ideas?

I am in the same position as you are now. I am also in a process of trying to set up something "small" just for experience and "trying out" the market. I am still not sure what to sell as I am in the stage of contacting various suppliers - factories ect to get the picture of what sort of profit should I expect. Just yesterday I went to local pasar and have done some research: what is being sold and I also got appointment with the pasar administration about rental fees, location, viewing other spots in the pasar ect. 4 hours in total (I was also fixing all my watches). I took some pictures got all information I think I need and discussed it with my wife. Finding place .... done.

Initial capital and some quick calculation .....done.

Now I am in a stage of finding the right suppliers and negotiate some good deal. Depending on this process outcome I will decide to sell or not to sell it. For me personally this is the most crucial step.

Ok now I will go back to your post. What to sell..... my advice would be .... if you can go to tanah abang in Jakarta and see what do they sell there and if it is already available in Medan your local market. If you think everything is already there then see what people sell and in what type of selling goods you would be interested in. Clothes ...ok... what sort of.. jeans, leather jackets, socks .... for men, women or kids? Also don't get discouraged..... just because there are 10 sellers of jeans it doesn't mean you will not succeed. What it tells you is that jeans are the most sought goods in you market and it confirms it can be sold. But yes I will admit it may be hard.
 
Supply & Demand...

Exactly as Smallworld mentioned - with a kicker.. If jeans are really popular why not look for a supplier that does something a bit different - for example if all the jeans are blue find a supplier that can supply coloured jeans..

Ask around the neighbourhood about what people would like to buy but can't seem to find locally.
 
.....

Ask around the neighbourhood about what people would like to buy but can't
seem to find locally.

He will learn this part once customers will start enquires after his business will take off. If he will get for eg. 5 customers asking for other colour of jeans or style / week/ day / month then he will notice there is another market or the market is changing. Walking in the local area and asking in my opinion will not do anything good in the meaning of checking on demand. People's demands for goods grows suddenly and they tend to buy something because they like it not because they need it. Eg. weekly shoping in local pasar mom and daugher are going to buy vegetables and by "accident" they found out this "lovely" looking shirt, hijab, dress, jeans ect. People are shopping spontaneously.
 
It would depend on your location & capital, but I would suggest a cafe type warung with wifi.
Especially near an education establishment.

Sell low priced drinks , snacks etc.
I would suggest toasted cheese sandwiches too. Something to give you an "edge" , something that makes you a bit special. Have music playing, & maybe a photocopier machine.
Think of it as a student's cafe.

OR a way to showcase local art talent too- maybe get a local artist to display their work on the walls and sell taking a % of the sales.
If you hang out there too- offer up English conversation with the punters.

Hard to make much in the way of suggestions not knowing talents & likes dislikes etc.
If you have a talent for art, sell your own work.
 
It would depend on your location & capital, but I would suggest a cafe type warung with wifi.
Especially near an education establishment.

Sell low priced drinks , snacks etc.
I would suggest toasted cheese sandwiches too. Something to give you an "edge" , something that makes you a bit special. Have music playing, & maybe a photocopier machine.
Think of it as a student's cafe.

OR a way to showcase local art talent too- maybe get a local artist to display their work on the walls and sell taking a % of the sales.
If you hang out there too- offer up English conversation with the punters.

Hard to make much in the way of suggestions not knowing talents & likes dislikes etc.
If you have a talent for art, sell your own work.

I have got this impression you really want to have a fish and chips shop mixed with gregs and subway hahahahahaaha. .... and maybe some sweet buns bakery. I cannot believe it....... I just came back from Europe and I started already to miss all the bread, ham, cheese.... Let's put it simply .... sandwiches.
 
If you have experience & knowledge of visa processing - maybe an agency?
If you like IT and so on maybe local lessons for older people to learn how to do the basics on a computer.
 
I have got this impression you really want to have a fish and chips shop mixed with gregs and subway hahahahahaaha. .... and maybe some sweet buns bakery. I cannot believe it....... I just came back from Europe and I started already to miss all the bread, ham, cheese.... Let's put it simply .... sandwiches.
Hahaha, I would never in my or anyone else's lifetime advocate Subway- just the smell of the shops makes me gag.
 
B_A's lemonade stand for adults. :)
 
I second B_A.

About a year ago (or two, can't remember the exact time), I was driving on Jalan Sarijadi Raya. There I saw a warung nasi (we call it "warteg" or "warung tegal") --- and what made me interested was the banner in front of it. It said "WARUNG BULE". That made me curious. A "bule" selling nasi? I should see that. So, several days after that, I stoped there for lunch. But I didn't see any "bule", so I asked, "Bule-nya mana?" ("where's the bule?"). The girl there replied, "Di rumah" (at home). I said, "Kok malah bule nya disembunyiin" (a bit hard to translate, but it's something like "man, you shouldn't hide him/her"). And I just finished my lunch, paid, and got out. I told the story to my wife, and she said that "bule" might not mean a western at all. See, the word bule means aunty in Java language. So, the warung's name is "Warung Bule" -- like Aunty's Warung. We laughed as my wife said I was crazy.

So, if you -- an expat -- open a warung nasi, please do tell me. If it is in Bandung, I will surely come :)

(no... *WE* (me and my family) will surely come :thumb: )
 
Last edited:
Or the buy the bottle get the contents free route?
 
I second B_A.
About a year ago (or two, can't remember the exact time), I was driving on Jalan Sarijadi Raya. There I saw a warung nasi (we call it "warteg" or "warung tegal") --- and what made me interested was the banner in front of it. It said "WARUNG BULE". That made me curious. A "bule" selling nasi? I should see that. So, several days after that, I stop there for lunch. But I didn't see any "bule", so I asked, "Bule-nya mana?" ("where's the bule?"). The girl there replied, "Di rumah" (at home). I said, "Kok malah bule nya disembunyiin" (a bit hard to translate, but it's something like "man, you shouldn't hide him/her"). And I just finished my lunch, paid, and got out. I told the story to my wife, and she said that "bule" might not mean a western at all. See, the word bule means aunty in Java language. So, the warung's name is "Warung Bule" -- like Aunty's Warung. We laughed as my wife said I'm crazy.

So, if you -- an expat -- open a warung nasi, please do tell me. If in Bandung, I will surely come :)

(no... *WE* (me and my family) will surely come :thumb: )
If I could afford the rent on a good location down in the city Willianto- I would go that route too- the alternative is to do it up in Jatinagor
 
I presented an idea when I first arrived to Indonesia to my Indonesian family members. Bule Bakso. Some local variations and other worldly meatball variations with soup or sauce. I got laughed out of the house for even having a thought something like that would work here. I still think it is a good idea. Could be a national restaurant power house with hundreds of locations throughout the country.
 

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Follow Us

Latest Expat Indo Articles

Latest Tweets by Expat Indo

Latest Activity

New posts Latest threads

Online Now

Newest Members

Forum Statistics

Threads
5,966
Messages
97,420
Members
3,036
Latest member
stats
Back
Top Bottom