TheJakartaPost
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Fried fortunes: Indonesian street food hawkers more successful than you think
A good number of Indonesian hawkers earn millions of rupiah daily but choose to keep a low profile.
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Thanks to 'oncom': Imanuddin, or Iman, can live comfortably after years of selling his specialty snack, 'oncom'. (Personal collection/Courtesy of Imanuddin)
O
perating and managing a street food stall might seem like a modest business, but these owners often have a network of similar stalls, gaining a small fortune every day.
Imanuddin and Hajah Cicah Siti Hodijah are two such entrepreneurs. The two have one thing in common. They are members of a certain food stall owner group on Facebook.
Komunitas Gorengan (fritters community) exists to provide these hawkers a place to share and learn anything related to their business. This public group has 300,000 members from all across Indonesia.
Iman, 42, has been selling fritters, specifically the soybean-based oncom, since 2000. He owns several food stalls across Palembang. He moved out of his modest family home in Banyuasin, South Sumatra to make it as an entrepreneur in the city.
"My parents were farmers, they got married and then migrated [to South Sumatra]. I moved to Palembang to open my fried food business," said Iman.
The 42-year-old man said he currently had five food stalls placed on a rented small area in front of a convenience store.
