Being an entrepreneur may have been the choice in life for Fajar Handika. Although he had his fair share of business collapses several times, those did not dampen the spirit of this UGM Magister Management student to continue to pursue in the entrepreneurial world.
His persistence was not in vain, his last effort in the culinary field, namely by opening the FoodFezt, made him the second Best on the Independent Entrepreneur Competition 2010 in Catering category and Graduate Group. With this award, he has now become more certain and strengthened in the principle that he held during the time in the past, that business is a process, not coming by itself.
Hence it is not surprising that in building the business he had experienced ups and downs. Andi, as he is usually called, had worked public Internet but he did not feel comfortable with the job, so he left. He also tried to open a café, however, because it did not bring much profit, he eventually shut down this business. After a moment of stagnancy, Andy later tried the angkringan (Jogja traditional food peddler) business, but again this business suffered the same fate.
In the midst of bewilderment, he began thinking about efforts that might develop and give a decent result. At one point, he remembered his culinary hobby with his friends. The dining situation at the foodourt flashed in his mind.
"So, actually the FoodFezt that I later developed is just perfecting what’s in the food court so far. It is a matter of how to simplify things so the customers don’t experience any complication in ordering and paying for food. Well, in the FoodFezt it is quite simple, customers just sit and wait for the menu they have ordered, because a better distribution system is available," said Andi, Friday (28/1) in the Fortakgama Room.
He explained that by using FIKS (FoodFezt Integrated Kitchen System) we can connect the waiters and kitchens wirelessly via PDA, so, this system allows managers to monitor occurring activities. "Therefore, the number of visitors, what food is ordered, and how long the order are to be monitored in real time from anywhere as long as they’re connected to the Internet," he explained.
With such a system, between 400 to 500 visitors come to the FoodFezt restaurant each day. They mostly come from the middle class, with an age range below 30 years old. "But thanks to the development of menus, the visitors now vary from students, employees up to the family segment," said Andi.
A variety of menus is offered. Over 100 menus are listed in the FoodFezt, ranging from black noodles to kebuli rice, from portabello mushrooms to puffer goat satay, Indian food, Middle East food, European food and Javanese dishes, vegetarian as well as many other variations.
Andi said that the concept of FoodFezt actually is only to gather food entrepreneurs in one place. So, it is not surprising that the FoodFezt that is located at Pandega Karya, Jalan Kaliurang km 5.5 Yogyakarta provides 11 kitchens/tenants. "Each tenant has a food entrepreneur and 3 employees, so the total employees reach about 80 people. Of course, this becomes a successful effort to provide employment," said the General Manager of FoodFezt.
Despite only taking 20% of profit from the owners of food businesses, the turnover of Andi’s FoodFezt is quite mouth watering at IDR 400 million per month. In addition to direct services, FoodFezt also serves orders via telephone, via Yahoo Messenger or GTalk on their account id: foodfezt. Moreover in its service, Foodfezt reduces paper use and does not use styrofoam and plastic bags. "Instead, we use biodegradable packaging and paper bag that can decompose naturally," said Andi.
To maintain quality, FoodFezt periodically conducts evaluation of the various menus. This is done so the taste is consistent. "Yes, indeed we conduct food test. The evaluation is to test whether the taste still the same, or has changed," he explained.
Although he has not satisfied yet, Andi is now a bit relieved. He admitted that actually the talent as a businessman has emerged since his childhood. Since his childhood in the town of Comal, Pemalang, Central Java, he had the courage to trade rockets firecrackers. After that, he continued his education at the Comal, Central Java and SMA Negeri 6 Yogyakarta in 1996. "In the future I want to develop further in the Seturan area, but up until now, we’re still negotiating," said Andi smiling.
Ibnu Wakhid, STP., M.T as the Governing Board of UGM Center Entrepreneurship Development (CED) was grateful for the persistence of Fajar Handika. In fact, he also felt proud of the accomplishments he achieved. By becoming the second best in the Independent Entrepreneur Competition 2010, UGM proved to always excel in this forum. "Although not as many as last year, with this achievement UGM proved to always excel in the Independent Entrepreneur Competition,” he explained.