Catering business thrives as people opt for boxed meals

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

When you are single and working in Jakarta like Ima Alimah, chances are you don't have enough time or energy to cook your own meals, which is fine most of the time as take-outs are easily found on almost every street corner.

But during the fasting month at 3 a.m. when you are trying to find hot food for your sahur (pre-dawn meal), food vendors can be trickier to find.

That situation prompted Ima to resort to order rantangan -- set meals delivered daily to your home in stacked containers, or rantang.

"Living on my own, it's easier for me to have meals delivered for sahur," said Ima, who works for Australian-based IT and telecommunications company Qdc. She pays Rp 10,000 (about US$1) for each meal sent to her rented room in Setiabudi, South Jakarta.

Citing the same reason -- convenience -- Aldy Setiadi, who lives with his brother in Bintaro, Tangerang, also orders rantangan.

"It's not only during the fasting month. Both myself and my brother are away at school most of the day, so we order rantangan," he said, explaining that it was just a matter of moving back the time of the delivery to later in the afternoon in time for breaking the fast during the fasting month.

Rantangan is not a new concept, and for busy individuals or families where both parents work, such meals can be a simple solution to the food problem, particularly during the fasting month.

Iki Setiadi Priyoena, owner of Dian Catering, which delivers meals in the Bintaro area, says that the number of his customers normally doubles during the fasting month.

"Usually during the fasting month domestic helpers go back to their hometowns, so their employers have no choice but to order rantangan to get them through the month," he told The Jakarta Post.

Iki said that Dian Catering offers three types of rantangan packages -- small, medium and large -- designed for both individual customers and families. The small package consists of rice and three different side dishes, while the medium and large packages consist of rice and four different side dishes.

"The difference is that the amount of food is bigger in the large package so that it can serve three to five people," he said, explaining that the large package was also large enough to be eaten by a small family for both the breaking of the fast and for sahur.

For the fasting month this year, Dian Catering has already received orders from 95 households, Iki said, adding that the business usually serves between 125 and 130 regular customers a year.

Big caterers are also getting a windfall this fasting month with more and more companies organizing breaking of the fast gatherings for their employees and business colleagues.

Peni Catering in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, for example, recently received an order over ten days for breaking of the fast and sahur gatherings from a private television station.

"As part of the order, we'll be supplying 800 boxed meals for the breaking of the fast gatherings and 200 for sahur," Aan Hermanto, owner of Peni Catering explained, adding that she charges a minimum of Rp 22,000 per breaking of the fast boxed meal, and Rp 15,000 for the pre-dawn boxed meal.

Meanwhile, Rosa Catering in Bintaro has so far received 18 orders for company breaking of the fast gatherings this year.

"We usually get about 40 such orders per year, sometimes catering for two or three events a day," owner Sri Soediono said.