Students in Medan moonlight as food vendors

Students in Medan moonlight as food vendors

Apriadi Gunawan, Contributor, Medan, North Sumatra

"Stop for a moment, sir. Choose your favorite!" cried Sarah
with a smile. She was standing by the side of the street shouting
out to motorists, trying to drum up business for the snacks she
was selling.

Sarah's approach to selling delicacies for breaking the fast
was bold and unique. With a scarf over her head, she overcame any
shyness she may have had to shout at the passing drivers to get
them to slow their vehicles.

Even though each vendor here has a unique sales pitch, they
all have something in common: they are all students at North
Sumatra University in Medan trying to make a little money during
Ramadhan.

They work from 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., selling their food along
Jl. Dr. Mansur, which is part of the university complex. Unlike
other vendors, the students sell the food from their cars. Parked
along the street is every type of vehicle, from old Toyotas to
the latest BMW, all doubling as food stalls.

These student vendors, with their unique style of selling, can
be found only during Ramadhan. Each year during the fasting
month, a roughly 800-meter stretch of the street is transformed
into "elite vendor territory", bringing with it daily traffic
jams.

Most of the students say they are only killing a couple of
hours before breaking the fast. "Making money is not our first
priority. This is just a good way to pass the time," said Sarah,
who has been selling food here for the last couple of Ramadhans.

Costing between Rp 100 and Rp 400, Sarah offers quite a
variety of cakes and fried foods from her sedan. She said that
she did not make any of the food herself, but purchased
everything from suppliers. However, she commented that her daily
profit was not too bad, between Rp 50,000 and Rp 70,000.

A group of students from the School of Economics, who call
themselves Mabaga Taste ("Mabaga" being an acronym for "students
below the stairs"), make similar profits.

Bismi Azizah, representing the group of seven students, said
their group was a joint venture, with each student contributing
the Rp 100,000 to Rp 150,000 they needed in daily capital.

Their daily profit ranges from Rp 100,000 to Rp 150,000 as
well, which is distributed to the "shareholders" in accordance
with the amount contributed.

"It's like this. If I provide 25 percent of the capital, then
naturally I get 25 percent of the profits," said Bismi.

He said they sold local specialities like toge penyabungan
(bean sprouts), jongkong (sweet cake made of sticky rice), serabi
(rice flour pancake) and roti jala (bread).

Most of their customers are people they know. "It's easier to
sell to friends, so when they pass by we call out to them," said
Bismi.

While Mabaga Taste relies on friends, Rangga, a group of eight
friends from the School of Agriculture, sometimes has to ask
their parents to buy whatever food they have left at the end of
the day.

Rangga emphasized that their business was not meant to make
big money, but was designed to give them something to do in the
hours before they broke the fast.