Surono enjoys his latest challenge as restaurateur

Surono enjoys his latest challenge as restaurateur

In an era when some people would falsify a university degree to
get ahead in the world, it is quite novel to meet someone with a
degree who chose an occupation where academic credentials would
make no difference.

For over five years, Surono was a chili trader in bulk markets
in Jakarta, and on the face of it, leaving his degree on the
shelf gathering dust. The bright side was that his daily turnover
easily reached Rp 80 million. Of course, it took a great deal of
hard work, seven days a week, to arrive where he was.

Then why did he come to Melbourne last April?

His wife, Puspita Wulandari, received a scholarship from
AusAID to study for her doctorate degree in business
administration at Swinburne University. After preparing his two
brothers-in-law to take over the business, Surono joined his
wife.

Like a big truck running continuously in top gear for hundreds
of kilometers, Surono was unable to stop suddenly and become a
man of leisure. He was restless while Puspita was busy studying.

Then one evening he and Puspita went to dinner at one of
EsTeler77 restaurants, and began chatting with its franchisee,
Alex Wijaya. Wijaya asked him if he was interested in opening the
company's third outlet in Australia.

"I had no hesitation. In fact, Alex and I hit it off
immediately. And I haven't been proven wrong. Alex helped us set
up the place, handling most of the logistics like contacting
painters, plumbers and garbage collectors, without charging us a
cent."

The timing also worked in his and Puspita's favor, because the
Indonesian Business Forum-Melbourne (IBF-M) had just been
founded, and the committee rallied to assist him.

At the official opening of EsTeler77's newest outlet on Aug.
24, where Indonesian Consul General Wahid Supriyadi cut the
ceremonial ribbon, the restaurant had actually been operating for
six days. Within that short time it had become so popular that
the stocks they had bought for three weeks had been used up.

Non-Indonesian Australians have so far made up 50 percent of
the clientele.

Surono has always been a battler. Even as an undergraduate at
Universitas Nasional in Pejaten, South Jakarta, he was already
working as a messenger at an accountancy firm. When he graduated
in business management in 1992, he married Puspita and became a
tax consultant.

The 1997 economic crisis hit when he was working for a poultry
business company, and the crash saw him and a number of staff
retrenched the following year.

Surono then wandered around, eventually being drawn toward
Pasar Induk bulk market. Fortuitiously, he met a longtime chilli
bulk trader, Nuryanto, who took a shine to him, and offered him
the use of a stall next to his own.

Surono became Nuryanto's "apprentice" and, in the fiercely
competitive environment where violence or threats were not
uncommon, also his protege.

Several months later, Nuryanto let him buy the stall, and his
position became more solid. He even acquired a nickname, LB for
labalaba (spider), proof that he was now there to stay.

Surono knew he had arrived at the next phase when Nuryanto
sent him on a purchasing spree to meet his own rural suppliers.
Surono took his brothers-in-law with him. But Surono shared what
he bought with Nuryanto. Apart from courtesy, he was also
cautious. He could not handle the volume.

"Chilies only last one day once they hit the market," said
Surono.

Nuryanto also took Surono when expanding into other markets.
He used his influence to obtain strategic spots for their stalls.

Surono quickly began to learn the business of chili farming in
areas indicated by Nuryanto in Central and West Java.

"Before long, my own products made up about 30 percent of my
trade." And he had already secured Makro supermarkets as his
buyers.

Now in Melbourne, who can tell he is not going to be as
successful in the restaurant business as in the bulk chili trade?
All the early signs certainly point in the right direction.

Hard work, luck and je ne sais quoi, in that order, seem to be
the necessary combination for success.
-- Dewi Anggraeni