Achieving Success with ‘Empal Gentong’

Machfud Abbas has traveled a bumpy road as an entrepreneur, including filing for bankruptcy several times. He has finally achieved success after he founded a uniquely Cirebon eatery: Empal Gentong H. Apud. Today, he employs hundreds of people in promoting local specialties.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

Machfud Abbas

Machfud Abbas, 63, has traveled a bumpy road as an entrepreneur, including filing for bankruptcy several times. He has finally achieved success after he founded a uniquely Cirebon eatery: Empal Gentong H. Apud. Today, he employs hundreds of people in promoting local specialties.

Almost every year during Idul Fitri, Machfud\'s Empal Gentong H. Apud restaurant in Battembat village of Tengah Tani district, Cirebon regency, West Java, sees a deployment of policemen. On Sunday, 19 May, for example, a line of policemen stood along the road in front of the restaurant.

The police presence is not to protect the restaurant; nor is it a security measure to anticipate street crimes or demonstrations. It just so happens that the restaurant is located on Jl. Ir. Juanda, a major congestion point on Java’s northern coastal (Pantura) highway.

In addition to Machfud\'s restaurant, the thoroughfare is home to dozens of souvenir shops and food stalls. Dozens of cars and even buses are parked on the shoulder, most of which come from Jakarta and Bandung. The 30-vehicle parking lot is always full of cars that have exited the toll road just to stop by the restaurant.

Empal gentong is a yellow curry made of beef stewed in coconut milk. The dish is served sprinkled with chopped chives, fried shallots and chili powder.

"On a busy day like this, the staff is increased to between 300 and 320 people," said Machfud. Some of the staff work at the restaurant’s two other branches at Trusmi Market and on Jl. Tuparev.

The two branches were opened three years ago, when many of the restaurants and food stalls on the Pantura highway closed as motorists switched to the Cikopo-Palimanan (Cipali) toll road.

The toll road has cut the travel time from Jakarta to Cirebon to just 3.5 hours, whereas the journey could take more than five hours on the Pantura highway. The change doesn’t seem to have affected Machfud’s business negatively, however.

"Since the Cipali toll road opened, our turnover has increased 25 percent," said the Cirebon native. "It seems that you haven’t gone to Cirebon unless you’ve had empal gentong."

President Joko Widodo and his predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the sixth president, have also stopped by H. Apud to try empal gentong.

The bumpy road has indeed led to success for Machfud. His parents, H. Abbas and Hj. Muksina, made and sold sandals made of cow and buffalo leather. They obtained the raw materials from a slaughterhouse in Battembat, which also gave birth to Machfud’s empal gentong business. However, the young Machfud focused only on helping his parents make sandals.

He started his first business in 1975, distributing cookies from a cottage industry in his village to places as far as Rengasdengklok in Karawang. Unfortunately, Indonesia was hit by a monetary crisis in the late 1990s. As a result, demand fell and many customers were unable to make their payments. "Tens of millions of rupiah were unpaid. In the end, I ran out of capital and the business closed down," he recalled.

In 1991, Machfud tried his luck selling sandals, like his parents did, in nearby Sukabumi. However, shopping centers were developed over the next three years, and the demand for sandals declined. His turnover fell and eventually the business went bankrupt.

In 1995, he tried his hand at the empal gentong business, which required little capital and would generate a quick income. During the early days, Machfud sold empal gentong on the street. He carried the empal gentong in clay barrels on a carrying pole. Vending carts were expensive at the time.

He banged on the barrels to attract customers, like a meatball vendor. "The capital was about Rp 100,000 a day. The money was used to buy three kilograms of meat which cost Rp 35,000 per kilogram. The profit was about Rp 20,000," said Machfud, who often bought empal gentong as a child.

He made a profit on four days of a week, and suffered losses on the three other days. "If I ran out of money, I asked some from my wife, who was a trader at Tegalgubug Market," said Machfud, who was then known as "Pak Kumis (Mr. Mustache)" because of his thick mustache.

Through such hardships, his business gradually grew. By the early 2000s, he was making and selling gapit, a type of Cirebon cake, at his shop. He also made cheese-flavored gapit. He delivered up to five batches of gapit a day to Kanoman Market and earned more rupiah.

He built a restaurant on the 120-square-meter land he had inherited from his parents and renovated it in 2006, replacing the woven bamboo walls with concrete walls. His customers came from the lower to upper-middle income bracket.

Machfud also entered into cooperation with travel agents and hotels. The restaurant became crowded as more travellers stopped by. He renamed the restaurant from Empal Gentong Pak Kumis to Empal Gentong H. Apud. “Haji Apud” is another of Machfud\'s nicknames.

Machfud doesn’t play with quality for the sake of his customers. The ingredients he uses must be fresh, including the shallots and chili. He uses a wood fire to cook the empal gentong. "I also don\'t use imported frozen meat, even though it costs less," he said.

Empowering people

Today, his Battembat restaurant is 1,000 square meters and can seat up to 300 diners. Before, it could only accommodate 40 diners. The restaurant goes through about 150 kilograms of beef in a single day. During Idul Fitri, it can go through 400 kilograms of beef a day.

One thing that makes the elementary school graduate elated is that he can employ more than 300 local residents. "Vocational school students and even street thugs work here," said Machfud, who received the Exemplary Tax Award for the 2016-2017 fiscal year from the Cirebon administration.

"Yeah, it’s better (to work) here. It’s halal," said Agus, 40, a former thug in the area around Weru Market who is now one of the restaurant’s cooks. Agus declined to compare his current income with his time on the streets job, but he said that he enjoyed working at the restaurant for the last five years.

Machfud is still hiring, as he needs workers for his canned empal gentong and empal asem business. The business was founded by his daughter, Eroh Masruroh, who is collaborating with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Yogyakarta. She is in the process of registering the food product with the Indonesia Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM).

The business produces 500 cans of empal gentong a day. The innovation complements the other H. Apud-branded products: empal gentong spice package and red chili powder.

The canned empal gentong means that travelers can now buy them as souvenirs, like the traditional Yogyakartan dish gudeg, which has long been available as a packaged product. "Many customers are curious about canned empal gentong, so they come here," said Machfud, whose persistence has helped promote the local cuisine.

According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the number of restaurants in Cirebon has increased sharply from 129 in 2013 to 147 in 2017.

The most popular dish on the menu is empal gentong, giving credence to Machfud\'s motto: You haven’t visited Cirebon until you’ve tried empal gentong.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

Machfud Abbas

Machfud Abbas

Born: Cirebon, Oct. 9, 1955

Education: SDN Battembat Cirebon elementary school

Wife: Hj. Noviyanti

Children: Eroh Masruroh, Husein Bagus, Dhea

Occupation: Founder and owner, Empal Gentong H. Apud restaurant