The course of Slamet Riyanto’s life has changed since he started his business at the age of 48. Slamet, a former employee, now owns a food stall with 130 branches.
By
REGINA RUKMORINI
·6 minutes read
Kompas
Slamet Riyanto shows his homemade gimbal tofu dish on Tuesday (23/6/2020), at his stall in Blabak, Mungkid District, Magelang Regency, Central Java.
The course of Slamet Riyanto’s life has changed since he started his business at the age of 48. Slamet, a former employee, now owns a food stall with 130 branches. Some of his partners were once at sea after they were dismissed from their jobs.
Slamet is the founder-owner of Pak Slamet Ragil’s Warung Soto Semarang, Tahu Gimbal and Kupat Tahu, a food stall located in Blabak, Mungkid district of Magelang regency, Central Java. The stall, located along the Magelang-Yogyakarta road, is not very spacious. It has only five large tables, each of which can seat six. It also has a long table for displaying the variety of dishes, including the iconic dishes of its name: soto Semarang (chicken soup a la Semarang), tahu gimbal (fried tofu and shrimp with peanut sauce), kupat tahu (steamed rice cakes and fried tofu topped with vegetables and peanut sauce).
The modest eatery now operates 130 branches from Aceh to Papua that were established as partnerships rather than franchises. “If the franchise system is applied, the franchise holders have to pay royalties. This increases their burden, especially those who have only just begun their venture,” Slamet said in Blabak on Tuesday (23/6/2020).
He only requires his partners to buy the key spices and seasonings from him. This requirement applies to all partners, whether they are just starting out or those who have been partners for years that make hundreds of millions of rupiah in annual profit.
Some of Slamet’s partners had been laid off, but were interested in starting their own business. For example, he opened the first branch of Warung Pak Slamet Ragil by partnering with a friend who lost his job in 2007 and who had come to him and spoke about his living conditions.
Slamet offered his friend a partnership for a branch of Warung Pak Slamet Ragil. His friend accepted the offer. This man happened to own land in the city of Purworejo, so that is where the first Slamet Ragil branch was established.
In order to make sure that the branch eatery got off on the right footing, Slamet stayed in Purworejo for several days to train his friend in how to cook the main dishes and how to serve his customers. Slamet uses this approach every time he opens a new branch. If direct training is not possible, he sends a video tutorial.
He also helps people facing financial difficulties. Their capital comes from well-heeled people. In some cases, Slamet provides part of the capital to people he is training who demonstrate a high entrepreneurial spirit. “I once helped a young business innovator who possessed great passion by supplying plates and bowls,” he recalled.
Slamet imparts his knowledge and skills generously. He warmly welcomes all who come to him to learn al skills. Some are even accepted as apprentices at the flagship warung. Since 2008, he has been invited to speak at least twice a month at entrepreneurship seminars held by different institutes in different cities.
Slamet has never set a fee for his speaking engagements. He has even declined the speaking fee if he was invited by a community that had little funds. “They shouldn’t force themselves to chip in just to pay me,” he said.
He is active on social media, uploading photos of the latest activities at his warung. As a result, Warung Pak Slamet Ragil has grown in popularity among lovers of soto, tahu gimbal or kupat tahu. It is also through this digital forum that a number of people have become interested in entering into a business partnership with Slamet.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Slamet has frequently uploaded photos of customers maintaining safe distance from each other as well as photos of the kitchen, where his cooks and other kitchen staff observe the health and hygiene protocols. He does this to reassure potential customers that it is safe to come and eat at his food stall.
Before opening his stall, Slamet had worked in marketing at four companies over 20 years. He was also a radio journalist who went by the name Ragil on air. He later came to realize that working for several decades in fairly good positions had not been fruitful enough to meet the needs of his family.
“I still found it difficult to pay my children’s university tuition,” he pointed out.
One day, Slamet attended an entrepreneurship seminar featuring Bob Sadino as one of the speakers. On returning home from the seminar, he was motivated to start his own business. He recalled his mother’s soto stall that attracted lots of customers but was threatened with closure, as none of her children were interested in continuing the business. Slamet decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps. So in 2007, he opened Warung Soto Pak Slamet in Blabak, Mungkid district, Central Java. For the first two months of its operation, the stall only offered soto Semarang.
Slamet was perplexed during the early days, as his stall had few visitors despite his various promotional efforts. A friend then suggested that Slamet change the name of his stall to Warung Soto Pak Slamet Ragil. The addition of “ragil” (last-born) ended up attracting an old friend to visit his eatery.
I still found it difficult to pay my children’s university tuition,
From then on, the stall teemed with visitors. Two years later, he decided to quit his corporate job and focus on running his food stall.
Remembering his previous job, though, Slamet offers a special discount to marketing professionals who come to his stall. “It’s enough to say the keyword, ‘salesman’, and that customer will get a free drink and a bigger portion of rice than other customers,” said Slamet, who also offers special discounts to cyclists and customers from Islamic boarding schools.
To avoid boring his diners’ palates with just a single dish, Slamet added more items to his menu, such as tahu gimbal and kupat tahu. He learned their recipes from former stalls that were legends in their day. Now the two dishes are as iconic as his stall’s soto.
From his experience, Slamet is encouraging other people to change their destinies by pursuing the path of entrepreneurship. “I hope I can help entrepreneur groups and micro, small and medium enterprises achieve success and independence,” he added.
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