Coffee Shops, Banda Aceh’s Economic Motor
In Banda Aceh, coffee shops have become a public space and economic artery of the City and have turnovers that reach hundreds of millions of rupiah each day. Without coffee shops, Banda Aceh would feel deserted.
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A number of residents enjoy coffee at a coffee shop in Banda Aceh City, Aceh Province, Thursday (23/2/2023). Coffee is no longer just a culture, but has become a wheel of the city's economy.
On entering Zakir Kupi, a coffee shop in Lamprit, Banda Aceh, Aceh province, 31-year-old Dharma Putra went straight to a table in a corner. Within several minutes, he had been served a hot sanger.
“There’s no need to order, the barista knows what I like,” Dharma said on Friday (24/2/2023).
Barista Hasannusi, also 31, knows not just Dharma’s favorite drink, but also the proportion of its blend, so that Dharma will want to return to Zakir Kupi for his sanger.
Sanger is the most popular coffee drink in Aceh after black coffee. Sanger is coffee with a dollop of condensed milk and sugar, with coffee the dominant flavor.
A marketing officer at an automotive company, Dharma spends most of his time at Zakir Kupi, as it is more convenient for him to meet prospective buyers there than at the office so it is not too formal. In one day, he drinks at least three or four glasses of sanger, priced at Rp 20,000 per glass.
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The reason he prefers Zakir Kupi is because the sanger Hasannusi makes suits both his palate and stomach. He has tried several different coffee shops, but has not yet found another glass of sanger with the same taste.
Zakir Kupi is situated in Lamprit’s business center. The shop is almost never quiet. The noisy traffic and customers’ laughter lend it an atmosphere that is always lively. The shop opens at 7 a.m. and closes at midnight.
The coffee shop has expanded rapidly. It first opened in 2009, and now has five branches. Zakir Kupi welcomes 800 to 1,000 customers each day, and makes a monthly turnover totaling between Rp 80 million and Rp 100 million.
Taufik Akbar, 33, the manager of Zakir Kupi’s Lamprit outlet, said the shop had many regulars of around 70 out of 100 visitors. The rest were new customers, who were served coffee as they liked it.
“The barista should remember customers’ favorite blends, so this trend doesn’t change,” said Taufik.
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A barista prepares filter coffee at a coffee shop in Banda Aceh City, Aceh Province, Friday (24/2/2023).
Hasannusi has worked as a barista at Zakir Kupi since 2014. He is irreplaceable, and receives bigger pay than the other employees because it is up to him whether a customer is satisfied or not.
Zakir Kupi specializes in serving filtered Robusta coffee, and does not sell Arabica. It maintains the style of a traditional coffee shop in Aceh.
The shop goes through 200 kilograms of ground coffee in a month. It buys coffee beans from farmers in Aceh’s Gayo region, which are then roasted in Banda Aceh by a family-owned coffee roasting business.
It is not just Zakir Kupi, but the other coffee shops in Banda Aceh are also almost always filled with customers. Each shop has its regulars. The local coffee shop business still has bright prospects.
Monthly net sales reach Rp 100 million. We use Robusta coffee.
This is also why Fakhri, 29, decided to open a coffee shop of his own. With capital totaling Rp 500 million, he and three other partners opened Haw Haw Kupi.
The shop has been in business only four months but has already achieved relatively high sales. Fakhri is optimistic that he can repay the Rp 500 million capital loan in two to three years.
“Monthly net sales reach Rp 100 million. We use Robusta coffee, filtered,” he said.
Fakhri is also a content creator and social worker, so he has a large community network. When he opened Haw Haw Kupi, his friends were his first customers.
While Zakir Kupi is located in a shop house, Haw Haw Kupi has a broad open space suitable for community gatherings. But because of this, fewer visitors come in the rainy season.
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A number of young people enjoy food and drinks at an open concept cafe in Banda Aceh City, Aceh Province, Friday (24/2/2023).
Domino effect
Apart from serving as a public space, coffee shops also turn the city’s economy. Coffee shops have become a source of livelihood for many residents.
Zakir Kupi, for instance, has 14 employees comprising a barista and waiters. It also provides 10 food stalls for vendors and sells cakes from 20 confectionery businesses. Meanwhile, Haw Haw Kupi employs around 30 workers and also accommodates food vendors.
A single coffee shop provides a living for dozens of people, and Banda Aceh has hundreds of coffee shops. This means that thousands of people rely on them for a living.
Based on 2023 data from the Banda Aceh Tourism Office, the city has 303 registered coffee shops and cafes, up from 230 such businesses in 2017. But it has many more informal, unregistered small coffee stalls.
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Coffee shops have sprung up in all corners of the city over the last 10 years. Many are located next to each other, but each has its own consumer base.
Mimiasri Aldian, a business lecturer at Muhammadiyah University Aceh, said that following the 2004 tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction, coffee shops had become the engine of the city’s economy. Coffee shops were not only for coffee drinkers, but also places for doing business.
Coffee shops also promoted the growth of small and medium enterprises, with many cottage businesses selling their products at coffee shops.
The hotels and food and beverage industries contributed 4.47 percent to Banda Aceh’s regional Banda Aceh domestic product in 2019. Coffee shops marked a decline in business during the Covid-19 pandemic, but were now reviving after the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
Said Fauzan, the head of the Banda Aceh Tourism Office, said that although Banda Aceh was not a coffee producer, Gayo coffee of the best quality could be found in Banda Aceh. The local coffee culture had grown into a prized tourism commodity of Banda Aceh.
To support the sector, the local administration presented coffee shops at every event. It had even organized coffee festivals as a platform for appreciating coffee.
“Most of the tourists that visit Banda Aceh will surely seek coffee as a culinary [specialty] and buy [Acehnese] coffee as a souvenir,” Said noted.
This is no exaggeration.
Rudi Setia, 31, a tourist from South Sumatra, said he had found the most delicious coffee in Banda Aceh.
“Now, when I’m in Aceh, I drink three or four glasses of coffee every day,” he said.
A visit to Banda Aceh seems incomplete if visitors don’t stop by a local coffee shop and savor its brew.
This article was translated by Aris Prawira.
