by Fitri Ramadhani
JAKARTA, May 31 (Xinhua) — A new Indonesian culinary brand, Eatsambel, has become popular among foodies mainly thanks to TikTok.
The small-medium culinary brand, which sells several types of authentic Indonesian chili sauce-in-jar, earns a fantastic income of 1.38 billion rupiahs (84,985 U.S. dollars) per month.
“We present the concept of packaged chili sauce to attract chili sauce fans in Indonesia, one of which is through the TikTok platform. TikTok has helped us find our target market,” said Eatsambel founder Yansen Gunawan recently at a culinary event in Jakarta.
He described how TikTok’s live feature helped him reach his potential buyers. He regularly goes live online on TikTok to present the taste offered by each of his chili variants, describing the textures and ingredients contained in the products to the viewers.
“For us, this live feature is very suitable for advertising food, because viewers can get an overview of the product before making a purchase,” Gunawan said, adding that TikTok’s shopping feature had made everything easier for him in transactions.
“Unlike other transaction channels, TikTok has all the features in one place. People can shop and browse the contents. [TikTok] is important for local business actors like me and other MSME friends. I hope we can continue to work and sell on the TikTok platform,” he said.
Similar to Gunawan’s Eatsambel, The Organic brand, which sells various Indonesian organic instant spices, also uses TikTok to follow trends and promote products.
“As an MSME player, we just follow the trends by creating content on TikTok and following trending videos. Then our contents get users’ attention and increase our sales,” said Jeslin, a marketer for The Organic.
TikTok currently controls a majority stake of Tokopedia, a giant Indonesian e-commerce company, aiming to give better opportunities to MSMEs in Indonesia.
A 2022 report on Indonesia’s Digital Literacy Status by the country’s Ministry of Communication and Informatics showed that Indonesia had more than 110 million TikTok users, which had kept increasing since 2020, the second-largest users after the United States.
This has made TikTok a strategic medium for MSMEs to promote and sell their products.
TikTok Indonesia’s public policy and government relations manager Faris Mufid said that many local culinary businesses, including MSMEs, have found an opportunity to actively interact with creators and users on the TikTok platform.
“With TikTok, social media users can find recommendations for food specialties, hidden-gem restaurants and practical recipes to try at home, just by simply exploring culinary contents via the Page For You feature,” Mufid said.
Based on the enthusiasm of culinary communities on TikTok, the platform launched its first campaign and culinary festival entitled #FoodFestOnTikTok, supported by the regional government of Jakarta, to bring together the culinary communities to serve their delicious dishes on site.
This festival was held from May 25 to 26 at Lapangan Banteng, Central Jakarta. The participants included MSME players in culinary as well as food vloggers and content creators.
Head of Jakarta’s Agency of MSME Industry Elisabeth Ratu Rante Allo said TikTok had been in line with the government’s mission to support tourism and empower the local MSMEs.
“TikTok can open up new opportunities for MSMEs and become an effective means of promoting their businesses with the support of the creative and enthusiastic community of TikTok culinary fans,” Allo said.