PANGKALPINANG -- Titi Raswati has been in the culinary business since 2013 by building a restaurant business. Nasi Bakar is one of the mainstay menus of his business.
The Nasi Bakar Safira business was originally established in Tempilang, West Bangka, and moved to Pangkalpinang. He did this because he saw new opportunities to develop his business.
This mother of three children told that to develop her business she was constrained by capital. So he took advantage of PT Timah Tbk's Micro Small Business Funding Program (PUMK) to develop his business in Pangkalpinang.
"In 2019 I became PT Timah Tbk's fostered partner to develop this Safira Nasi Bakar business. Because at that time there weren't many selling Nasi Bakar and I thought of making a number of innovations in the food menu, adding equipment and repairing the place," said Titi, Thursday (27/4/2023).
Their business continues to grow along with the several innovations they have made, but during the Covid-19 pandemic, their business also had an impact. However, She did not give up to continue to maintain her business.
She admitted, although it was not easy for his business to survive to this day, even after the Covid-19 pandemic, her business began to continue to show progress in line with the end of social restrictions.
Titi admitted, nowadays many people are running businesses similar to hers. However, he is not too worried about that, because the roasted rice has a distinctive taste. Plus he also began to add a lot of food menu.
Nasi Bakar Safira serves a variety of menus such as fried chicken and anchovy rice, various processed chicken, fish, duck, vegetables, and various types of drinks.
"There will definitely be challenges, as now many sell roasted rice too. But we are constantly thinking about making something new, for example adding processed duck to the menu," She said.
According to her, this year he even plans to re-open a Safira roasted rice branch in Tempilang again. This is because he wants to expand his business.
"I used the capital from PT Timah Tbk for the second time, because I wanted to open another branch in Tempilang. This was because many customers there suggested opening again so they would be closer. This year the plan is to open a branch there," She said.
She said that apart from opening a branch, the capital loan from PT Timah Tbk was used to add equipment to restaurants in Pangkalpinang.
According to Titi, they already have regular customers and also often receive orders from various parties. Because of the roasted rice and other menus, they have a distinctive taste.
"Thank God we already have regular customers and we continue to try to maintain consumer trust by maintaining the quality of taste and improving service," She said.
For Titi, PT Timah Tbk's PUMK Program has helped her in developing her business. Apart from that, he said PT Timah Tbk also often buys their products.
"The PUMK program is very helpful for those of us who want to develop our business. PT Timah Tbk also often offers that our products can participate in bazaars. Many of our consumers are Timah employees. This really helps us," She said.
Not only that, according to him, he also often gets coaching related to their menu. So he feels supported to continue to develop his business.
"We were given input about the menu, so we can increase the number of customers. Apart from coming here directly on Jalan Ahmad Yani Pangkalpinang, customers can order our food on Gojek and Grab Food," She said. (**)
