Warung Tegal: Business Unit based on Etnicity

Lamtiur H. Tampubolon

Magister of Business Administration, Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya, Indonesia

Keywords: Small Business Enterprise, Inclusive Business, Ethnicity

Abstract: This paper describes the Warteg business, which is seen not only as a place to eat for city dwellers from the

bottom to the top, but also discusses the history of the warteg, the warteg business itself, labor and village-

city relations. This study uses a qualitative approach; with the method of data collection is an in-depth

interview with 6 warteg owners. The conclusion of this paper is that warteg is a network of social relations

and a strategy to adapt to the culture of the city. As a small business, the warteg business needs to get attention

from the government. The theoretical contribution of this research is to deepen the study of the low-middle

income group in an urban area who fulfill their meals from outside their house. This research also provides a

contribution to urban anthropology and sociology as well as the ethnicity relationship. The practical

contribution is to find a solution as in the one hand warteg is needed, but on the other hand warteg stands on

the illegal land. Thus, this research will provide a description of what warteg is like in urban areas and can

give a recommendation to the local government in order to make public policy for food providers.

1 INTRODUCTION

In Jakarta, who doesn't know Warung Tegal or

abbreviated as "Warteg"?

Residents of Jakarta and

surrounding areas, especially the office workers or

freelancers, are very familiar with a place to eat that

category 'murmer' (cheap and fun),

known as Warteg.

Even though the name of Warteg initially does

represent a certain region in Indonesia, but the name

has become a national icon, and even an international

one.

Warteg is an eating place that provides food and

drinks.

Its origin is from Tegal, or rather from two

villages in Tegal Regency and one village in Tegal

City, namely the villagers of Sidapurna, Sidakaton,

Dukuh Turi District, Tegal Regency and Krandon

(Zuhasmi, 2018).

The description of Warteg is closely related to the

lower middle class in urban areas.

The issue of this

group is still an inexhaustible study among

anthropologists and sociologists.

One of the urban

problems is meeting the food needs of city residents

who are no longer able to fulfill it from their homes.

Most of the fulfillment of city meals is obtained from

sources outside the home. In that context the needs of

the city residents are contributed by the warteg. How

do the warteg adapt to the rules, norms and values of

the city, for example adjusting the food to the tastes

of the city people, even the use of the name of the

warteg is trusted because the city people are

familiar

with that name.

The main concern of this research is about what

actually happened to the Warteg.

The description and

analysis of the Warteg are more on efforts to highlight

the status of the warung as a symbol of social groups

in the city.

Warteg's story as a social unit will be the

dominant concern in the description in this paper.

This paper will present the Warteg, not only as a

place for breakfast, lunch and even evenings for city

dwellers, but also

wants to illustrate how the warteg

can work, starting from its history, business, a

workforce that has

kinship relations, exchange of

information and knowledge, and city-village

relations.

The series of Warteg activities can be seen

a process of adaptation in the city.

2 RESEARCH METHOD

This research was conducted from August to mid-

December 2018, using a qualitative approach. The

data collection method was carried out both through

library research by utilizing internet facilities, online

libraries, data retrieval through Google in addition to

city governance regulations, especially those related

to food stalls.

Tampubolon, L.

Warung Tegal: Business Unit based on Etnicity.

DOI: 10.5220/0008430102630267

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Inclusive Business in the Changing World (ICIB 2019), pages 263-267

ISBN: 978-989-758-408-4

263

Primary data collection was conducted through

interviews with several

key informants (warteg’s

owners). Observation methods are carried out in the

Warteg and around it. Non-structure interviews, or

triangulation of data was conducted to the customers,

workers, and relatives related to the daily warteg

activities. The selected warteg locations were in

Jakarta and around

Cibubur. The selection of the

warteg was purposive, for example it was chosen

from the level of the incoming visitor, popularity, and

access to public transportation

(a distance from the

researcher's house). The number of warteg visited for

the purposes of this study were 6 units. Thus, there

were 6

key informants who were the subjects of this

study.

They are the owners of the warteg.

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

For office workers whom most of the time is spent

outside the home, the provision of

lunches usually

obtained from places to eat around the office, for

example from office canteen or other eating places

such as street vendors, restaurants and food

stalls/other rice stalls. One place to eat for workers is

Warteg.

3.1 History of Warteg

Warteg is estimated to appear first in the 1950-1960s.

At that time the infrastructure development in the

capital city was being intensified. This work project

was done simultaneously so it requires a lot of

workers in each project.

To make it easier for workers

at lunch breaks, the workers set up a small place

named ‘bedeng’

(temporary buildings for rest) in

locations around the project.

Therefore, it was the

beginning or the emergence of the Warteg, which

could accommodate the food and drink of the

workers.

Warteg which stands for Warung Tegal, is an

eating place that sells rice and side dishes.

Tegal is

the name of

a city in Central Java. As explained

above, the

the name of the warteg itself came from

two villages in Tegal Regency and one village in

Tegal city, namely Sidapurna village;

Sidakaton

District of Dukuh Turi, Tegal district;

and Kradon

(Zulazmi, 2018). Along with the times, the name of

Tegal is more meaningful as a place to eat consume

for the

lower middle class. This is due to the fact that

warteg has grown in big cities. But the name of the

warteg is maintained because it has been known by

many people, both nationally and internationally.

Warteg is a community livelihood option as a

strategy to adapt to the city environment.

The more

successful the warteg, the easier is the adaptability of

the warteg’s owner from the rules, norms and culture

of the city.

3.1.1 The Business of Warteg

The current owners of warteg in the capital city must

have creativity, because there are many rivals in

running the warteg business.

Competition for

creativity can no longer be avoided.

Food menus such

as in restaurants, healthy food but still delicious,

home-cooked food at low prices are one of the many

ideas that have already begun to be applied in the

warteg business.

These ideas are suitable for workers

in the city where the majority of activities are outside

the home, both

lower class and upper class workers.

According to the results of research on the dietary

needs of today's citizens, it is known that the food

needs of city residents are filled with food outside the

home.

Some of the reasons given include; no one

prepares food (24.1%); more outdoor activities

(20.6%);

and reasons for living alone (19.8%). Many

other reasons are quite varied, such as not having the

ability to cook, the taste of outside food is better, the

menu choices are more varied, the atmosphere is

supportive, and the reasons for practicality.

These

things make the owner of the warteg and other

culinary establishments continue to open a food

business.

Warteg now has many facilities to make its

customers feel comfortable eating at the warteg. Even

the warteg has promotion funds, cooperation funds

and can take part in

events held in the city. Therefore,

Warteg customers are increasingly diverse.

Warteg is

no longer only serving construction workers or lower

class people, but also for office workers and even

middle-class people.

This makes the expansion of the

warteg to other places, no longer just in the yard. This

expansion is supported by the many people who

migrate and work in Jakarta.

The more people who

migrate, the more people will need a warteg to fulfill

their food needs.

The principle of demand and supply

is the main principle in the development of warteg in

the city (Jakarta).

A restaurant that provides simple home-cooked

food is no longer the right definition for the warteg.

Warteg now has many complex menus that adjust to

the demands of the neighborhood where the warteg

stands. Owners perceived the changes that consider

warteg as a low class to become a high-class warteg,

was as a result of their hard work.

The owners of the

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warteg acknowledge that profit does not come

automatically, but through effort and hard work.

In the warteg there is no longer only a meeting

relationship between the seller and the buyer, i.e the

relationship between the owner of the warteg and the

supplier, the owner of the warteg with other owners,

the owner of the warteg with the consumer, and the

consumer with the consumer.

These meetings which

make the discussions in the warteg never stop. Some

talk about business, family, music, compliance, and

even heavy topics such as religion, shamanism, and

politics.

Today, warteg is growing rapidly in the city

environment.

This is due to the demands of the food

needs of the environment.

Residents who are

considered frequently eat at the warteg are residents

of the lower middle class in the city.

The issue of this

group still remains a study that has never been

finished discussed by anthropologists and

sociologists.

The real problem of this is that houses are no

longer able to meet the food needs of city dwellers.

Therefore, warteg is one of the solutions to meet the

food needs of city residents. As compensation, the

warteg must adjust the tastes of the customers it

serves, even the usage of the name of warteg should

be familiar to people.

The development of warteg helps the government

to meet the food needs of its population. But on the

other hand, the warteg is often considered as an

"enemy" to the city government because warteg is

considered illegal, polluting the sidewalks, and

damaging the beauty of the city.

There are also many

warteg that stand in prohibited locations.

This creates

a dilemma for the government because it does not

have the right solution for the problems of the warteg.

That is why warteg owners are often charged security

fees by those who control certain areas.

One of the

warteg owners said: "by paying for the security

money, our stalls are safe, we can sleep well".

One of the pull factors of warteg as the fulfillment

of the meal was the price is affordable to lower-

middle class.

According to the study, city people will

not frequently eat in restaurants.

The end of the

month, are days when workers run out of money.

Therefore, cheap food was subjected to city workers'

lunches at those days.

This has the consequence that

people who come and eat at the warteg are people

with middle-low economics.

Warteg turned out to be

not only a place to eat, but a status symbol for those

who came there.

Warteg now continues to grow to be more

modern.

To attract high-end consumers, some Warteg

owners began to display food menus like five-star

restaurants, but with prices that still could be reached

by the warteg’s customers.

Warteg “Kharisma

Bahari” became the pioneer of the clean warteg

concept with a digital system for marketing and

payment of food.

Therefore, there is high competition

between food stalls, the warteg will not hesitate to

issue promotional funds through cooperation with

partners.

Online media is also one of the promotional

tools that display warteg that are considered to be

favorites, and provides an opportunity for customers

to recommend which warteg they think is tasty and

popular.

With the increasingly popular and large

potential of warteg as a promising business, the

Warteg also expanded into a

franchise business.

The food menu at the Warteg varies greatly. From

the social media record, there are 279 food menus on

the warteg.

The number of food menus is caused by

different cooking methods for the same food

ingredients.

For example, balado eggs have 11

variants depending on how they are cooked.

variations and affordable prices make Warteg a

favorite place to eat for city residents, especially

workers in the days before receiving a salary.

3.1.2 Human Labor

Warteg is managed by staff related to the family.

Zaharani's writing (2013) states that all families are

involved, both directly and indirectly for the

sustainability of the warteg.

Warteg owners will

entrust their children to their parents, or sometimes

their children come to warteg if their grandparents or

grandmothers feel the need to prepare more food than

usual.

Some of these examples show a variety of city-

village relations relating to the business of the warteg.

The people in the village are a priority for labor

recruitment for this warteg business. By using a spiral

model, the workforce starts from an extended family,

then to the larger neighboring relationship, then to the

one who comes from the same village, and finally the

recruitment of workers because they

have the same

ethnic group.

The priority of this employment model is not

necessarily successful.

Some Warteg owners must

use the services of a labor agent because both blood

relatives and marriages kins are not available to

become a warteg worker.

Changes in the structure of

the village economy are also one of the factors

causing scarcity of workers for the warteg.

With the

rapid growth of the industry, the workforce needs for

the warteg are unable to compete with the industrial

workforce.

Village people feel that being a factory

worker is more free and independent than being an

employee in a family warteg.

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265

In the warteg, human labor is generally divided

into cooks and servants.

The cashier is the person

who is trusted by the owner, generally his own wife.

If the owner is the wife, then the husband will be

responsible for shopping for raw materials.

3.2 Urban-village Relations

The owners of the warteg and their workers are

people who immigrate from village to city. They

migrate to the city to "try their luck" or improve their

welfare so that when they return to their villages their

lives get better.

Trying luck by coming to the city

means that the person is looking for a place to settle,

open a business, establish relationships with

neighbors and people around his environment, learn

menus that are liked by city people, and so on.

coming to the city, the village guidelines are no

longer valid.

The tools of knowledge, norms and

values of the village cannot all be used to adapt in the

city.

The owners and employees of the warteg are

villagers who migrate to the city to survive. The

requirement for survival is the fulfillment of

biological needs, such as eating, and

social needs,

such as security, and psychological needs.

People who migrate need a process of adaptation

to their new environment. They no longer depend on

the life guidelines of the village people, and must

follow the life guidelines in their new environment.

Making warteg as a job choice is a strategy to adapt

these migrants to the culture of the city they are

coming to.

4 DISCUSSION

This writing about the warteg describes about social

relations focussed on a place to eat known as Warteg.

Social relations here are more appropriate towards

social exchange.

Mauss (1990,1922) sees the social

exchange as an interaction based on reciprocity or

mutually beneficial interactions.

This interaction falls

into the category of direct or face-to-face interaction.

In this interaction, the people involved in it are

governed by a norm/rule and the values that guide

those people acting.

There are two types of social exchanges (Blau,

1964, Homans 1958).

First, is a direct social

exchange.

In a social arena such as a warteg, direct

social exchanges are consumers of the warteg who

come to eat, then after that he pays the price of the

food with a sum of money.

Second, is an indirect

exchange.

This can happen in the area if the

consumers of the warteg after they finish eating do

not directly pay the food with a sum of money, in

other words they owed first.

The debt will be paid

when the consumer has the money to pay off his

obligations.

The point is that there is a balance

between what is given and what is gained in the

interaction.

This means, there is a continuity of

relationships that are maintained by both parties, and

both feel benefited.

Although there is a possibility

that profits will not necessarily be balanced, the social

relationship will continue to be maintained if no party

decides to leave it.

The imbalance relationship can be seen in the

social arena of the warteg when the warteg owner

gives money

to the hoodlums (‘preman’) when the

warteg location stands on illegal land, or on

prohibited road sidewalks.

Social relations here:

between the owner of the warteg and the hoodlums

look unbalanced;

here hoodlums are the party that

controls and can rule the owner of the warteg.

Thus, from this study of warteg it tells us about

the social relationship that can be seen as social

exchange. Social exchange here is based on

reciprocity or mutual interaction that benefits among

those who involved.

Although the Warteg originally came from Tegal,

not all Warteg owners came from Tegal.

The concept

of warteg is seen as a social identity. This place to eat

can be called a warteg because there is a reference to

the characteristics of the menu, interior stalls, and a

distinctive language 'ngapak'

articulated by the

owner. These characteristics are what distinguish the

warteg from other food stalls.

The warteg's social

identity is activated by the owners to create social

boundaries with their rivals, namely Padang

restaurants for example.

The owner of the warteg will

let consumers see the warteg as the warteg.

They will

not match the warteg menu with Padang restaurants.

So, the owner of the Warteg believes that the

consumers of the warteg and the consumers of

Padang restaurants are indeed different.

Some

consumers can like Padang restaurants, but there are

also those who like the warteg.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Warteg activities are basically a network of social

relations. Warteg activities are not just displaying

trading activities: the owner provides/gives products

in the form of food and receives money from the

consumers.

The more important thing from this

warteg business is establishing good relations

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266

(between owners and consumers, between owners

and hoodlums, between owners and suppliers of

necessities, between

owners of warteg and other

warteg owners), and showing identity as warteg. In

addition, the Warteg business activities show cultural

contact: interactions that occur between owners and

consumers and between consumers and consumers.

They can exchange information, knowledge, and

other issues that are being top news at the moment.

Warteg is a living livelihood option for migrant

people.

Village people who migrate to the city, need

a process of adaptation or adjustment to the new

environment.

They can no longer use the acting

guidelines from the village, but must develop a

strategy to survive in urban areas, by meeting the

biological needs of the urban population, namely

providing food.

Thus, the warteg as a job choice is a

strategy of adaptation to the culture of the city.

Warteg business is a small business that is

inclusive and based on ethnicity.

Inclusive business

is a sustainable business that benefits low-income

communities. It is a business initiative that, keeping

its for-profit nature, contributes to poverty reduction

through low income communities in its value chain.

In simple words inclusive business is all about the

poor business process as producers or consumers

(Wikepedia). In order for this small business to

continue to live, the government must protect the

owner of the warteg with policies such as the

provision of land and clear taxation.

The theoretical contribution of this research is to

deepen the study of the low-middle income group in

an urban area who fulfill their meals from outside

their house. This research also provides a contribution

to urban anthropology and sociology as well as the

ethnicity relationship. The practical contribution is to

find a solution as in the one hand warteg is needed,

but on the other hand warteg stands on the illegal

land. Thus, this research will provide a description of

what warteg is like in urban areas and can give a

recommendation to the local government in order to

make public policy for food providers.

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Blau, Peter M, 1964. Exchange and Power in Social Life.

New York: Wiley

Hart, K, 1973. Informal Income Opportunities and Urban

Employment in Ghana. Journal of Modern African

Studies 11, page 61-89

Homans, George C, 1958. Social Behavior as Exchange,

American Journal of Sociology 63:597-606

Mauss, M, 1990 (1922). The Gift: Forms and Functions of

Exchage in Archaic Societies. Londong: Routledge

Zaharani, Yuni, 2013. Pola Pengasuhan Anak Pada

Keluarga Pemilik Warteg di Kecamatan Margadana,

Kota Tegal (Skripsi). Semarang: Fakultas Ilmu Sosial

Universitas Negeri Semarang.

Zulasmi, Ardian N, 2018. Towards a Commercial Eating

Place: Case Study of warteg Warmo (Skripsi). Jakarta:

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