THE REASON INDONESIAN CULINARY CAN'T SURVIVE LONGER IN THE AUSTRALIAN MARKET

One main reason why Indonesian cuisine is not so popular in Australia is because of the operation cost to open the restaurant in Australia and it makes only few of them can survive and stay in the business. The second reason is Indonesian restaurants are only filled with college students and Indonesian people only. The local Australian people are seldom to be seen. However, in January 23rd, Indonesian Culinary Association in Victoria is established with one purpose to develop Indonesian cuisine business together.

This association is known as well as ICAV and the leader is Abdul Razak Baswedan who is the Indonesian resident who has been involved in food business in Melbourne for 16 years and now, he has the catering service. According to him, Indonesian food is just as delicious as other kinds of food you can find in Thailand, Vietnam and China throughout Australia. Razak says that probably the main problem is they have already entered the food market first so Australian people are more familiar with other Asian food.

He adds that Indonesian food is richer in flavor compared to other culinary and it can be accepted by Australian people with little bit of twist. Though it is more delicious for Indonesian people, it might not be tasty for Australians and for example, Rujak Petis made of shrimp paste. Another statement comes from Ratna who is the Indonesian restaurant owner. She says that Indonesian food is less popular because Australian people don’t know about it and they don’t have enough knowledge about Indonesian food.

They just know several foods such as Rendang, Fried Rice or satay. That is why, many Indonesian restaurants are out of business because there are no enough innovations for this. Now, Ratna has 2 restaurants and she will open the third one with the same name in one of the busiest areas there, Flinders St. She said the location is under the hotel so the menu of the restaurant will be served for hotel and the people from another country can try.

Another problem is experienced by Dian Bahroelim. She once had the Padang restaurant in the Prahran area and now the restaurant was sold. From her personal experience, Indonesian restaurants still target the Indonesian consumers so Australian people are not so familiar with it. The challenge they want Australian people to accept Indonesian food but they tend to like fresh food instead of long-cooking food.

Beside that, the tax is so high in Australia so the restaurants owners tend to offer the high price of the food compared to the original culinary version. The cost is so high and it makes many Indonesian restaurants must be out of the business.