A BOWL OF CHERISHED MEATBALL SOUP
GUNTORO, Koran Jakarta daily

“Coffee, Boss,” said Tari when entering a coffee shop at Pasar Kemiri, Depok, he frequently visits. It was early morning, around 6. The tall man usually drinks coffee before going to buy beef at a ussual stall. Then at the beef stall, what he needs to say is only, “As usuall, Boss”. The owner of a group of meatball soup vendors operating in Lenteng Agung area, South Jakarta, has been a regular customer of the beef stall so that the seller knows by heart what Tari needs.

Arriving at the group base, a number of men came out to help carry all the shopping. The noise from the kitchen was heard quite loud, indicating that Tari and his men were bussy cooking Bakso Malang which inlcude meatballs, crackers, noodles, tofu and steamed fish dumplings. When the cooking was done, the vendors arranged the dishses in the push cart. While the boss began cleaning up the floor to be used by his men for napping.

The call for Zuhur prayer was heard as they completed preparing the push carts. Using cartons as floor mats, they took a nap on top of them before starting selling the dishes. When all of his men were sleeping, Tari cooked some food for their lunch served just after they woke up from their nap.

Ring….ring…..ring…. the sound of the alarm was heard loud at 2 pm, waking up all the men. When they were done with taking a bath and luch, the boss would wait for them outside to help them pushing the carts out of the home base located at a relatively steep street. “My men believe that when I help pushing their carts then their dishes will be sold out fast”, he said, smiling.

Tari said that the quality of the dishes is key to a succesful sale. He always makes sure that the beef and condiments to make the dishes are always of the best quality. He also encourages his men to maintain a good relationship with all the customers.

When the night came, the vendors came back to the base one by one. Proceeds from the sales stored in the box of money were handed over to their boss. Tari practices an earning sharing scheme. Every vendor will receive a quarter of the proceeds from their total sales. And the rest will go to Tari, who has provided the raw materials, a place to live, utilities and daily meals. Done with the money, they then went taking their bath, eating the dinner meals cooked by the boss and relaxing.