Developing a culinary business? Why not?

On Monday, August 15, 2022 the English Literature Study Program held a workshop with the title 'Food business opportunities.'. The speaker of this workshop was Susana Widyastuti, Ph. D., a lecturer at UNY's English Literature Study Program and owner of several culinary businesses in the Klaten area, Central Java. This workshop was attended by lecturers and students from UNY's English Literature Study Program.

While opening the program, Dr. Ari Nurhayati, M. Hum. said that this workshop is one of the study program's efforts to make the graduates get decent jobs. Through the provision of skills that have a selling value in the working field or in the community, it is hoped that students will have no difficulty in finding a job.

Susana Widyastuti, familiarly called Susan, motivated the workshop participants by saying that Indonesia, which consists of 37 provinces and more than 17,500 islands, has more than 5200 types of Indonesian cuisine. Its culinary delights are among the most delicious in the world, three of which are rendang, nasi goreng, and satay. Therefore, we need to recognize, love, and preserve Indonesian cuisine. One of the ways is to build a culinary business.

After providing 7 culinary business recipes, namely references, identification, organization, standardization, reputation, promotion, and innovation, it was further explained that technological developments in the digital era like today really support the development of the culinary business because there are many applications that support culinary tourism. In addition, the tendency of people who like culinary tours also makes the culinary business increasingly mushrooming.

This first workshop was focused on developing crispy chicken food entrepreneurs. The crispy chicken was chosen as the topic in the first workshop because it is easy to process, can be made with various variations both in terms of toppings and taste, the cost is relatively small, and chicken is everyone's favorite food. Next, she said that the basic things that need to be known when making crispy chicken are knowing the type of flour, understanding how to choose a good chicken, understanding how to marinate chicken, how to flour, and how to fry.

Several questions the participants asked after the presentation session showed their enthusiasm. One of the participants asked about the existence of a stall that used to be selling well with the appearance of an ordinary shop. However, after the appearance was changed to be fancier and more beautiful, it didn't really sell well. The speaker explained that the phenomenon was probably caused by buyers who felt that the food sold would be expensive.

The end of the question and answer session means that the initial session of the practice of developing entrepreneurial skills organized by the study program begins. After this session, students will continue their practice guided by Susana Widyastuti, Ph. D. through google classroom and WhatsApp Group. The participants have been facilitated by the study program by providing practical materials. The three best participants will also receive prizes in the form of support funds to start a business.