Gojek and Digitaraya Will Train Culinary Startups about Business Strategy

Culinary startup accelerator company, Digitarasa is back to hold a second stage training program. This accelerator from Gojek and Digitaraya will select 15 startups in the food and beverage sector.

In line with the current pandemic conditions, the theme adopted by Digitarasa Batch 2 is ‘Improving the F&B Business through Promotion in the Middle of the Pandemic’.

The training will focus on business tactics in welcoming the era of the new or normal order. “This is the main theme,” Digitarasa CEO Arnold Poernomo said at a virtual press conference on Tuesday (7/28).

The flavor will focus on encouraging startups that are trained to expand business amid the corona pandemic. The hope is they can survive and even improve their business, especially in this difficult situation.

The material will be given such as culinary business management capabilities from experts such as Coffee CEO Memories Edward Tirtanata and CEO Mangkok Ku Randy Julius Kartadinata. Arnold will also provide training.

Startups that Join the Program will Get Many Benefits

Selected culinary startups will also get industry-related insights from Digitaraya, Google, McKinsey, and other global companies. They will also gain access to capital. The amount of funds they will receive is adjusted to the needs of the selected startup.

“Every startup will have a different value (funding),” Arnold said. In the first batch, Digitarasa managed 14 culinary startups from a total of 2,115 registrants. Now, Digitarasa opens registration for the second phase from July 20 to August 7.

The culinary startup category to be chosen is still similar to the first generation. VP of GoFood Strategy for New Revenue Gojek Brata Santoso added the acceptance rate of startups who registered in the first batch was around 0.7%.

“We believe that the culinary industry sector that is responsive to the situation, and has the right innovation and technology has the potential to survive and continue to grow in all situations,” Brata said.

VP of Adtech and PromoTech Business Gojek Bella Chyntiara said culinary startups could carry out several promotional strategies to attract consumers during the Covid-19 pandemic. You do this by giving a discount on the menu, a minimum purchase amount to a discount on shipping costs.

“Various types of promotions are beneficial to increase exposure to restaurants and culinary products,” Bella said. He gave an example, GoFood merchants who use promotional discounts can increase transactions fourfold.

The Digitarasa Program Mentioned the Terms and Conditions for Startups to be able to Join

The requirement for F&B MSMEs who wish to participate in the Digitarasa Batch 2 program is those culinary business persons with ready-to-sell products to be marketed to the public, with businesses that are built and owned by alias not franchise.

Arnold added that the targeted F&B business people category was the healthy food category, main food, desserts, snacks and cooked foods, non-coffee, and also non-alcoholic.

“We will provide solutions to the problems felt by businesses in food and beverage, in fact, we can exchange ideas with business people, find the best solution of what they feel. We will open a new distribution channel for F&B how we “competing with products in the digital age with food photography, then how to promote the menu and also design the appearance,” explained Arnold.

VP of GoTech and PromoTech Business Gojek, Bella, stressed that culinary business partners at GoFood, in addition to innovation, also urged to prioritize hygiene and health protocols to maintain consumer confidence during the pandemic.

Then GoFood himself said that he remained consistent in providing solutions both from technology development and mentoring assistance to help startups and MSMEs rise, adapt, and grow in line with changes in consumer behavior in the new life order.