E: What are your responsibilities?
A: As the COO of Tasa Group, I’m responsible for the operations at our restaurants Rumu and Chanba, which means I’m handling quite a lot of work. This includes food development, marketing, purchasing, and the one that I think is most important, quality control. That last one is quite miniscule, ranging from bathroom cleanliness to making sure the food served is up to standard. Basically, I have to keep the show going smoothly.
E: What’s a typical day like in your field of work?
A: Typically, I have to have a schedule planned. Which, by the way, there are no day-off in F&B, it’s a 24-hour business. However lately, now that I have a baby girl, first thing in the morning is spending time with her. Then I go to the gym, before starting the hard work. I always begin by going through the quality control checklist of all our restaurants, ensuring that our products are the best out there. After that it’s discussing about the marketing plans and what campaigns we can do, as well as staying updated and afloat in the industry. Depending on the date, there can be a weekly or monthly meetings with my team, which mostly are to delegate my work and ideas to them.
E: Do you have a schedule every week for when to visit Rumu or Chanba?
A: There are definitely regular visits, but it’s never a fixed schedule. I prefer to come unannounced, though. That way I can spot the little details, what needs fixing or what needs to be improved. I believe that unscheduled inspections is the key in F&B. This will make my staff always be prepared, aware and give the best all the time.
E: Who has been the most influential figure in your career to date?
A: I think my parents. Both have their own long-running businesses, and they have taught a lot about creating and running a business – especially with F&B, which is something I started by myself, the first in the family to do so. My dad gave valuable advices on delegating tasks, managing the team, and the sort of stuff about operating. While my mom supported me through emotional aspects, including on how to treat everyone fair and proper, as well as how to communicate with the team.
E: Team player or team leader?
A: I feel that I can fit in both categories. I can blend in with my team as one of their own, working and executing my ideas together. Yet, when it is necessary, as the team leader I am also the one who have to make the right call and decisions. That’s why I believe that the most important thing to run this business is flexibility. I learned that everything can have a grey area – not everything is 100 percent right or wrong. In every mistake there’s a learning, in every good decision there are room for improvement. Being able to see that and finding the best steps to every problem will position me as both a team player or leader.
E: Name one really special thing about your restaurants.
A: I believe we are the first restaurants with all-private room concept in Indonesia. I’m also quite proud that said concept provides multi functions for our guests. You can use it for eating together, for meetings and gatherings, for after-office drinking or karaoke sessions. I guess I’d love to call it a one-stop entertainment space for everybody. The idea came a few years ago, when our first restaurant business were forced to limit operations and services due to the pandemic. Eventually we had to close all shops, but during that time we also noticed how diners are now more comfortable eating privately. So you can say it’s a blessing in disguise, since that became the idea for this new concept at Rumu and Chanba.
Exquisite Taste Volume 40
Rumu Private Room Grill
Jalan Adityawarman No. 71
Jakarta 12160, Indonesia
T: (+62) 82121220009
IG: @rumujkt
