Manganese Is Launched to Connect Restaurants with Corporates

It is no longer possible to count startups that tried their luck in the culinary industry. Various startups with different approaches and business models have emerged in Indonesia. Manganese is the latest one rising to taste the sweet pie of the culinary industry.

Mangan was founded by Hardi Halim and Hutomo Halim in early 2019. Hardi as the CEO explained that Mangan's business idea was first appeared to overcome employee boredom with the same food menu in a company.

Hardi grasped inspiration while working at a logistics company in the United States. Every day in the cafeteria at work, he can only eat sandwiches and coffee. It is also available on vending machines. Hardi knows that there are some obstacles when companies want to use catering services from restaurants, especially in terms of payment. That experience encouraged Hardi and Hutomo to create a platform that could help companies provide good food choices for their workers.

"Therefore, we combine the problems in offices, communities, and F&B. Manganese is formed to connect restaurants and corporations," Hardi said.

The SaaS platforms

Simply put, Manganese is a software as a service (SaaS) that serves customers on a B2B basis with a focus on the culinary field. Hardi likes the Manganese platform to Airbnb for the culinary world. Hardly emphasized that Manganese does not cook or deliver the food independently.

Based on their data, Manganese estimates that the culinary service has huge business potential. Last year, the value was estimated at US$ 160 billion (around Rp. 2,356 trillion at current exchange rates) in Southeast Asia. This number is predicted to increase to US$ 200 billion or nearly Rp 3,000 trillion by 2025.

Through this platform, people can find a variety of catering and pop-up restaurant services from home-based to top-tier restaurants. Service quality and cleanliness factors are Manganese's main requirements to attract partners. Therefore, when a company or community wants to use catering services and pop up restaurants, it's available on their website.

Hardi says what makes Manganese different and has no direct competitors in the country is because they only serve B2B customers. "We are a B2B SaaS. We provide a platform that simplifies business processes between institutions and restaurants. If we look closer, most of the other applications are B2C," added Hardi.

However, Manganese has recently started to explore B2C. Hardi said that they've recently launched a B2C marketplace. However, it is hard to emphasize that B2B is still Manga's main focus.

Funding and targets

In terms of finances, Hardi said that Manganese is currently raising a seed funding round. One of the angel investors has already joined, from the top officials of US Foods, a culinary service and distributor company from the US. Manganese will continue to hold this funding round until the end of this year or early next year.

Currently, Manganese has partnered with more than 200 restaurants. Through the funding they are currently raising, Manganese plans to expand its services. One way is to expand coverage in Java. They are currently available in 80 locations. Their target is to be used not only for offices but also for public institutions such as hospitals, schools, and others.

"Our vision is to make it easier for F&B restaurants in Indonesia to accept large orders from institutions without following complex business processes," Hardi concluded.

To date, all Manganese services are still accessible through their web portal. However, Mangan plans to launch a mobile application for its B2C customers early next year.

-Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian