"Manganese" Service Connects Restaurants with Corporations

It seems that countless startups have tried their luck by touching the culinary world. Various startups with diverse approaches and business models have sprung up in Indonesia. The newest one is Manga who wants to taste the delicious food from the culinary world.

PT Teknologi Makan Anywhere or Manganese was founded by Hardi Halim and Hutomo Halim since early 2019. Hardi, who occupies the role of CEO at the company, explained that the Manganese business idea first appeared to overcome the boredom of employees in a company who were bored with the same food menu. .

Hardi got the 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 presented in the vending machine (vending machines). Hardi also knows that there are a number of obstacles when companies want to use catering services from restaurants, especially in terms of payment. That experience prompted Hardi and Hutomo to create a platform that can help companies provide good food choices for their workers.

"That's why we combined the problems in the office, community, and F&B. So Manganese was formed which connects restaurants and corporations," said Hardi.

As a SaaS platform

Simply put, Manganese is software as a service (SaaS) which serves customers on a B2B basis with a focus on the culinary field. Hardi likens the Manganese platform to not much different from AirBnB for the culinary world. Hardi emphasized that Manganese did not cook or deliver the food himself.

Based on the data they have collected, Mangan estimates that the business potential of this culinary service is very large. Last year alone, the value was estimated at US$160 billion (around Rp2.356 trillion at the current exchange rate) for the whole of Southeast Asia. That figure is predicted to rise to US$200 billion or nearly Rp3.000 trillion in 2025.

Through this platform, people can find a variety of catering services and services pop up restaurant start from home-based ones to reputable restaurants. The factors of service quality and cleanliness are Manganese's main requirements to attract partners. So if at any time there is a company or community that wants to use the services of a catering provider and pop-up restaurant just look it up on their website.

Because it only serves B2B customers, according to Hardi, Manganese is different and has no direct competitors in the country. "We are entering B2B SaaS. We provide a platform that makes business processes easier between institutions and restaurants. Most of the other applications are B2C, if we go to the company," added Hardi.

However, recently Manganese has also started to explore B2C. Hardi revealed that his party recently launched B2C marketplace. However, Hardi emphasized that B2B is still Manganese's main focus.

Funding and targets

Financially, Hardi admits that Manganese is currently raising an initial funding round. One of the investors who have joined is angel investors from one of the top brass 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, Mangan plans to expand and enlarge their services. One of them is by expanding to more areas on the island of Java. So far, Manganese already has 80 service locations. They also target that it can 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 be able to accept large orders from institutions without following complex business processes," concluded Hardi.

As of today, all Manganese services can only be accessed through their web portal. However Manganese plans to launch the app mobile devices for their B2C customers early next year.