Starting from a Course, These Three IPB University Students Successfully Create Tabata, a Snack Innovation from Taro
Three students from the Department of Agribusiness IPB University, batch 61, created a new culinary innovation that raises the local potential of Bogor. The product included in the Student Entrepreneurship Program (PMW) is named Tabata, combining tofu, meatballs, and taro in a snack.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tabata, Roby Syahmadi explained that the food innovation he is currently marketing is made from tofu and inside it contains a meatball dough filling made from taro as well as shredded chicken filling combined with various flavor variants, such as original and spicy.
“This taro tofu meatball not only contains protein, but also contains carbohydrates at a price that is friendly to consumers’ pockets,” said Roby.
Robi revealed that this business idea originated from an entrepreneurship course during his third semester that he took. He saw the huge potential of taro in Bogor, yet its innovation was still limited. Then, he conducted research resulting in combining taro with tofu meatballs as a new food innovation.
“We use a 442 composition, which is four parts chicken, four parts taro, and two parts flour. With this composition, we can reduce production costs while still providing a new sensation,” said Robi.
Currently, Tabata is marketed at a very affordable price, which is IDR 3.000 per piece. Although still produced on a small scale of 100 pieces per pre-order (PO) session, this product has received attention among students.
Based on the market validation conducted, consumers gave a positive response, especially to the unique texture of the meatballs. “There was a friend who asked why it could be chewy like this, even though that is our kitchen secret,” expressed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Tabata, Dini Rahma Putriani.
Even so, the Tabata team continues to perform ongoing evaluation, such as improving the crispiness level of the tofu and adjusting the spiciness level of the filling according to customer input. Marketing of its product is still focused within the IPB University campus environment, but in the future hopes to reach a broader market.
Dini conveyed that participation in the PMW program provided a major impact on the mentality and business insights of the Tabata crew. They received very valuable material related to financial management, market research, to product research and development.
“The materials were very rich and not obtained in regular classes. We learned that starting a business requires the courage to fail and to keep learning from evaluation,” concluded Dini. (MHT) (IAAS/HNF)
