By Steffi Wu
Feldo Nartapura, founder of Sataysfied, knows how to hustle. While I mean this in the sense that he works swiftly and with great energy, apparently the slang meaning of “hustle” -- earning one’s living by illicit means -- also used to apply. When I met with Feldo a few weeks ago he told me the story of starting Sataysfied, remarking with a mischievous grin:
“Back in the day when I was selling satays in the street I had to duck from the cops!”
True story.Feldo considers Sataysfied a startup, not unlike the startups he feeds on a regular basis.
“Just because my product is not software, an iPhone app or a social game doesn’t mean Sataysfied is not a startup,” he said. “Currently my company is self-funded but we're open to VC funding. We have a lean team that's picking up traction with a variety of 'users' (eaters) and we have plans to scale things up!"
The following Q&A is part one of a series of blog posts we’ll be doing with Feldo. Read on to learn about Feldo’s startup journey thus far: from getting laid off to selling satays in the dark with the help of his trusty headlamp, from serving at Outside Lands to sataysfying (sorry, we had to) ZeroCater customers!SW: Start at the beginning. You used to work at a startup?
FN: Originally from Los Angeles, I moved to San Francisco to work for an affiliate marketing startup. Working in a startup environment was fun but required a lot of long hours. Eventually, our company grew so much that we got acquired by a bigger company and I was forced to move back to LA. The new company was going in a complete different direction that I didn't believe in and many of my colleagues quit, so what used to be a fun startup job became a dull corporate one. The affiliate industry was booming (some people were making 5 figures a day at one point) but at the end of the day I wasn't happy. Eventually my lack of enthusiasm showed and I got fired.
SW: So you were jobless. What happened next?FN: My parents have been running their own catering business in LA for years using this really amazing satay marinade recipe that my grandmother passed to my father. He started serving to friends, which eventually led to catering gigs, and that's how the satay family business started.
“Satays are our bread and butter, and my parents focused on the authentic Indonesian cuisine that they grew up eating.”
Being jobless and collecting unemployment, I would help my parents sell satays and work the festival route in LA. As you can imagine, working with one’s parents in general can be very difficult. My mom and dad weren’t very organized, lacked marketing skills and didn’t speak great English. Although they were selling a delicious product, they were only selling mainly to the Indonesian community and not to many Americans. Everybody that got to taste our satays and Indonesian cuisine absolutely loved it so I felt there was a huge opportunity out there to share this type of food with the world. This was also the time when the food truck and street food scene started picking up. So on a whim, I decided to move back to SF to start my little food startup and hawk satays on the streets.
SW: How did you come up with a clever name for your business?
FN: I originally came up with terrible names like “Satay Baby,” “Satay by the Bay,” or even “LA Satay.” After polling my friends via Facebook I got a text from one friend who said how about "Sataysfied?" I immediately fell in love with it.
SW: What was it like the first time you sold satays?FN: Since I was without a kitchen license, seller’s permit, and insurance, The Pizza Hacker advised me to check out Precita Park down in the Mission. So I brought my little BBQ grill and satays, tweeted to my 40 followers and hoped for the best.
“There were cops patrolling the area so I ducked and covered constantly, leaving all my BBQ stuff to walk around the park! That day I made four dollars because no one bought anything. I had to pass satays out for free and some guy out of pity gave me a $4 tip. Ouch.”
SW: After such a terrible first outing, what did you do next?FN: I did more homework. I researched street food vendors on Twitter, saw which venues they’d worked, and started pitching. My first official gig at an art gallery called Fabric8, which happened to be the same day a SF Weekly journalist showed up to try my satays. That led to a SF Weekly article, which led to more work at art galleries and my street corner at 20th and Valencia.SW: Your corner?FN: Yeah, I spent many freezing cold Friday and Saturday nights from 10 pm to 3 am selling to drunkards in the Mission! I also sold satays in the Castro during Halloween, which was also a little crazy:
SW: What was "working the streets" like?FN: Working the streets was physically grueling. You could say I was a one-man food truck. I packed the equipment in my car, unpacked it and set up the table and grills. I was the cook, cashier man and salesman, working by a camping light. I barely slept because I was working so much. The money was so sporadic that I was surviving and that was it. Something had to change.
SW: What were some big milestones for you?
FN: I applied to participate in Off the Grid in March 2011 and I got accepted! That was the biggest break for Sataysfied. I started making great revenue and getting known as one of the go-to street vendors to try. Then we were invited to be at Outside Lands, which became one of the biggest highlights for us in 2011. In one weekend at Outside Lands I made more money than I did in one year working in a previous job in LA.
SW: How did you transition from festival-type work to catering?
FN: It took me a while to grasp the concept of catering but it turned out to be simple! I just cooked my satays, wrapped them up and delivered them. No packing and unpacking equipment, setting up tents, or making signs. Plus there’s always a set amount of food to make.Today I mainly do catering and it’s been a lot of fun. My favorite part is being able to go back to my roots in the startup community. It’s exciting to be able to serve the startup community and talk to everyone from engineers to office managers to CEOs. Every time I drop off food, I ask what kind of startup they are, what market they’re hitting up, and what they are doing to change the world. It's especially fun when I cater to startups whose services I actually use, like WePay, Hipmunk, Outright.com, Milo and others.
“The people at the startups that I feed are always so fascinated that this catering guy actually knows their lingo and loves to talk to them. I’m happy to be contributing to the startups in Silicon Valley in my own way -- I let them focus on working rather than being hungry. Our motto is ‘Stay Full and Keep Scaling.’”
SW: What has been your experience working with ZeroCater?FN: I’m happy not to be selling on the street any more. I no longer work until 3 am and I often make as much money on one ZeroCater order than I did in a whole night of selling, and often three times more with bigger orders. I also feel blessed to have a stable income, to be able to provide for me and my dog, Sassy.
SW: Look into the crystal ball. What’s next for Sataysfied?
FN: We want to be the go-to caterer for all startups. Crunchbase lists more than 1500 startups in the Bay Area alone and I’d love to Sataysfy all of them. It’s a lofty goal, but I think with hard work, focus and dedication we can accomplish it.
