Women of Airmart: Christna Lim brings Indonesian Street Food to the Bay
For many of us, food is a symbol of home. Whether you move out of your parents’ house for the first time or leave your home country, nothing helps with homesickness like a comforting meal of your childhood favorites.
Indonesian-born hospitality professional Christna Lim’s comfort dish is the popular Indonesian street food bakso, a beef ball noodle soup.
From the Streets of Indonesia to Bay Area Doorsteps
Bakso is the signature menu item at D’grobak, her and co-owner Yohanes’ pickup and delivery-only restaurant in Richmond. The business is named for “grobak,” the pushcarts off of which street food is sold in Indonesia. The two were inspired by Yohanes’ father, who sold food off a grobak as a child in Pontianak City.
When Christna and Yohanes moved to the Bay Area, they noticed Indonesian restaurants were far and few in between and bakso was hard to find on the menu.
Yohanes spent over a year perfecting his bakso recipe for their circle of friends, who started asking if they could pre-order the soup that reminded them so much of home.
No Restaurant, No Problem
The pair started filling orders of the Indonesian favorite in their home kitchen as a side hustle and sold out frequently. Now, they work in a commercial kitchen that allows them to meet the demand. By accepting pre-orders, they can easily manage inventory and stick to one pickup/delivery day per week. About 80% of their weekly online orders come from regular customers.
Occasionally, they host pop-ups in San Francisco’s Lilikoi Boba shop to get more exposure for their business. The pop-ups help introduce bakso to people who are trying Indonesian food for the very first time.
Bringing Indonesian Food to Their Neighbors
It’s these newcomers Christna and Yohanes are most excited to reach. They know that many people in the Bay Area, if asked to name Indonesian food, would have a hard time coming up with an answer. “It’s not as prominent as other Asian cuisines here like Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or Vietnamese,” Christna said.
By selling bakso directly to local customers via pickup and delivery services, the two can keep growing the personal relationships that helped their homemade food business take off in the first place.
Press coverage from San Francisco Chronicle, KQED and other Bay Area food blogs and Christna’s social media marketing expertise has helped more people discover the soup, as well as the other Indonesian dishes on D’grobak’s rotating menu.
When people think of Indonesian food, Christna and Yohanes want them to think bakso. “It’s the ramen of Indonesian food,” Yohanes said.
You can place your bakso order in the Discover Bay Area Airmart store here.
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