Indonesians Love Eating Out

Indonesians have always had a penchant for dining out, and even the economic downturn has so far failed to make a dent in this habit, according to the results of a recent survey.

The survey by the Nielsen Company revealed last week that 55 percent of Indonesians ate outside their homes regularly, mostly in restaurants of various categories, and this had not changed by much since the economy first felt the fallout from the global economic meltdown in the last quarter of 2008.

Catherine Eddy, Nielsen executive director of consumer research, said the firm’s study, conducted in February, found 8 percent of the population spent less than they did last November, and only 8 percent of that figure spent less on eating out.

“Only a very small proportion of people surveyed said they were cutting back on spending for eating out,” she said.

“It seems that out-of-home eating has so far been fairly resilient. In overall terms, less than 3 percent of consumers told us they were spending less on eating out now than they were three months ago.”

The out-of-home eating survey was conducted both in the field (with a general population) and
over the Internet (with an online population).

The general population survey was done using a face-to-face omnibus method involving 2,033 interviews in six cities across Indonesia; while in the online population survey, Indonesians were part of 26,202 regular Internet users in 52 markets worldwide.

For Indonesian Internet users, estimated by Nielson at around 10 percent of the online population, 44 percent went out to eat between one and three times a month, while at least 5 percent ate at restaurants every day.

“I don’t think there’s much of a difference in the habit, before and after the crisis; the change in behavior is very small.”

Eddy said this was in part because of the fact that Indonesia’s economy was still faring relatively better than many others amid the global economic crisis.

“The survey gives us information on how the global financial crisis affects the habit. Europeans may start to ‘fasten their belts’ and significantly cut outside entertainment spending, while for some Asians, the impacts may have been limited,” she said.

Indonesia’s economy is expected to grow by 3 to 4 percent this year, according to the central bank. While it would be markedly lower than the 6.2 percent growth booked in 2008, the figure is still fairly respectable, with many regional peers growing even slower and some even suffering a recession.