Popular History February 23, 1991: The First McDonald's Fast Food Restaurant Outlet Is Present In Indonesia

The first outlet for McDonald's fast food restaurants in Indonesia is at Sarinah Building, Thamrin Street, Central Jakarta. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Today 31 years ago, or February 23, 1991, to be exact, the first McDonald's outlet in Indonesia was officially opened. The fast-food restaurant outlet is located in Sarinah Building, Thamrin, Central Jakarta. The former Director of Bank Panin, Bambang N. Rachmadi, or who is familiarly called Tony is behind it. In order to get permission to set up an outlet, he got an internship in Singapore. His efforts paid off. The presence of McDonald's Sarinah was enthusiastically welcomed by Jakarta residents.

A classy position does not make Tony complacent. As the President Director of Bank Panin, he is most passionate about providing advice on financial management to his customers. Many of them were successful.

The McDonald's Thamrin fast food restaurant outlet nears closing on May 10, 2020. (Photo: Diah Ayu Wardani/VOI)

Therefore, Tony is actually interested in using his advice for personal consumption. He also tried to get out of his comfort zone by resigning from Bank Panin. Tony chose the business as his ninja way of looking for the coffers of income. He tried everything. Tony then met a world franchise business. McDonald's is the name.

Tony studied all kinds of business franchises from the United States. With courage, he tried to make an appointment with the leadership of McDonald's Singapore. Then, McDonald's Australia. Tony is not shy about expressing his interest in bringing the McDonald's franchise to Indonesia. He believes the big name of a business can be a guarantee of success. For that, he got an apprenticeship as a waiter at a McDonald's Singapore.

McDonald's Thamrin Jakarta fast food restaurant outlet when it was still in its prime. (Photo: Angga Nugraha/VOI)

In fact, Tony's long wait was answered. Tony got the license to establish the first McDonald's in Indonesia. The inauguration took place on February 23, 1991. Since then, McDonald's Sarinah has always been full of customers. McDonald's is growing rapidly. In a period of 10 years, Tony has managed to open 108 outlets.

“Once the first outlet opened in 1991 on the ground floor of the Sarinah Thamrin Building, Jakarta, as the 70th country of McDonald's around the world, his efforts were not in vain. Visitors boomed, people were amazed by the choice. 10 years later, McDonald's Indonesia already has 108 outlets with 8,000 employees. It's a really extraordinary business development,” concluded Jackie Ambadar et al in the book Membeli Dan Menjual Franchise (2006).

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