Achieving Success with ‘Empal Gentong’

Machfud Abbas has traveled a bumpy road as an entrepreneur, including filing for bankruptcy several times. He has finally achieved success after he founded a uniquely Cirebon eatery: Empal Gentong H. Apud. Today, he employs hundreds of people in promoting local specialties.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

Machfud Abbas

Machfud Abbas, 63, has traveled a bumpy road as an entrepreneur, including filing for bankruptcy several times. He has finally achieved success after he founded a uniquely Cirebon eatery: Empal Gentong H. Apud. Today, he employs hundreds of people in promoting local specialties.

Almost every year during Idul Fitri, Machfud\'s Empal Gentong H. Apud restaurant in Battembat village of Tengah Tani district, Cirebon regency, West Java, sees a deployment of policemen. On Sunday, 19 May, for example, a line of policemen stood along the road in front of the restaurant.