Indonesian-style coffee shop warkop opens in New York City, serving Indonesian comfort food and drinks

An Indonesian-style coffee shop or warkop was opened in New York City under the name Warkop NYC. It is owned by Omar Karim Prawiranegara and his business partners Teguh Chandra, Cut Lakeisha and Ditto Percussion. It serves a variety of Indonesian comfort food, snacks and drinks, including instant noodles Indomie, bubur kacang hijau (mung bean porridge), gorengan (fried snacks) as well as Milo, Nutrisari and kopi susu aren (milk coffee with palm sugar).  

Omar mentioned how Indomie had just recently been recognised as the best instant noodle by NY Magz. This could be considered a momentum so New Yorkers could directly feel the authentic experience of eating Indomie. 

The planning process of the business started back in August 2021, and the shop started to open its door to the public last week on 3 March. 

Omar sees warkop as an “everyday place for everyone” in Indonesia which is suitable with the fast pace characteristic of New York City. He hopes that the warkop will help promote Indonesian culinary and pop culture, giving them more exposure. 

“We want Indonesia to not only be known through batik and wayang, as Indonesia’s younger generation has a lot of creative potential that could be fostered. Thus, we hope that Warkop can become a cult hub, where people could hang out together while enjoying instant noodles while discussing Indonesian artworks that are being displayed here,” Omar told Detik. 

He also mentioned his plans to expand the business by opening more branches in other states. 

“We have a target that if we manage to educate the local market to the point where 60% of our customers are locals, not Indonesians, we will open other branches in different states. We want to make warkop a franchise business,” Omar concluded.