O’Sheak, The Refreshing Oncom Beverage
Oncom is a typical Indonesian food that originates from the West Java Province. This food which is typically used as the basic ingredient in foods such as pepes, stir fried foods, sambal, crackers, potato fritters and other kinds of foods can actually be used as an ingredient to make a refreshing drink. Five students from Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) created an innovated drink from oncom which was collaborated with tropical fruits which made the drink act as an anti-aging drink that was refreshing.
Husnul Rais, Alfurqan Nur Aziz, Apip Nurdin, Muhammad Samsul Arifin, and Fahri Sinulingga who are all a part of The Student Creativity Program (PKM-K) successfully made O’Sheak, a beverage with oncom as the basic ingredient and tropical fruits under the supervision of Ir. Sutrisno Koswara, M.Si.
“O’Sheak is a beverage made from the extract of oncom which we have combined with a tropical fruit which is pineapple. O’sheak is a refreshing and healthy beverage, this is because it contains Bifidobacteria which is beneficial to the body, especially to the digestive system. Also the pineapple contents will increase the nutritional contents in this beverage,” explained Husnul Rais, a student of the Departement of Food Science and Technology of IPB.
Husnul Rais explained that one of the reasons they chose pineapple as a combination to the oncom extract was that the production of pineapple in Indonesia is quite high, affordable, easy to process and can be combined with the oncom.
What makes O’Sheak unique and superior above other beverages is that the basic ingredient is oncom. Oncom has healthy nutrient contents for the body and the refreshing taste of O’Sheak will make people curious.
“Here, what makes O’Sheak predominant is the benefits gained from the oncom contents which are very good for the health. We also offer uniqueness towards our consumers which is the unique taste of O’Sheak which will make anyone who lays eyes upon it curious about the taste. Not everyone enjoys the taste of oncom, therefore this will be sure to make them curious,” says Husnul Rais.
Seeing the condition that not all people enjoy the taste of oncom, the marketing strategy which these five students chose was different. “First, try the drink. Then pay afterwards,” is the strategy that they are using to face consumers who at the beginning do not enjoy the taste of oncom.
“The marketing strategy that we use is for consumers to first try the drink, then pay afterwards. We tell the consumers to drink O’Sheak beforehad, then if they decide they like the taste, they can pay for the drink. Why do we use this strategy? Because there are still people out there who do not enjoy the taste of oncom,” says Husnul Rais.
The consumers have given positive respones. Many consumers who enjoy O’Sheak can even purchase the drink multiple times in a day. After trying the taste, the consumers keep wanting more.
“From what we have marketed through social media and also direct marketing, we have gained many positive respones. Many consumers like the taste of O’Sheak, sometimes some consumers will even purchase the drink three times a day and Alhamdulillah until now we have sold 50 bottles of O’Sheak,” explains Husnul Rais.
Furthermore, Husnul Rais explained that there are a few consumers who thought that O’Sheak was a low quality product due to its sedimenting quality. Husnul then explained that the product is of high quality due to the factor that it is an organic product which sediments and does not have a long shelf life. This also goes with the production processs that they implement which is to finish all products in one production time.
Husnul Rais hopes that in the future society will be able to recognize O’Sheak and enjoy the beverage and also change their point of view towards oncom. Husnul hopes that people will see that oncom can be made into anything as long as we have creativity. Husnul Rais also hopes that the team and their creation will be able to move forwards to the National Student Scientific Week (PIMNAS) 2018. (AVR)
