Jakarta Opens World’s First Brick-and-Mortar Vegan Dining and Cloud Kitchen Collaborative Space

Jakarta has just welcomed a new dedicated plant-based collaborative space with vegan cloud kitchens. Opened by local startup Mad Grass, the new space in the Indonesian capital claims to be the first-of-its-kind in the world, featuring a wide range of homegrown plant-based brands and curating their offerings under one roof. 

Mad Grass, Jakarta’s first vegan online delivery kitchen that launched earlier this year in April, has now opened what it calls the “world’s first plant-based collaborative space and cloud kitchens”. Located in South Jakarta, the new space offers diners plant-based dishes from a wide variety of local brands, operating much like a food hall, while also providing takeaway and delivery orders. 

Vegan paradise: all under one roof

The goal of Mad Grass is to make plant-based eating convenient, affordable and accessible to Jakarta residents. The space will allow customers to opt for dine-in, pick-up and takeaway, or delivery—and the ability to mix-and-match dishes from the range of brands curated in the new collaborative space. 

Some of the local vegan brands that will operate cloud kitchens at Mad Grass include 100 Wraps, Baona Party, iVegan Pizza and Nutsy Bowl. Diners can essentially aggregate their orders from the different tenants inhabiting Mad Grass, and save on delivery costs if they choose to order online. 

It’s an extension of the original concept of Mad Grass at inception, when it began operating through existing online food delivery platforms like GrabFood, GoFood and TravelokaEats. Now, Mad Grass boasts its own online delivery site and for the first time, is providing a brick-and-mortar location for customers to browse in-person and dine-in at the space’s outdoor dining area. 

Plant-based food demand 

Vegan dining has been steadily growing in popularity across Indonesia and the wider Asian region, driven by greater awareness of health, sustainability and animal welfare. 

Prompted by consumer demand, chains across the country have begun expanding their menus with plant-based options, including coffee giant Starbucks. Earlier this year, Starbucks partnered with Green Rebel, a brand of plant-based meat founded by the creators behind Indonesia’s largest vegan chain Burgreens, to launch three new meat-free items across more than 50 locations in Jakarta and Bali.  

Fast food major Burger King has also hopped on board, launching the Plant-Based Whopper across outlets nationwide. It has collaborated with Unilever-subsidiary The Vegetarian Butcher to roll out the burgers. 

Sustainable plant-based hub

For Mad Grass, its new space will serve as a one-stop hub for Indonesia’s burgeoning plant-based movement with a focus on local talent, rather than international brands. It features a pop-up kitchen, where new brands, chefs and small businesses can showcase their concepts to consumers and share their cuisine for the first time. 

It has also chosen to partner with homegrown sustainable companies to promote eco-friendly living concepts, such as zero-waste shop Bulk Source, waste management startup Rekosistem and ALAS, which offers circular food packaging services. 

“Since the plant-based industry is still growing compared to the other food industries, the effort of collective brands is more important than ever to move the industry landscape significantly,” shared Mad Grass co-founder Arvin Budhi Santoso, who will lead the new collaborative space as CEO. Santoso started Mad Grass with Firmansyah Mastup and Chandra Revo, the creators behind the local vegan media platform Jakarta Vegan Guide. 

“We are creating a concept where we can mediate the effort of multiple brands to create groundbreaking initiatives that push forward the plant-based industry,” he added.

All images courtesy of Mad Grass.