Restaurant guide app OpenRice reportedly shuts down operation in Indonesia

The company is rumoured to have closed down its Jakarta office since May 2016

Restaurant guide app OpenRice is reported to have shut down its operation in Indonesia, with its regional office in Hong Kong taking over the operation in the country, according to DailySocial.

The report stated that OpenRice was rumoured to have closed down its Jakarta-based office since May 2016, though its offline foodie event OpenRice Gathering continued to be held in July. The event gave an impression that there are still several local OpenRice employees working for the company, though there is also an ongoing rumour that several employees had been laid off.

Up until today, OpenRice remains silent on the reports of the company’s situation.

Launched in 2010, it was one of the earliest restaurant review and guide site in Indonesia, which existence preceded the likes of Zomato, Qraved, Foody, and PergiKuliner.

The company launched foodie-themed photo-sharing app OpenSnap in 2014. In order to reach its target of four million downloads, the company allocated up to IDR6.5 billion (US$493,000) for promotional purposes in its eight target markets.

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Competitions in Indonesian restaurant review and listing platform scene is getting tougher with both local and international vying for the market.

Prior to OpenRice, Abraresto had shut down business in October 2015.

Contrary to what happened to OpenRice, Zomato claimed that its business had reached a break even point in six countries, including Indonesia.

Its competitor Qraved had also raised a US$8 million Series B round, also in October 2015. It claimed to have engaged more than 1.3 million monthly unique visitors and generating over six million monthly page views.

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