Question: How did you come up with Teguk?

Answer: I have a background in marketing and supply chain management. I was a professional in both fields, but I also considered establishing my own food and beverage business. Then in 2018, my brother Najib Wahab and I noticed that beverages sold in takeaway packaged cups were very popular among Indonesian consumers, especially those in the age group of 18 to 25 years.

People who go to shopping malls were often willing to spend Rp 40,000 [US$2.62] to Rp 50,000 on a cup of coffee, tea or other types of drinks, such as bubble tea. But we realized that beverages with such high prices did not appeal to the lower-middle-income group, which in our perspective offers huge market potential. So we have the vision to provide premium beverages with high-quality ingredients at affordable prices.

What does opening a chain abroad mean to you? Why expand to New York?

We have a vision for local Indonesian brands to penetrate the global market. Our brand managing to take a step in that direction is an important achievement.

We intentionally opened our first outlet in the US, because the country has a sizeable population. Moreover, we sell coffee, tea, bubble tea and other popular drinks that depend on both our creativity and innovation as well as consumer demand.

Consuming these types of beverages is a part of US culture, so it’s not a trend anymore. In Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries, such as Malaysia and the Philippines, merchants still depend on soft-selling, trying to get people to buy our products depending on what’s trending. In the US, based on our internal observations, it’s more promising and easier to predict, because people just look for such beverages all the time.

How do you plan to compete with global beverage chain brands?

Our business model is different. We sell beverages based on our philosophy in our local chains as well, consumer-centric, which aims to provide premium beverages with high-quality ingredients at an affordable price.

Moreover, we have seen our business grow significantly since 2019, when we started to use the GoFood online delivery service. We gained insight into consumer behavior patterns from the application and were able to scale up our business. But Teguk didn’t do that in the first year of operations. We wanted to see if we could appeal to consumers using the traditional way first.

That is what we’re doing in our operations in New York right now. It’s still in the early stages, and we have yet to use online platforms or delivery services, [as we wish to first] observe the consumers there in a more traditional way.

How have the current supply chain disruptions affected your business?

We tried to be as self-sufficient as possible since our early operations, for example, by establishing a centralized kitchen in 2014, which is now located in Banten. That’s where all our food products, such as croffle [croissant waffle], cuanki [meatball soup served with noodles, fried tofu and fried dumpling] and odading [fried dough] come from, as well as a few ingredients for our beverage products.

If we want to develop our business, we need to secure the supply chain – either by establishing strategic partnerships with other brands or developing our own supply ecosystem, or a combination of both – to allow flexibility. Does the current global crisis affect our operations? Yes, but not significantly.

What is your business plan for this year?

We will focus on expanding our local chain, considering that existing stores are concentrated in West Java. We seek to open new stores in East Java and Central Java.

Could you share some details of your national and international expansion plans?

Essentially, we’re aiming to reach Rp 1 trillion in annual revenue [within five years]. In line with this, we’re looking to expand more aggressively, including by testing the possibility of opening another branch abroad, still in the US.

In Indonesia, we’re considering expanding to Sumatra in 2024. To date, we are operating with zero investors and zero franchises, with our own capital. Teguk’s current business valuation is approximately between Rp 250 billion to Rp 300 billion.