Meet the man responsible for starting a frozen yogurt craze among teenagers: Donny Pramono.

Donning a suit and a tie, on Wednesday the 26-year-old walked from one table to another in a crowded outlet of La Piazza, in Kelapa Gading, during the first anniversary of Sour Sally - his frozen yogurt brand.

Congratulations are well-deserved, the brand that was established on May 15, 2008, has just opened its 10th outlet in a North Jakarta shopping mall.

Although the stores are all Jakarta-based, the company has already received franchise requests from investors in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Donny said these requests were at the preliminary stage and it was possible it could take until 2010 to start franchising the Sour Sally brand.

"We will need to work out a business model for investors, we are still working on it," he said.

In terms of domestic expansion, Donny hopes Sour Sally will next open in Tunjungan Plaza in Surabaya, East Java, in August.

When asked about his recipe for success, Donny said he believed success began with a passion.

In Donny's case, his fondness for yogurt during his university years gave him the impetus to start his own business.

"There is a booming frozen yogurt market in the US. I like frozen yogurt a lot. I used to hang out with my friends in one of the yogurt parlors, such as Pinkberry and Red Mango," Donny said.

When his mother visited him, Donny introduced her to frozen yogurt, and just like him, she was hooked. She later supported his plans to open the frozen yogurt business in Indonesia.

"In the beginning, there were many problems and many things to do. But I kept moving forward. One of the problems was that frozen yogurt was a new thing and not many people liked eating yogurt."

While it was difficult to introduce frozen yogurt to Jakartan customers, Donny realized that Jakartans loved trendy, new stuff. Therefore, he created a fun atmosphere in the store's interior to attract customers.

For the brand name, he chose "Sour Sally", because he thought it was a catchy name.

"Sour is supposed to describe the taste of the yogurt and Sally is supposed to represent a sweet and cute girl, to balance the meaning of sour. Most brand names sound very corporate, such as, Starbucks Coffee. I wanted people to perceive Sour Sally not only as a place to hang out, but more like a character, someone you could play with. And of course, the character must be cute."

He asked a special team to design the character and the store's interior. He also asked the team to use a refreshing color, and they came up with green.

Donny said he has to plans to develop the Sour Sally brand. Once it becomes well-known, he intends to develop it into various other products.

"In the future, I want Sour Sally to have derivative products, such as dolls, merchandise, clothing lines, etc. I've always wanted to have a business and create a brand that can go international."

He acknowledged that Sour Sally's main target market was young women, this he believed is because they were more receptive to new ideas. However, he added, the market was now expanding to include children and parents.

The "delicious doesn't have to be sinful" tagline has also helped attracted health conscious customers.

"The health issue helped us expand our market. People were more interested in trying Sour Sally yogurt if they knew the product was delicious and healthy. From then on, we built on that strength."

Donny said he tried to link his brand to other brand promotions. For example, Sour Sally launched Pinklicious, the strawberry flavor, alongside the opening of the Pink Panther film.

To introduce his brand to the market, he created a Facebook account. Not only does the account inform customers about upcoming events, it is also a place for customers to add their suggestions.

"We have improved our services by responding to customer suggestions," he said.

Apart from taking suggestions, the account also receives heart-warming testimonials from celebrities, including actress Alyssa Soebandono, and singer Vidi Aldiano, both declaring their love of Sour Sally yogurt.

Making good use of Internet technology, the young entrepreneur has also created an official website.

A not-so-techie solution; membership cards that offer loyal customers various promotions, also form part of his business strategy.

"I have also picked strategic locations where young people hang out. Each week I go from one mall to another to survey whether it's feasible to open a new outlet there."

Now his business is thriving, a competitor or two is inevitable. However, Donny does not feel threatened.

"I would be glad if there were more players in the frozen yogurt business. We could build the market together. I think the potential is still huge," he said.

He hoped that if business went well, he would be able to produce Sour Sally yogurt totally from Indonesian-made products. Currently, all processing occurs in Indonesia, but the equipment and ingredients are from the US.

Even though Donny has a postgraduate degree in marketing, and an undergraduate degree in accounting, he said he still consulted his parents about his business plans. He added it was his parents who first helped him with the capital needed to start Sour Sally.

Talking figures, Donny said, "I will break even in about a year. But of course, I will keep the profits rolling for new outlets and other investments," he said.

Despite having a father who is a businessman, Donny said he was not interested in taking over his father's business.

"I prefer to have my own business, especially if it's not mainstream. I want to create my own market, instead of taking over other people's market. There's a challenge to it. It's one of the reasons that I quickly finished my postgraduate degree; so that I could return to Indonesia and start a business."

While working on his business, Donny still allocates time for his hobby: soccer and futsal.

"I usually play as a striker. Perhaps playing the attack position has influenced my business style," he said, smiling.

Donny Pramono

Place and Date of Birth:

Jakarta, September 30, 1982

Parents:

Suwitno Pramono and Elien Limuwa

Brothers:

Darwis Pramono and David Pramono

Education:

Undergraduate degree from Penn State University majoring in accounting

Postgraduate degree from a university in Pomona, Los Angeles, majoring in marketing

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