A jar of assorted Ina Cookies. (Courtesy of Ina Cookies)

Always coming up with something new '€“ better and sensational '€“ is an important factor to keeping ahead in the food business.

For Ina Wiyandini, owner of Bandung-based Ina Cookies, food business is a market that never ceases to make demand if it is aroused by innovation.

'€œEven in the cookie business, there'€™s seemingly no boundary [on creativity]. There will always be ingredients, tastes or shapes to explore,'€ Ina said.

The 50-year-old entrepreneur started her business in 1992 after failed attempts in the ginger trade, vanilla plantation and property.

Ina started her business at home, borrowing ingredients and recipes from her sister, cooking the cookies herself and offering them to her neighbors and relatives.

'€œWord spread and I started to get more and more orders. The business continues to grow until today,'€ she said.

She started with common cookie recipes, including nastar (pineapple filled cookie), kaastengels (cheese shortbread), lidah kucing (cat'€™s tongues) and putri salju (sugar-dusted biscuit).

'€œI started with five recipes. Now I have a total of 135 in my catalog,'€ Ina said.

Many of the cookies are variants of basic recipes, like cheese-drizzled nastar or chocolate-dipped putri salju. Ina explores and experiments with all ingredients she can lay her hands on.

Ina incorporated numerous ingredients to create new cookies, including blueberry, cherry, lemon jam, Rice Krispies, Cornflakes and raisins.

'€œIndonesia is rich in produce. I have even put jengkol inside cookies, and to my surprise, people love them,'€ she said,
referring to the popular strong smelling bean with strong aftertaste, which Indonesians either love or hate.

Other unusual cookie ingredients she has used includes tofu, tempe, oncom (fermented soybean) and peuyeum (fermented cassava).

Ina said that the sensational created curiosity from the public, which later translated to increased sales. '€œI'€™m not keeping my recipes a secret; my employees know them all; but I keep an edge by always making something new,'€ she said.

Ina Cookies now employs a total of 1,000 workers, enabling the company  to churn out a total of 10,000 jars of cookies, which tip the scales at 5 tons, each day. Each of the jars are sold at between Rp 65,000 and Rp 80,000 (US$8).

The pastry and bakery industry has been rapidly growing in Asia, including in Indonesia.

'€œThis happens thanks to increasing choices of ingredients and more access to information on recipes, allowing businesspeople to create and develop extensively,'€ said Denny Herdian Ardiwinata, trade marketing manager at Fonterra Foodservices.

He said the current and future pastry and bakery trend in Asia would focus on traditional pastry, especially classic French pastry created by artisans, as a main reference.

'€œSuccessful cake creation will involve infusion of sensations, be it the aroma and flavor, the texture or the esthetic presentation,'€ Denny said.

Design-wise, he added, pastry makers would simplify food decoration, utilizing more color coordination and even expertise of designers and colorists.

'€œPastry will also be produced in small or personal portions to cater to individuality and mobility,'€ he said.

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