Kopi Kenangan wants to walk in Luckin’s path, not in its shoes

The Indonesian grab-and-go chain managed close to three million orders per month before Covid-19. But over its US$500 million valuation and IPO dreams loom the missteps of rival Luckin Coffee

Kopi Kenangan’s rapid scale-up is inviting comparisons to China’s scandal-hit Luckin Coffee

Kopi Kenangan’s latest raise netted US$109 million; its valuation is now more than Starbucks Indonesia’s market cap

Crucially, the company’s fundamentals look more promising than Luckin’s; it’s managed to operate stores that are EBITDA-positive

But an IPO for a venture-funded F&B company is rare, and now there’s the added pressure of Covid-19

An Indonesian kopi susu, or milk coffee, consists of just three basic components: freshly brewed coffee, palm sugar, and cold milk. Ice cubes on request. That’s the mixture coffee chain Kopi Kenangan plans to build a fortune on.

The company is valued at a massive US$500 million, according to VentureCap Insights, a VC database that draws its data from Singapore’s business registry Acra.

At just IDR 18,000 (US$1.2) a cup, milk coffee is the three-year-old startup’s best-selling item. The coffee chain got here by targeting the mass buyer who may think twice about spending money at an upscale chain, like, say a Starbucks where a cup would cost more than double, says Edward Tirtanata, co-founder and chief executive officer of the company.

AUTHOR

Nadine Freischlad

Nadine is based in Indonesia. She covers Southeast Asia's super apps, the changing nature of work and employment, and other structural shifts happening as a result of digital disruption.

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