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 Jakarta. She likes stories that capture the impact of digital transformation in Indonesia, with a special fondness for "clicks and bricks" businesses and platform economics. Previous stints with Tech In Asia, KrASIA, bylines in VICE, SCMP, CNN.

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