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.