“ The tax amnesty programme has helped the country particularly because of its importance to the state budget as well as for transparency reasons. ”
We started as a home industry and as Indonesian consumers’ lifestyle developed, Swanish Boga Industria in turn felt the benefits of this change. We were able to benefit from the growing consumer demand for bread across Indonesia and as such, we decided to establish our own bread factory. Currently, the Swanish brand is catered to middle-upper market segment whereas our other brand, Raja, caters to the middle-lower market segment. Prior to operating our own factory, we analysed our industry competitors as well as observed a range of design-related aspects in order to create a packaging design that is attractive. Moreover, we learned proper techniques on bread manufacturing from the company Sara Lee during a previous cooperation. Accumulating years of experience has enabled our company to boast a distinguished production technique where we adopt the European approach to bread-making which is a different method than our competitors.
Over the years, we have thus been able to widen our market reach throughout the country while also being publicly known as a bread company offering incomparable bread products. Our product portfolio also encompasses cookies, traditional Indonesian crackers, and puff pastries and our products can be found in modern retail stores in the Jabotabek area; Swanish’s cookies and puff pastry goods have additionally reached the Hong Kong, US, and Canada markets.
Swanish Boga Industria is proud of being a company that is abiding by standards related to consumer safety and customer satisfaction. As a company, we work towards following various state laws and international regulations which are evident from our distribution license, BPOM, and Halal certifications in addition to an upcoming ISO certification. Moreover, Swanish works towards establishing a company that is able to support the concept of a sharing economy as a means to achieve equal economic opportunities in Indonesia.
Going forward, we will maintain to uphold stringent quality standards in addition to valuing our principles for product innovation, creativity, and expanding our retail market at modern retail stores as well as agents.
Taking into consideration the ongoing popularity of bread as a convenient food product in Indonesian households today, we are very optimistic for our company’s future growth. This increasing preference for practicality and convenience will also continue to drive the growth of our industry while also encouraging F&B industry leaders to strive for new innovation and development. In addition, Indonesia’s large population will continue to serve as an important pillar in driving our industry forward. I am confident that domestic consumers will also aid in Swanish’s growth trajectory.
The tax amnesty programme has helped the country particularly because of its importance to the state budget as well as for transparency reasons. Challenges under the current administration is mostly on the foreign exchange rate given that our business operations depend heavily on the USD. Although we are able to cope with the fluctuations, we also hope that President Joko Widodo’s government is able to move ahead in promoting transparency at all levels.
Furthermore, Swanish had previously been approached by overseas companies, however, we were unsuccessful in securing the deal due to our operating costs that are less competitive than those of another Chinese company that they were considering. Based on this experience, I hope that the current government is able to increase Indonesia’s competitiveness level. Moving forward, an aspect that should be better prioritised on by the government is the need to set up cooperatives and promote partnerships because it can assist the working class.
Through the AEC, we have gained the advantage of distributing our products to the Southeast region with almost no obstacles. The AEC also has also enabled us to deliver our cookies and puff pastries to designated distributors in the Southeast Asian regions with ease.
We are open to cooperating with foreign investors for any opportunities with special emphasis for exports. We would like to also forge ties with farmers in Australia, the US, and Canada because these are countries that have a high production level for wheat thus this measure would enable to reduce our company’s production cost. However, Swanish Boga Industria would like to maintain its active involvement in the production process for quality standard purposes upon initiating ties with prospective partners.
Swanish is a company whose development thus far has been largely driven by Indonesian consumers. We also hope that there will be better knowledge regarding Indonesian companies on the international stage in the coming years.