Kopi Kenangan

PT Bumi Berkah Boga, operating under the brand name Kopi Kenangan, is an Indonesian coffee company and coffeehouse chain. Founded in 2017, the company is known for popularizing the business of palm sugar milk coffee in Indonesia. Kopi Kenangan is considered successful in filling the price gap between expensive coffee from international retail chains and packaged instant coffee served in traditional coffee stalls. The brand’s reputation has strengthened alongside Kopi Kenangan’s business growth, especially after receiving funding from several venture capital firms such as Sequoia India, Arrive, Serena Ventures, and Alpha JWC Ventures. Kopi Kenangan plans to expand its international market by introducing the distinctive flavors of Indonesian coffee.
As of 2024, there are more than 900 Kopi Kenangan outlets spread across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.
Edward Tirtanata, James Prananto, and Cynthia Chaerunnisa founded Kopi Kenangan in 2017. Edward said that he initially worked in the coal business with his father, but it was very challenging and unprofitable. This experience led him to switch his business industry to consumer goods. According to Edward, consumer goods businesses have the advantage of price control. Initially, he chose to enter the tea business with a brand called Lewis & Carroll, as he believed that coffee products and cafés were already abundant in Indonesia. However, Edward eventually realized that his strategy was flawed, leading him to pivot to the coffee shop.
The idea behind the creation of Kopi Kenangan stemmed from Edward’s desire to sell coffee of Starbucks quality but with at an affordable price, considering that Starbucks is seen as a luxury brand in Indonesia. The company’s signature drink, Kopi Kenangan Mantan, is a palm sugar milk coffee [id] made with fresh milk instead of condensed milk, mixed with palm sugar. Also referred to as "kopi kekinian" (trendy coffee), this type of milk coffee was first introduced by Kopi Temu in 2015, two years before Kopi Kenangan was founded. The name "Kenangan Mantan" (which translates to "Memories of an Ex") was coined by Edward to make customers remember the coffee just as they remember their past lovers. The company’s logo is said to be inspired by a bleeding heart.
On the first day of opening its first Kopi Kenangan outlet in Kuningan [id], they managed to sell only 700 cups of coffee. The initial capital for opening this first outlet was Rp150 million, a fund that Edward and his partners struggled to gather. It took six months of planning before the shop was finally launched. Two years later, Kopi Kenangan had already opened more than 230 outlets across Indonesia. By the end of 2022, the brand was opening an average of one new store per day. On 27 April 2022, Kopi Kenangan received a MURI (Indonesian World Records Museum) award in the category of Most Store Openings in One Week, after opening 26 outlets in 13 different cities between 18 and 24 April 2022.
In 2018, Kopi Kenangan secured funding of Rp121 billion from Alpha JWC. In 2019, the company received another investment of Rp288 billion, this time from the venture capital firm Sequoia India. With such substantial funding, Kopi Kenangan set a target of reaching 1,000 outlets by 2021.
Kopi Kenangan became the fastest-growing beverage retail brand in Southeast Asia. In May 2020, the company raised $109 million in Series B funding (equivalent to Rp1.63 trillion), led by Sequoia Capital. New investors in this funding round included B Capital, Horizons Ventures, Verlinvest, Kunlun, Sofina, as well as Alpha JWC, which had previously invested in Kopi Kenangan’s early funding rounds and participated again in the Series B investment.
In October 2022, Kopi Kenangan opened its first overseas branch in Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Malaysia. This was followed by its first outlet in Singapore, which was inaugurated in September 2023, and its first branch in the Philippines in October 2024, with plans to expand to India in early 2025. Outside Indonesia, Kopi Kenangan is marketed under the name Kenangan Coffee.
Kopi Kenangan primarily sells coffee, with palm sugar milk coffee as its signature product. In addition to coffee, the company also offers non-coffee beverages such as milk, tea, and fruit-based drinks, as well as snacks like cookies and bread. Kopi Kenangan has a loyalty program called Kenangan VIP, which consists of three tiers: Silver, Gold, and Black. Members of the program can enjoy various benefits depending on their tier, such as vouchers, free treats, and cashback rewards.