Sweet smell of success

Johnny Andrean branched out from hairdressing three years ago to try his hand at the boutique bread business. The stylish concept was a hit with the public, who were – surprise, surprise -- willing to stand in line for a piece of their fancifully named daily bread. And then Johnny decided it was time to make the donuts, writes Bruce Emond.

The bundle of hyphens now preceding Johnny Andrean’s name -- hairstylist-cum-bread store owner-cum-donut café-entrepreneur – proves quite a mouthful. They do not exactly roll off the tongue, and that dipping into business diversification may not engender overwhelming confidence.

Still, his is not the typical tale of an Indonesian businessman desperately grabbing for a lifeline to weather the storm of the economic crisis. Johnny has experienced his share of business misfortune, including during the anti-ethnic Chinese riots in May 1998.

But the soft-spoken father of four is clearly a singularly astute businessman, able to pick up on a trend, run with it and reap the rewards before, in a time-honored Indonesian tradition, the Johnny-come-latelies try to grab a piece of the pie. And nothing speaks louder than success.

I first met him three years ago, only three weeks after the opening of the first Bread Talk store in Mal Kelapa Gading in the upmarket North Jakarta suburb. Bread Talk, a franchise originating in Singapore, was touted as a “premier boutique bakery”, its gleaming silver racks holding breads bestowed with catchy names such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Bacon” and “Osamabal”, the latter so named in dual homage to its spicy filling and the most wanted man in America.”

He said the bread business was not such a radical departure from his usual vocation.

“When I saw this store in Singapore for the first time, I realized the concept was so different from other bakeries,” he told me back then. “It’s like fashion – they create the shape, the name, which is so unique in itself and has its own story … And I love fashion and style.”

Business was brisk then, and has remained so, with the assorted rolls and buns continuing to sell like, well, hotcakes at 29 Bread Talks in Jakarta and other major cities as of December. It’s stood the test of time and the novelty value, with Jakartans notorious for latching onto the latest food trend before discarding it for the next hot flavor of the month.

“I’m very happy, I never imagined Bread Talk would be so successful. It was crowded at the beginning, but that’s no guarantee something will last,” tall, lean Johnny, who, with his shoulder-length hair, looks younger than his 46 years, told me in early December.

“But I hold to the belief that if we do something wholeheartedly and carefully, and we are innovative, then it will continue.”

He believes that bread has “arrived” as a staple of the Indonesian diet in busy urban areas, even if many consider that it still takes a heaping bowl of rice to stifle hunger pangs. “You can buy the bread in the morning for your breakfast, or stop by in the afternoon to make sure you have something for your children to eat the next day,” he said.

Despite all the success, as a franchisee, he was limited in what he could do in expanding the business or adding to the product range. That is where his very own J. CO Coffee and Donuts came in.

It’s a polished, dare we say sugar-coated concept that owes little to the on-the-go trucker’s breakfast grabbed at a hole-in-the-wall diner. Customers sit in café-style surroundings, sipping on a latte or an espresso as they munch on one of the assortment of donuts. While they share an A/B+ customer demographic, they attract a different crowd: J.CO figures as a strategic meeting point for young professionals, Bread Talk is a stopover for moms heading home for the day.  

Johnny said J. CO came about because of his own quest to find the perfect donut-coffee combination.

“I’ve always been a fan of donuts, and a good cup of coffee, but I couldn’t find a light donut with just the right amount of sweetness, what I call a ‘premium’ donut,” he said. “I couldn’t do that at Bread Talk, because of the franchise restrictions and because it was a bakery, we don’t have beverages.”

Regardless of the merits of the donuts, it can be said that the coffee is drinkable, unlike the turgid, teeth-grinding variety at other donut shops that require heaping doses of sugar to become almost palatable.

Once again, Johnny seems to have come up with the magic formula. J. CO opened its first store at Supermall Karawaci in June 2005; as of January 2007, there were 20, in Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Surabaya, Makassar, Pekanbaru, Palembang and Batam. That translates to a new store opening rate of about one per month.

It joined longtime player Dunkin’ Donuts, which has been satisfying sweet tooths since the 1980s and has about 200 stores in the country.  In mid-2006, the U.S. chain Krispy Kreme also opened in Jakarta. At cavernous Senayan City, J.CO and Krispy Kreme are located directly opposite each other, leading one leading publication to write of a brewing “donut war” between the local company taking on the big boys of the two U.S. franchises.

Added spice came from the fact that Johnny had considered the options of a Krispy Kreme franchise. There have been whispers that he found it too pricey and decided to go it alone; he says it is not the whole story.

“I saw premium donuts had potential. I looked at Krispy Kreme overseas, and noted that it did well at the beginning, but after a year, or sometimes less than a year, it went down,” he said.

“It wasn’t what I wanted. I studied what was lacking … It wouldn’t be ethical for me to say what the deficiencies of certain brands are, but I realized you cannot be taken over by euphoria (from a promising opening) … So we decided to do it ourselves.”    

Only the finest ingredients are sourced to qualify for the premium label, he says, including the100 percent Arabica coffee, Belgian chocolate and sliced almonds. “I don’t think I would have been able to choose to do that if I was part of a franchise …”

He tries not to fan the donut war issue, arguing that the market has expanded due to J.CO’s presence and it has introduced donuts to a new class of customer who may not have tried the sweet cakes in the past.

But he also believes that his team developed the “know-how” to meet the local market needs, which may be lacking in a standardized franchise concept.

“The easiest route for people who don’t have the know-how is through a franchise. But J.CO was set up according to the tastes of Indonesians. Maybe foreign franchises are suitable for foreign tastes, but not necessarily for here.”

Indonesians, he added, like their nuts and chocolate; J.CO has complied with that demand, although the chocolate is the dark type, “so it won’t make you feel nauseous, and you can eat more than just one donut.”, and has kept down the sweetness level.  

“Being a success is not just about having a big name, but many other factors, like the product itself …,” he said.

His employees also are part of that successful recipe. “He is a listener, he wants to know what your opinion is,” said Indriana Liztya, a PR and Promotion executive for the donut chain, which employs about 1,200 workers.

Johnny emphasizes building relations among the workforce, and treating employees with respect.

“We give them a good salary, a good bonus, a commission, but people also need care, because other people can always pay them more,” he said of the approach worked out at his salons.

“We try to keep close to them, and listen to what they want, so hopefully we can keep them as long as possible."

***

Already established in the local market, the next test will be seeing if J.CO travels well, with plans to launch the premium donut concept in Malaysia and Singapore this year. If that venture does not succeed, then this confessed positive thinker will move on to a plan B that he always has at the ready.

Even if he is cooking up success with bread and donuts, he is not about to hang up his scissors at his salons and training centers, now numbering 204 across the country It’s the hairdresser in him that tries to make sure everything is fine with the customer; he interjects to ask me if I need more coffee and if I have tried J.CO’s premier line of donuts as the interview continues.

He also learned his lesson in May 1998 that hard-earned gains can be lost overnight.   

Professional and private success as one of the country’s leading hairstylists counted for nothing when 19 of his salons were picked clean by looters in the rioting preceding president Soeharto’s exit from power.

He took his wife, the bridalwear designer Tina Andrean, and children to their  second home near San Francisco. He was shaken and traumatized, always believing  that Jakarta would be protected despite friends’ warnings that unrest lay ahead. He  returned to Indonesia three months later.

“I told all my employees that, ‘we’re in this together’, and we moved the employees from the closed salons to other ones. Nobody complained even though they  were losing part of their commission, ” he told me on our first meeting.

Johnny was born one of five children of a business and a salon owner in the  bustling city of Pontianak in West Kalimantan.

“I helped my mother in her salon from when I was very young …
The salon part  is from my mother, but the business side is from my father, he was a very wise man and  both my parents supported me.”

He said he loved the freedom hairstyling gave him to help clients stand out by changing their look. He moved to Jakarta in the early 1980s, starting small with a  salon in North Jakarta and opening a second a couple of years later.

The business expanded quickly; Johnny Andrean and Rudy Hadisuwarno became the big names in chain salons across the country (Johnny’s salons carried his standard  photo, with neatly cropped hair and in a maroon jacket, scissors poised at the ready).

He already experienced business ups and down before the tragic events of 1998.

Johnny is even able to put a positive spin on that painful chapter in his life.         

“There had been things that happened to me before 1998 that had been difficult,  but you go through them and then something good comes of it. What happened in 1998 was terrible but from that I looked into new things, and today I have Bread Talk and J. CO.”

He does not want to delve into politics but of course the political climate affects him as a businessman.  He praises the democracy of today, the right to speak up without fearing the consequences.

“We need leaders who can lead, who don’t just put their own interests first, for the law to be upheld and for there to be certainty.”

Johnny grew up in a city where the ethnic Chinese make up almost a third of the population. The May riots were a shocking reminder of the tenuous position that Chinese-Indonesians continue to occupy in Indonesian society.

There have been changes since the riots; the “oriental” look, signifying Chinese features, became trendy; there are prominent public figures such as model-actor Ferry Salim and the phenomenally popular singer Agnes Monica and the Lunar New Year was added to the long list of national holidays.

But that anti-Chinese sentiment, fueled by ignorance and resentment, is still among us. On the same morning as my interview, I put in a large order to go at a South Jakarta eatery. The server, who also doubles as a sandwich maker, was clearly overwhelmed.

She told me that there should be more people working there, but, in her words, “our owner is Chinese, so he is stingy …”

“Things are better, and I think we can continue to improve, because we are still behind Singapore and Malaysia … but now we are going in the right direction, there is recognition of us, that’s for the better and will hope create a feeling of nationalism,” he said, growing a bit more impassioned from his usual calm demeanor.

“And it helps us feel that we belong. We were born in Indonesia – I didn’t choose to have white skin, slanty eyes. We’re all the same, what’s important is that we are all the same. When that feeling (of acceptance) arises, then it will be good for Indonesia.”

His two older children are in university in the U.S., but he has brought his younger ones home.  Business success is one thing, but it is children and Tina, who he credits with providing unwavering support, who really matter.

 “Family, the people you love, motivate you to be the best," he said. "Other people don't care about tomorrow, what they get today they spend, but I have my children, and I have to take care of their future. I have to keep doing the best for them."

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