Jakarta –
The Indonesian coffee market in the Netherlands is still wide open. The potential is quite large, considering that Windmill citizens quite like drinking coffee.
Rinaldi Nurpratama, a coffee entrepreneur from Indonesia will open the first Indonesian coffee shop in the Netherlands under the brand name Hejo.
The sister of singer Raisa believes that the Dutch market is still very wide open for Indonesian coffee to enter there.
“If you ask how the market is, the market is still very big because Dutch people drink coffee until late at night, more or less the same as us. Why am I brave? In my opinion, who has been going back and forth over the past year with market research, it is very do-able to do it there ,” said Rinaldi at Aruma Resto, Jalan Ampera Raya Jakarta, Wednesday (20/3/2024).
Rinaldi believes that the Netherlands is the right entry point for Indonesian coffee to enter the European market. Moreover, its position is in the middle, so it is quite strategic.
“The Netherlands is central in Europe. So if we have entered the Netherlands, it’s only 2 hours to Belgium, only 4 hours to France. So the coverage is wider. The starting point is from there.
The excellent diplomatic and trade relations between the Netherlands and Indonesia also help support the entry of Indonesian products into the country, especially coffee.
Another supporting factor is the trend of young people in the Netherlands who are currently starting to look for and explore their Indonesian ‘roots’ again.
It all started when the King of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, apologized to the Indonesian people for slavery during colonial rule.
“Secondly, since the King of the Netherlands apologized to Indonesia, it turns out that the younger generation of Dutch children are starting to look for his roots, are there any from Indonesia? They feel proud of their Indonesian blood. So they are starting to look for what is cool about Indonesia. “said Rinaldi.
This also had an impact on the behavior of Indonesian products in the eyes of young Dutch people.
“So, Indonesia, especially in Amsterdam, is really on the rise. Basically, if they have Indonesian roots, they will definitely buy whatever it is. That’s really popular now,” he explained.
Regarding coffee, the coffee drinking habits of Dutch people no longer need to be questioned. They can drink 4-5 glasses of coffee per day. It also supports Rinaldi’s belief in opening an Indonesian coffee shop in the Netherlands.
“Regarding the issue of coffee, I was honestly a bit surprised by the Dutch, it turned out to be really strong. He can drink 4-5 glasses per day. We were also told by the Indonesian Embassy that there are approximately 1,400 Indonesian restaurants in the Netherlands, but there is not a single Indonesian coffee shop in the Netherlands “We hope that we might be one of the first there, so that we can also stimulate other young people, ‘Come on, let’s try introducing Indonesian coffee to the Netherlands,” he concluded.
(wsw/wsw)