From a Home Kitchen During the Pandemic, Christine's Business Breaks into Modern Retail

The COVID-19 pandemic remains etched in the public’s memory. During that difficult time, people competed to stay healthy, one way being by concocting spices into healthy drinks. It was during this period that Christine K. Purnama pioneered a business combining healthy product innovation with cultural preservation.

Christine started the business under the parent company Omah Sedap Nusantara from her home kitchen in the midst of the pandemic. Her ventures include traditional beverages named D’plok, Bonwied with various shredded meat flosses, and La’Cookish, which features a traditional Betawi snack of biji ketapang with cashew and sesame.

“I started the business during COVID, beginning with D’plok first, which is bir pletok, turmeric, tamarind rice, and kencur. D’plok itself already has BPOM certification, halal certification, and intellectual property rights—it’s all complete,” Christine said when met at Fresh Market PIK, North Jakarta, on Wednesday (17/6/2026). “D’plok was born as an answer to the challenges of the pandemic era, bringing back the freshness of traditional Indonesian beverages,” she added.

Bonwie is the second product from Omah Sedap Nusantara, where Christine offers five floss variants: chicken, original beef, spicy beef, and banana blossom floss (original and sesame). Christine states that healthy food products are the right of every family. Meanwhile, La’Cookish boasts a product advantage with gluten-free ingredients (mocaf flour), which she also describes as a tangible effort to preserve a typical Jakarta snack so it remains relevant while providing an option for health-conscious consumers.

“Then, as time went on, I also remembered a memory from my boarding house days, when my parents would bring me shredded meat floss,” she said. Christine has ambitions for her products to penetrate the export market. For this reason, she created the original and sesame banana blossom floss. “I developed the sesame banana blossom floss because I really want this floss to be exportable. For export, there are restrictions on meat. So I made what is called sesame banana blossom floss,” she explained.

Pioneered on a home-scale, Christine’s business, now nearly six years old, has managed to break into the modern retail market. In fact, she says, D’plok is now trusted to supply the needs of a five-star hotel in Jakarta. She has also been busy participating in various bazaars. “For D’plok, it’s usually at bazaars and exhibitions, and recently it has entered a five-star hotel. Then for the floss, it can be found at several points, such as the Bright Store at Pertamina and the PLN head office,” Christine said.

Christine, a former professional, needed to learn a lot when entering the food and beverage business world. She admitted to experiencing confusion at the start of her venture. However, she found many answers after joining the Rumah BUMN BRI in Jakarta. Rumah BUMN BRI is a business development centre managed by BRI aimed at empowering MSMEs to grow and advance to the next level.

“I started the business, I was previously a professional worker, then retired. Then I was confused, going from working to running my own business, it was blank. And I was fortunate to join BRI,” Christine said. Rumah BUMN BRI offers various classes for MSMEs to develop themselves. She says she was guided by BRI to continuously innovate and grow. One tangible impact of joining Rumah BUMN BRI, according to Christine, was the facilitation of halal certification. “There are trainings there. So I began to understand the steps, because it’s very different from the professional world. I was previously a food safety auditor, so this was a new world,” Christine mentioned. “We were guided step by step by BRI. For example, the halal facilitation, I got that from BRI. So I was helped a lot by BRI, like with the halal certification,” she added.

Christine says she has been with Rumah BUMN BRI since 2021-2022 and remains active to this day. Jajang Rohmana, Coordinator of Rumah BUMN Jakarta, emphasised that the programme offers more than just training. Legalities are one of the things provided to its MSME members. In full, Rumah BUMN BRI provides training, mentoring, access to funding, assistance to participate in local and international bazaars, and digitalisation for MSMEs. “All aspects of entrepreneurship. From taxes to permits, to markets, we also have a programme to help penetrate export markets,” Jajang explained. The commitment of Rumah BUMN BRI is to help MSMEs become better known to the public and expand their markets through the programmes provided. “To sharpen entrepreneurial skills, provide digital mentoring, and access to capital and market networks,” Jajang said.