From Personal Experience, Casa Grata Brings Healthy Indonesian Snacks to the Global Market

A healthy lifestyle practised by Jane Tanuwijaya since childhood was the genesis of Casa Grata. Jane grew up in a family with a history of various illnesses, so her family was accustomed to consuming healthy food. Drawing from this experience, Jane and her team founded a healthy snack business in 2018 named Taste Home. A year later, the business was renamed Casa Grata. She explained that Casa Grata is a healthy snack producer with all its products being gluten-free and vegan, or plant-based. The name Casa Grata is taken from Spanish, meaning ‘grateful house’. ‘We want people to still be able to enjoy eating healthy snacks,’ Jane said at the Casa Grata production house in Jelambar, West Jakarta. Jane believes the shift towards a healthy lifestyle does not have to be drastic. According to her, small steps like starting to choose healthier snacks can be the beginning of building better living habits. Through Casa Grata, she wants to encourage people to appreciate and be grateful for life by making simple decisions that have a positive impact on health, one of which is through the food choices consumed daily. ‘Through this product, we want people to appreciate life more by choosing healthy snacks. That is our vision,’ she stressed.

The inspiration to build Casa Grata came entirely from her family’s personal life. Her mother is a cancer survivor, her father underwent a heart ring procedure, while her siblings experience lactose and gluten intolerance. ‘So, our whole family consumes healthy food daily,’ said the Co-Founder and CEO of Casa Grata. Since elementary school, Jane admitted she was already accustomed to consuming brown rice, black rice, lentils, and various healthy foods due to her family members’ health conditions. ‘Actually, this product was born from personal experience,’ Jane said. Starting from making snacks for her own consumption, Jane then shared them with close friends. Unexpectedly, the product received a positive response. ‘The response from close relatives was positive when they tried the snacks we made,’ she said. The first market they targeted was Bali. According to Jane, people in Bali, especially foreign tourists, were already more familiar with gluten-free products and healthy snacks. After receiving a good response in Bali, Casa Grata began expanding its marketing to Jakarta while continuing to educate the public about healthier snack choices. Jane explained that Casa Grata’s first product launched was crackers in three flavour variants: herbs, sesame, and sea salt. All products are made using almond and cashew nut bases. ‘So our brand definitely ensures all our products are gluten-free,’ she said. She emphasised that all products have undergone laboratory testing, are baked not fried, and do not use preservatives or artificial flavourings.

Casa Grata’s journey developed more rapidly after participating in various MSME empowerment programmes from BRI. In 2024, Casa Grata successfully entered the Top 20 of the Brilliant Young Entrepreneurs (PMB) event organised by BRI. The company also won the Best Participant award in the Growpreneur incubation programme. Additionally, Casa Grata participated in the BRI UMKM EXPO(RT) 2023 and BRI UMKM EXPO(RT) 2025. These various activities opened up promotional opportunities and expanded business networks, including the chance to participate in an exhibition in Singapore. ‘BRI’s programmes have helped Casa Grata’s business level up tremendously,’ Jane said. Before participating in various exhibitions, Casa Grata first underwent a curation and incubation process through the Growpreneur by BRI programme for about two to three months. Jane admitted she gained a lot of new knowledge from the mentors, ranging from marketing strategies to product packaging development. ‘I also gained knowledge on how to create attractive packaging,’ she said. The various exhibitions attended through BRI also opened opportunities to meet potential buyers from both domestic and international markets. ‘From these expos, our business has grown further,’ Jane said. Participation in international exhibitions facilitated by BRI became an important point for Casa Grata in entering the export market. Jane mentioned that the Food & Hotel Asia (FHA) & Beverage event in Singapore in 2025 was a momentum that brought Casa Grata together with potential buyers from various countries. Through BRI’s support in the form of training, product curation, promotion, and business mentoring, Casa Grata began expanding its international market gradually. Casa Grata’s products were first exported to Malaysia. After that, its products began entering Singapore, South Korea, Australia, and Canada on a business-to-consumer (B2C) scale. Since last year, Casa Grata has also had resellers in Malaysia and Singapore. ‘Recently, we have had resellers in Malaysia and Singapore,’ Jane said. According to her, the reseller in Singapore was obtained after meeting a buyer directly during the Food & Hospitality Asia exhibition. Besides Singapore, Casa Grata also obtained the opportunity to participate in an exhibition in Santiago, Chile, through BRI’s support. Jane assesses that the global trend of healthy lifestyles makes Casa Grata’s products more easily accepted in various countries. ‘And thankfully, our products are accepted by the market there,’ she said. As the business grows, Casa Grata continues to expand its product line. In 2021, the company added cracker variants with onion, cajun, and cinnamon flavours. These three variants were developed after a research and development (R&D) process to deliver richer tastes. Then in 2024, Casa Grata launched cookie products with four flavour variants.