Kikkoman's Long Journey Starting from 'Zero' for Halal Label in Indonesia

JAKARTA — Changing the kitchen contents of a 400-year-old corporation for a single domestic market is no trivial matter. For Kikkoman, the Japanese flavouring giant, their global formula had been proven to captivate taste buds worldwide, especially in non-halal markets like the United States. However, upon setting foot in Indonesia, the blueprint for international success faced a major challenge: the absolute sensitivity of halal compliance. In Indonesia, halal is not merely a stamp of regulatory fulfilment on paper, but a bond of trust that determines the life or death of a brand. This landscape was confronted directly when the joint venture process between PT Kikkoman Akufood Indonesia and Kikkoman global began in 2016. At that time, none of Kikkoman’s global products had halal certification. This condition became a major challenge for Founder and CEO of PT Kikkoman Akufood Indonesia, Jureke. Rather than taking a shortcut by continuing to import old products to secure cash flow, management took the step of completely halting all sales of non-halal products in Indonesian retail and starting from zero. “When deciding to pursue halal certification, the key for us was trust. In making decisions, we cannot merely look at profit and loss. We believed that if we were serious about entering the Indonesian market, we had to prove it and start everything from scratch. We continue to strive to build the trust of Indonesian consumers to choose Kikkoman,” Jureke said in a written statement received by Republika on Wednesday (10/6/2026). This transition hit the lifeblood of their business. The decision to empty supermarket shelves of old products saw the sales graph plummet to a point of zero sales. This market sterilisation was carried out without compromise to leave no grey area for local consumers. “I wrote letters to all supermarkets, giving them a deadline to take out non-halal products and not to put any more non-halal products into the supermarket,” Jureke said. The next test shifted to professional kitchens in the Greater Jakarta area. The culinary community was initially sceptical and considered the non-halal imported products far superior in taste compared to the locally produced, halal-certified versions.