Sidoarjo's Ketan Brownies: From Home Kitchen to Global Markets

The success story of the culinary SME ‘It’s Me Time’ demonstrates how a business managed seriously and supported with appropriate mentoring can grow sustainably. The venture, which produces ketan brownies with a signature Choco Chip variant in Sidoarjo, East Java, was founded by Jalian Setiarsa on 2 November 2017. Starting from a home kitchen with a production capacity of around 300 units per month, Arso, as he is known, gradually saw an opportunity to expand his business as demand increased. To support its growing operations, he became a savings customer of BRI in 2018, establishing a banking relationship that later opened access to various financial services and solutions.

Arso stated that BRI’s support was felt not only through financing but also through the direct mentoring process provided by BRI officers in the field. “I experienced how BRI officers took the time to understand our business needs, provided friendly explanations, and helped my business processes run more smoothly and according to requirements,” he said. He added that the commitment shown by BRI staff became a spark of motivation to continue growing the business, as he no longer felt alone in facing capital challenges.

After firmly establishing himself as a customer, Arso stepped further into the development ecosystem by joining as a member of BRI’s Rumah BUMN. It was here that his business transformation began to take a more directed path. Through regular mentoring, the Rumah BUMN team helped Arso improve various aspects of the business, from governance and production quality to product packaging and marketing strategy. “The Rumah BUMN officers guided It’s Me Time deeply and intensively to fix managerial aspects. There were many business training sessions that made me understand more about running a business,” he said. Mentors assisted Arso in reorganising the workspace, separating the production kitchen from his private residence, and facilitating the processing of various standard legalities.

Thanks to this continuous guidance, the food product successfully obtained various official recognitions from national to global scales, including PIRT, Halal, GMP, and SNI certificates, as well as the international food safety standard Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). These quality and standardisation measures successfully elevated them to a much higher level. By 2021, It’s Me Time’s production volume had surged sharply to between 20,000 and 25,000 units per month, with marketing reach expanding across Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan through online and offline sales channels.

At its peak, BRI actively opened access to world markets by including the business in prestigious exhibitions such as Brilianpreneur, Trade Expo Indonesia, Halal Food Turkey, and the Indonesian Exhibition Australia. This international network resulted in realised export transactions to Turkey and Hong Kong in 2021, Singapore and Australia in 2022, and Malaysia in 2023, alongside prestigious awards such as BRI’s No. 1 Best Product and a top ranking at the SNI Award. “We were greatly helped by the regular training programmes, intensive mentoring, and financing support. These facilities broadened our insight into managing the business and simultaneously paved the way for much wider product marketing,” Arso stated. Senior Executive Vice President of Ultra Micro Business at BRI, M. Candra Utama, affirmed the bank’s long-term commitment to supporting the journey of local creative industry players from the grassroots as an effort to drive the people’s economy.