The Origins of Marjan Syrup: From Failed Business to Ramadan Icon

Marjan syrup has become synonymous with Ramadan in Indonesia. The brand’s founder, Muhammad Saleh Kurnia, initially established it as part of PT Suba Indah in 1975, after a failed attempt to produce milk. Marjan’s success was partly due to Kurnia’s ownership of the Hero supermarket chain, which provided a ready-made distribution network.

Marjan’s origins can be traced back to Muhammad Saleh Kurnia, an Indonesian businessman of Chinese descent who also played a key role in establishing the first modern retail store in Indonesia, Hero. Kurnia founded Marjan through PT Suba Indah in 1975, with the factory located on the outskirts of Jakarta-Bogor. The establishment of the beverage factory was not Kurnia’s own initiative, but rather that of his partner, Phang Kang Hoat. Phang suggested that Kurnia establish a beverage factory, as Indonesians at the time were heavily reliant on imported beverages. Beverage factories were still rare in the 1970s, with only distributors selling goods from abroad to Indonesia.

In his autobiography, entitled ‘Pioneers of Modern Retail in Indonesia: Memoirs of the Founder of the HERO Group’ (2003), Kurnia recounts that upon Phang’s suggestion, he established Suba Indah, with its first product being milk. Unfortunately, Suba Indah’s milk product was not very successful in the market. At that time, there were already several milk products available, such as Indomilk from Indofood and Ultramill from Ultrajaya.

From the failure of the milk product, Kurnia shifted his business focus to syrup. As a result, Suba Indah created the Marjan Bouduin syrup in 1975. The reason for Kurnia’s choice of the name Marjan is unknown. However, he recounts that he often joked about Marjan, calling it ‘Macan Dibodoin’.

Despite this, Marjan was well-received by many people from its initial release, even though there were already many syrup products on the market, including ABC syrup from PT Heinz ABC Indonesia.

One of the key factors in the development of Marjan’s business was Hero. As a supermarket, Hero was very successful in the 1970s and 1980s because there were not many competitors at the time. Hero was known as the pioneer of supermarkets that opened on Sundays in Indonesia. In addition, it also had many branches throughout the country.

Given this situation, Kurnia was greatly benefited because he already had a place to sell his syrup products. This is what made Marjan syrup the ‘king’ in Indonesia.

Over time, Marjan became part of the Tjokrosaputro family business. In the business world, Tjokrosaputro is the founder of the famous batik brand, Batik Keris.

However, Marjan is now under the umbrella of PT Lasallefood Indonesia, which acquired PT Suba Indah in 2002. On its official website, Lasallefood claims to have increased the business by 50 times in 18 years and made Marjan the leading brand in the Indonesian syrup market.