and of course know more about the company's Journey with us live right here in the studio is Java fresh co-founder by swastia.com good morning thank you so much for coming good morning thank you for joining us I was hoping for some mangosteen he was just talking about that I know uh but first of all thank you so much for being here Best Western we definitely want to know the success uh Java fresh now has been founded for how many years so currently we are into our eighth years of operations in Indonesia nice so tell us more about the company and you know why you initiated to you know found this okay so practically Java fresh is a Indonesian company we are focusing ourselves in exporting Indonesia's best tropical fruits abroad so apparently we have been as you mentioned earlier that we've been uh serving 19 countries worldwide and uh yeah how it started it's like there's so many different factors and how we started like Indonesian uh fruits are we love Indonesian fruits but we always intend to see like important product products are you know it's better it's more Superior than our own local products so but after like traveling and our work some of my partners work require us to also travel we see there's also a demand out there about uh tropical fruits yes well practically we all human all over the world are just the same we want something that we don't have yes so that's the main point like we want some like kiwis and strawberries that we don't have right but also at apparently in other parts of the world they want something they don't have yes so they want to try something new they want to try something fresh and different and therefore the exotic fruit market is very growing very rapidly outside yeah and and from there we see the opportunities as well yeah but also there's a fact that Indonesia is one of the largest fruit producer in the world we are about five something but we are not even on the top 10 of the global fruit suppliers oh so yeah so we produce a lot but apparently not many of the produce is like exported we're consuming them here consuming here or maybe it's just not consume at all yes that's a sad factor to begin with so from there we are triggered and we are a challenge and we feel challenged to maybe we can tap into the the to the existing Market currently yeah which is uh mainly um dominated by out by our neighboring countries like Thailand and Vietnam and from there yeah we step by step we develop the um the company and yes yeah the demand is actually there and it's growing pretty eight years I have no yeah I have no doubt the demand is there but you're right there is actually neighboring countries like Thailand is very well known for its groups as well and we seem to know that from for some reason as a household name um speaking of uh challenges uh this must have been quite a challenging thing especially when it comes to food has an expiry date it's not in a can where it will last forever so there must be challenges logistically especially when you're dealing with you know supplying over all the way to Europe can you tell us a little bit about how difficult it was to break into the international market and what are some of the challenges that you guys face for sure like um the more we get into the agricultural world the more we realize that the challenge is like the whole supply chain is filled with challenges and room for improvement as well so uh the challenge coming from the pre-harvest uh the during the Harvest and also the post-harvest process so uh over the time and over the years currently we just recently uh developed our research and development team so we have our small labs in our office and then we have our a small team of r d so we can develop um more strategic approach towards uh the challenges with Technologies such as like allowing it to last longer perhaps something like that really So currently we are creating our own recipe for coating for a post Harvest mechanism and also like choosing the best uh up packaging so it lasts longer so I think the the challenge right now is uh the biggest challenge is most of our products going to Europe and other parts of the con of the World by air while it costs a lot correct So currently Indonesian tropical fruits can only be consumed but by a certain percent of you know the the world population because it's expensive yeah so what we do right now if we want to democratize or we want to make it as a staple fruits like how people consume apples without you know like you can just buy Apple every other day yeah so that's what we are aiming to do because apples can be travel can travel around the world by sea and that's what we aim to do right now if we want to make our fruits available as a step of fruits accessible by more people worldwide would that change like the taste would that change um the appearance itself well that's the challenge and I think but through our R D team hopefully people can still consume the best tropical fruits even though they are you know have been harvested quite a while back correct and more power to the RNA team by the way at least just to think I'm sure your family because we have family that live abroad does your family do the same thing as soon as they come here all they do is they ask for fruits all the different fruits they can't get yeah or it's too expensive exactly it's always happened that uh you know and my mom's favorite is mangosteen they don't have it anywhere and whenever they come I mean it's always you know every time daily you can just go to The Fresh Market it's there and you were saying by the way that mangosteen is one of the fruits that has a high demand exactly um you know why is that have you ever you know have you kind of research why the Divine was so high of mangosteen what other fruits has also become like the Staple in Java fresh okay so magazine is widely popular and it's our most sold communities right now because I think the taste of it right very different it's very it's very tropical correct yes for people who tasted it abroad it feels like it's a burst off tropical line because of the taste right it's yeah it's sour it's a bit of a sweetness as well so it's a mix of you know tropical fruits yes it's a perfect combination of it so yeah it's very popular right now and then our other things that also sell quite well abroad is we have salad yeah I'm surprised because that was on my mind uh whenever you mention food they're indigenous yeah I always think of yeah because yeah it was like we are the only countries that you know with that variety correct yes so yeah um while mangosteen we still have competition from other countries but not with salad yeah and also uh we have uh uh coffee and limes yeah it's like it's like a lime but with crinkles yes oh yes okay yeah okay yeah so it's also our popular Commodities among other things like mangoes mangoes and durians because durians yeah but you know then again about mangoes and durians we facing uh a tough competition for in Thailand so we have to there are so many homeworks to be done here right uh from all the way from the orchard to the yes to the post Harvest so yeah we are working on that as well wow very cool like um so you know there's there's um other companies that have done this before in the past what makes you guys different from your competitors okay so uh what makes us different is that we are implementing RND I think to be to be fair uh because to be honest in Indonesia tropical fruits company there are you know there are several before us but to be honest compared to the produce that we have is not you know it's not comparable okay I especially compared to other neighboring countries as I mentioned earlier so uh even like from our country itself I do not have quite a role model to copy or something like that so uh our best practice is from abroad so we are continuously traveling around the globe as well to find and to learn on the best practices what is their uh outside yeah and it's just so amazing you know like if you see at the end of the day like people can really you know enjoy the fruits that is harvested right here in Indonesia hopefully like you said before the price would be economical also in the near future now of course we know that the pandemic has hit us now almost for almost three years does that affecting your company also and how did you guys maneuver it now until now so I think uh what the worst part is like in the beginning of it where there were no flights at all where all borders are closed so what happened then you guys have to yeah obviously uh we have to stop because there's no carrier yeah the demand is there because people are still want to eat fruits yes more than before even more than before because they want to live a healthier life yes but then you know technically it's not possible to carry because there's no flight at all yeah so we from there we conduct uh just to help our Farmers because the the the the trees is not stopping yeah they keep on harvesting food so we help our Farmers by Distributing it domestically okay but yes since now the the everything is going solely going back to normal we have the floods we have the and the demon is also there so we are coming back is it getting more more extensive of the demands especially when borders are opening yeah yeah for sure uh we see a very a great jump of demand at the tropical frisbee because uh we our fruits are uh all fresh and all natural yes and we don't use any um you know chemical Coatings we uh we are regularly tested for um minimum residual level and we always pass that very you know in a good score so yeah they are they want to consume some of course fresh and not all people can travel to Indonesia yet so they'll bring Indonesia back to their country that's true that's true well glad that you know we are coming out of this pandemic and speaking of helping Farmers you've done exactly that you've worked with over 3 000 Farmers you Empower women at these packing houses as well can you tell us a little bit about how much of the focus that you spend not just in the business of growing and selling and exporting fruit but how important it is for you to you know kind of empower the local farmers and the local communities and the agricultural sector here maybe just to give a an idea on how is it how the how the Farmers looks like in Indonesia especially for agriculture like fruits Indonesian farmers are comprised mostly of the micro Farmers where they own only a very small land like maybe one hectare two hectares which they they work with a very small house as well so unless we Empower them unless we show them you know how your fruits are going and who consume your fruits they will not pay too much attention to you know to the to the maintenance because basically it doesn't cover what they're expenses right yeah so what we do right now is we train them and we give them the ideas on every time we travel like uh to sell our fruits we bring back some pictures and see look at this like this is where your fruits end up this is who who consume your food really yeah and it brings like confidence to them right okay so it's Pride because okay so my fruits is actually and I always tell them that your fruits is competing not with other Indonesian fruits or other like let's say for magazine it's not your question mangosteen is com um being technically being competitive in competition with let's say Sumatran magazine but no it's a bit Colombian it's a bit Brazilian magazine so they have to see like okay so there's something about national pride as I mentioned there yeah so there's something about what I harvest is actually winning a winning products there against other countries right so yeah so put the pride in them in what they do and also uh we certify them okay so we have several level of certification there's a national certification and also for some uh uh archers we also have a global JP Global good agricultural process so it's like an ISO but for the tropical for the agricultural produce right so that's what we do right now why why is that important for you because I could I would assume for a large company it would just be easier just to work with large farms and then just you know One-Stop shop hey I need this this whereas working with each individual small farmers you just have to deal with so many more and it's just a lot more work so why is this so important for you I think because uh actually what I'm like what I would say to you previously that the the produce of Indonesia is way more than what we export it's going back to that story it's from them actually the most produce is coming from the micro Farmers if you do not tap into them we do not tap to the most you know have almost have us what we available in the country yeah there's just a lot of farmers but they're just small exactly right yeah yeah and but thank you so much for making our local farmers go International oh my God so proud of that so in that end what are your hopes for our local farmers and what is the future for Java fresh I think uh our hope is that together we see the opportunities outside like Indonesia is such a big country it's like maybe you've you've heard you know during our younger days that swasanbadapangan right yes I've been for Indonesia it's like our goal our national goal is to be suas our self-sufficient yes for a country as big as Indonesia to be self-sufficient is not enough we are too big to be just self-sufficient we have to be um what we want is like we have to be like the uh we are the kitchen of the world something like that so we are the orchard of the world so we have to be able to supply the world with our best producers yes and um like let's say another lens that's just a very very small countries in Europe for um for season countries where it means they cannot Harvest every single day of the of the year but they are one of the top exporter for flowers that's true but this is a very small country just see how what Indonesia can bring if we work together right to standardize our operation there we go in a in a Global Perspective we see the world is our Market if we see that um the rest of the world wants and yes to love to eat our products which is they are yeah so I think uh working together with our Farmers stakeholders and also with our female crackers I think we can see that we want to bring the best of Indonesian produce and thank you for bringing that influence I think Indonesian has a very rich soil we have the Manpower as you said right everything in the ingredients is there why cannot why can't we be the leader of exporting others exactly will you be expanding to more even more countries in the near future for sure we are always eyeing new countries uh like we've been tapping on the bigger countries currently we are trying to tap on to the smaller ones while in the same time we will also doing the RnB so in each countries we can serve with more quantities right yeah okay it happens right hopefully North America is our family will be so happy so your poor mom can get some mango stains over there affordable ones don't have to travel 17 hours mom anyway so uh you guys can find out more at javafresh dot Co or you can also follow them on Instagram at Java fresh thank you so much thank you so much Paul thank you hope to see you soon all right we're going to take a break right now but we'll have more updates around the world when we return so stay tuned with us right here on the C Morning Show we'll be right back [Music]