You must be familiar with the Kapal Api coffee brand, right? Even if you are not a coffee lover, you definitely know this one of the most famous black coffee brands in Indonesia.
Not only in Indonesia, Kapal Api coffee has even gone international, aka spread overseas, you know! Some of them are Australia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, and others.
Kapal Api’s success certainly didn’t happen overnight. It takes struggle and determination to be successful. So, who is the owner of this Fire Ship? Come on, find out who he is!
The figure of a world-famous Kapal Api owner
That is Soedomo Mergonoto. According to various sources, this coffee business started as a family business run by Soedomo’s father, Go Soe Loet, in 1927. At that time, Soedomo’s father was still selling coffee on his shoulder.
The sales location is between Jalan Panggung, where Soedomo lives, to Tanjung Perak Harbor. Because it was only a small business, Soedomo’s parents asked him to look for other income.
He earns his income by scrapping used tires at one of the tire retreading companies there. Apart from being a used tire scraper, the founder of Kapal Api coffee has also worked as a bemo bus driver. He ran this business for about a year before Soedomo returned to help his parents’ business again.
Soedomo’s life experience cannot be said to be easy, but from this he learned how to work hard to achieve success.
In 1979, Soedomo founded a Limited Liability Company with the name PT Santos Jaya Abadi. Then in 1980, Soedomo marketed Kapal Api by placing advertisements on the TVRI TV channel. At that time, not many people understood advertising so not many business people paid attention to this matter.
In 1985, Soedomo began exporting Kapal Api. The first country to be targeted was Saudi Arabia, followed by Taiwan and Malaysia. Apart from Kapal Api, PT Santos Jaya Abadi also has other coffee products such as Good Day, ABC Coffee, Fresco, Kopi Ya!, Ceremix, and Excelso.
Slowly but surely, Soedomo began to expand his business to other products such as candy, cereal, and even coffee shops. Soedomo founded PT Sulotco Jaya Abadi in 1986. This company produces Kalosi Toraja Coffee. Then, in 1991 Soedomo founded PT Excelso Multirasa which managed the Excelso coffee shop business with the first outlet at Plaza Indonesia.
