Inspiring Stories of Local Entrepreneurs Bolu Meranti : The Medan Souvenir that’s Always on Your Mind. “Don’t Leave Medan City Without an Impression.” “Without Bolu Meranti.” The most popular souvenir from Medan/” This is what is written on the Bolu Meranti website, https://bolumeranti.co.id/. Indeed, despite originating from Medan, the name Bolu Meranti is well-known throughout Indonesia, even to Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and China. For many people, it wouldn’t be right to go to Medan without buying Bolu Meranti. When talking about food from Medan, Bolu Meranti immediately comes to mind.
Quoting from https://www.tribunnewswiki.com/2021/05/10/bolu-gulung-meranti, BoluMeranti is a typical souvenir of Medan and is different from other sponge rolls because of its soft texture and various fillings and toppings. Product freshness is maintained because Bolu Meranti does not sell yesterday’s products. New products come out every 08.00 from the production kitchen.
Inspiring Stories of Local Entrepreneurs Bolu Meranti : The Medan Souvenir that’s Always on Your Mind
Bolu Meranti was created by Ai Ling, a mother of four. Ai Ling, who loves cooking, tried to make sponge cakes to sell. Because it was still an experiment, Ai Ling did not sell it herself, but left the sponge cake at her aunt’s shop on JalanMeranti. Unexpectedly, buyers flocked to buy it, making it the best-selling product in the shop. Many people would queue up to buy it.
In 2005, Ai Ling decided to open her own shop on Jalan Kruing 2K, to make it easier to ensure the availability of the sponge cake. The sponge cake was named Bolu Meranti. As such, the brand was not related to the location of Ai Ling’s new shop, but rather the location of the first shop where she left the sponge cake, which was not her own.
This strategy proved to be the right one. Buyers had a strong emotional connection with the origin of the sponge cake. All Ai Ling had to do was maintain and strengthen those emotional ties.
From the start, Ai Ling involved her children in managing her sponge shop. Again quoting https://bolumeranti.co.id/, she has four children, namely Rika, Rissa, Kusno and Tomy. Rika is in charge of administration and finance. Rissa produces with her mother. Kusno and Tomy are in charge of receiving goods and the warehouse. They have all worked since they were teenagers. Rissa, Ai Ling’s second child, took the initiative to make packaging with Meranti’s writing, complete with address and phone number. However, Ai Ling did not immediately allow her children to open a shop. Only after Rika and Rissa graduated from high school did Ai Ling allow them to continue their business.
In a year, they only have five days off together. Two days of Eid, Independence Day holiday on August 17, New Year, and Chinese New Year. Why is that? Store operations determine the life and death of Bolu Meranti.
The story of Bolu Meranti teaches us how a family business starts at home, and then becomes famous in many regions. This is thanks to Bolu Meranti’s consistency in maintaining high product quality: texture, variety, and freshness. This high quality should not be sacrificed in the name of anything. It is a source of competitive advantage for many family businesses. For family businesses, poor quality not only tarnishes the good name of the company, but also the family.
With this determination to maintain quality, marketing activities will be helped a lot, especially through word of mouth. Consumers will speak well of the products they buy. This is certainly a form of indirect promotion.
The owner of BoluMeranti has also succeeded in making his product local. This can be seen from maintaining the name Meranti as the name of the street where it was first sold outside the house. The tagline “Don’t Leave Medan City Without an Impression. Without Bolu Meranti” as displayed on the website is able to convince the public that if you go to Medan, never forget to buy BoluMeranti.
Ai Ling involved her children early on, not only to help with the operation, but also to build a sense of ownership of the business. This is the hallmark of many family businesses. From a young age, the children of family business owners have been ‘apprenticed’ in their parents’ company. This fosters their love and commitment to their parents’ business. They realize that their school fees, food, and other necessities of life come from the family business. Thus, they feel indebted to the family business. Implicitly, parents want their children to continue the family business, not someone else.
Speaking of the children’s commitment, this is shown by Ai Ling’s children’s initiative to make packaging for the sponge cake with Meranti writing. As it turned out, this made BoluMeranti better known so that people could easily place repeat orders.
Of course, wise parents will not burden their children beyond their ability. In Ai Ling’s case with BoluMeranti, she did not hastily hand over the responsibility of managing the family business to her children. After all, the more the business grows, the more complex the management becomes. She waited until her children were old enough.
Category: Family Business #Bolu Meranti #Family Business #quality #word of mouth #commitment
