Abandon the profession of Bacchus, to devote himself to chocolate

Baldwin Jehanno left France 15 years ago to work in the wine trade first in China then in Vietnam and Indonesia, but has developed a new profession that of chocolate.

During his many trips to Indonesia, the archipelago with 17,000 islands, he had the opportunity to discover the riches of the Indonesian agricultural sector and in particular cocoa.

Baldwin has always wanted to develop a project with his wife Sury. After their travels through the archipelago, they decided to focus on making quality chocolate.

A new passion and a new work plan

Indonesia is the world’s third largest cocoa producer after Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, and the chocolate produced in Indonesia is intended for large industrial groups in the food industry.

Baldwin therefore only has to visit the cocoa plantations to discover the quality of the product and discuss with the farmers, in order to have a profitability of the production and start the project.

Once the first steps have been taken, he signs the contracts to obtain the raw material and organizes a workshop as well as a small team which works on the spot to check the quality of the beans and continues to provide support to the farmers, to create their own brand of chocolate.

It was on Jalan Fatmawati in South Jakarta that the couple found the perfect place to develop their products. Since 2019, they have been developing their production there. It was necessary to bring machines from Europe, to show ingenuity, to train the staff, to put in place hygiene standards. “It took time, a lot of energy, but today we have a small, well-trained and well-functioning team. We mainly work with producers located on the heights of North Sumatra and in the south of the island, but also in Europe with France”.

Regarding the originality of the brand and the name of the chocolate, it was not easy to find a name, it had to be something unique and an Indonesian word, even easy to pronounce, and used as our brand. At that time we were in Lampung, and on a poster, I saw a poem with the word « Jika », at that time we found the name of the product, « JIKA » in Indonesian which means « if » which corresponds to our history and project.

Production and tasks are split for Sury and Baldwin

Even if for the production the couple works together, the tasks are divided within their collaboration: Sury is in charge of the packaging and the marketing and Baldwin of the commercial development and the relations with the producers.

Developing a chocolate by origin is also part of the ambitions of the small company « because each region has its own particular flavors » as well as obtaining the Rainforest certification synonymous with ethical chocolate. It can be said that chocolate has become Baldwin’s passion.

Jika Chocolate has about 40 products: Indonesian 100% Vegan, Pure 60%, 70%, 80%, Bali Sea Salt, Sumatran Coffee, Java Sugar, Coconut and Celebes Chili.

Dark chocolate:

Jika Chocolate – 60% COCOA
Jika Chocolate – 70% COCOA
Jika Chocolate Aceh – 77% dark chocolate
Jika Chocolate Bali – 72% dark chocolate
Jika Chocolate Papua – 75% dark chocolate
Jika Chocolate – 80% COCOA
Jika Chocolate – 90% COCOA
Jika Chocolat – dark chocolate with sea salt
Jika Chocolate – dark chocolate with coconut
Jika Chocolate – dark chocolate with Celebes peppers
Jika Chocolat – dark chocolate with coffee
Jika Chocolat – dark chocolate with cashew nuts
Jika Chocolat – dark chocolate with peanuts
Jika Chocolate Pastry Chef
Jika Chocolate Aren Sugar
JIKA CHOCOLATE Special Collection

The House of Indonesia
5-7 rue Jean Zay, 75014 Paris
https://www.lamaisondelindonesie.com/
https://www.jikachocolat.com/

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Gabriel MIHAI

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