haidar wurjanto

Dare to Dream Big

Haidhar Wurjanto believes that everything happens for a reason and there’s always a silver lining in every situation. Before establishing Esteh Indonesia, Haidhar already owned, tried, and tested various F&B ventures. He scored his first success in this industry at a young age but also encountered multiple failures. Despite everything, he never gave up, and he ended up running six businesses. Still, he felt that he wasn’t running at the scale he wanted.

One day, while chatting with friends — which eventually became co-founders — an idea popped up: Creating something that many people deem utterly simple, but making it special. Long story short, Esteh Indonesia was born from that conversation. “Never underestimate your own ideas, even if you think it’s too simple. In our case, Esteh Indonesia started with the idea of how simple products that are loved by many people can eventually become special,” Haidhar shares.

In just a short time, Esteh Indonesia went viral on social media due to its simplicity. Haidhar and his team leveraged that momentum and managed to bring Esteh Indonesia beyond Indonesia and into overseas markets. “If we can do it, then everybody can do it. After this viral phase, how do we make the business be sustainable? In our case, we just relaxed, steadied our minds, and made sure that the plan went well. If it doesn’t, then you’ve got to adapt,” Haidhar elaborates. “As a brand, we’re still young. But that doesn’t stop us from dreaming big for the future. In 2020, we scaled up from 20 outlets to 100 outlets; in 2021 from 100 outlets to 250. By 2022, we aim to have 1,000 outlets. And right now, we’re at 800 outlets and it seems very possible we can reach that number.”