Kelvin Subowo: 7 Failures, Cloud Kitchen Collapse & Building Indonesia’s F&B Avengers – E601

Kelvin Subowo, CEO of Daily Co., joins Jeremy Au to share how he built one of Indonesia’s fastest growing F&B groups after seven failed ventures. They talk through how Kelvin’s early failures taught him the realities of Indonesia’s price sensitive market, how cloud kitchens initially succeeded but quickly collapsed post-Covid, and how Daily Co. pivoted by acquiring and scaling offline food brands. They explore how founder retention, backend integration, and M&A discipline enabled sustainable growth. Kelvin also explains how Chinese brands are entering Indonesia with capital and speed, and why his team is doubling down on scale, team culture, and long-term local partnerships.

05:22 He failed seven times: His early startups included a potato chip brand, a HappyFresh-style grocery delivery, a classified forum, and an Instagram-era Etsy clone, all of which failed due to underfunding, misaligned business models, and reliance on customer subsidies

11:39 The cloud kitchen model collapsed post pandemic: Customer subsidies ended, delivery and platform fees remained high, and fuel prices surged, making unit economics unsustainable and causing Daily Co. to shut down over 200 outlets by mid-2022

16:09 Kelvin acquired Bread Life and shifted to central production: The team repurposed its delivery network to support offline brands, bought the mall-based bakery chain, centralized baking to lower costs, and reopened with a profitable retail model

21:58 Daily Co. now acquires profitable founder led brands: It targets three to five times EBITDA valuations, only acquires IP and assets to avoid legacy liabilities, retains founders to run operations, and integrates backend services like HR, finance, and supply chain

29:47 Kelvin believes team loyalty helped Daily Co. survive downturns: Many team members have been with him since 2011, and instead of layoffs, they pivoted together to scale new categories like bakery, aiming to build an ecosystem focused on staple food and "share of belly" consumption across meals and snacks

Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/kelvin-subowo-scaling-after-shutdown

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