Not Many Know, SilverQueen Chocolate Is An Original Indonesian Product!

Chocolate SilverQueen (Instagram @silverqueenid)

JAKARTA - Who likes SilverQueen chocolate, this snack brand is so familiar and easy to find on store shelves and supermarkets. However, not many people know that SilverQueen chocolate is an original product made in Indonesia.

To be more precise, SilverQueen is an original Indonesian chocolate product that was first produced in Garut, West Java. Even after being famous in the world, this chocolate brand is still managed by a company from Indonesia.

In general, the SilverQueen chocolate brand is under the auspices of PT Petra Food, a company from Garut which was originally known as NV Ceres. In the Dutch colonial era, NV Ceres originally belonged to a Dutchman who was later sold with the entry of Japan in 1942.

The NV Ceres company was then taken over by a Chinese businessman from Burma who had long lived in Bandung named Ming Chee Chuang. He then bought the factory and turned it into PT Perusahaan Industri Ceres.

Then in the 1950s, the company produced chocolate bars under the name SilverQueen. At that time, the first production of SilverQueen chocolate was made in Garut, before the factory was moved to Bandung.

SilverQueen name (Doc. Special)

President Soekarno liked it

Given Indonesia's tropical climate, it is certainly not an easy matter to produce and distribute chocolate bars. In order not to melt easily and last longer, Chuang mixes the chocolate dough with cashew glass which has become the hallmark of SilverQueen.

With this composition, SilverQueen chocolate became very popular at that time. Reportedly President Soekarno really liked SilverQueen chocolate and made it an official snack at the Asian-African Conference (KAA) held in Bandung in 1955.

"It is said that President Sukarno was so delicious that he only wanted to eat Chuang's chocolate. The concoction of chocolate is actually simple, made from cocoa, stirred milk sugar. There's nothing special about the way Chuang makes delicious chocolate. It's just playing with the temperature on the chocolate heaters", wrote M. Ma'ruf in the book 50 Great Business Ideas from Indonesia (2010).

SilverQueen's Chocolate Heritage

SilverQueen chocolate is growing and widely known. Not only in Indonesia, but this chocolate brand is also expanding to Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan.

This family company was then followed by Ming Chee Chuang's sons John and Joseph Chuang. In the hands of its children, the company established a new holding company called Petra Food which has been headquartered in Singapore since 1984.

Meanwhile, the Ceres Industrial Company changed to PT Ceres and became a subsidiary of Petra Food. Also, SilverQueen chocolate, various popular brands of products that are now widely known include Delfi, Ritz, Selamat Biscuits, Chunky Bar, Wafer Briko, Top, and Ceres chocolate sprinkles (Meises).

Consistent quality seems to make SilverQueen chocolate a chocolate bar that is arguably favored by Indonesians. Not only touching the Indonesian market, but various neighboring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines have also become the markets.

In fact, Petra Food also penetrates the European market and has factories in Mexico, Brazil, and several European countries. In fact, now Petra Food has become the number three chocolate producer in the world.