Yava is a Bali-based manufacturer of granola and other healthy snacks that uses local ingredients and seeks to support local farmers.

Brand Snapshot

Bali keeps popping up as rich source material for exciting regional brands, which just further emphasises the extent to which its productisation potential has been sorely overlooked.

A core strength of the island and its surrounding areas lies in the ingredients they grow. It is fertile and flavourful in the same bite. Yava is building on this by taking the most American of inventions, granola, and localising it with homegrown ingredients - from cashews and coconut to banana (plus the must-have no nasties claim as well.) In flavour, there is a bittersweet cleanliness and rawness that really is distinct.

As a brand, it’s trying to make breakfast more meaningful in two ways. Firstly by supporting local small holding farmers in need of help and secondly by introducing Indonesians to a healthier crunchier way to start the day (hence the Amazon-ish smile graphic.)

That said, the positioning of the brand may need to hone in on its origins (beyond the ingredient story) if it starts exporting further afield rather than selling to a more domestic market. Yava’s cleverness is in the inception it is making. They are putting the perception of the Balinese good life into one of the world’s most commonly consumed foods - where the job becomes about conjuring that feeling, rather than convincing on the product. Yava is the exotic in the familiar, the mystery in the mundane, the extra in the ordinary - a mental flight ticket to perceptually travel to tropical wholesomeness on a gloomy city morning.

Transportive food and drinks command a premium because of their perceptual framing: think water that takes you to Fiji or yoghurt that takes you to Iceland. That could be Yava’s unfair advantage if and when they decide to show up in more supermarkets internationally.