Gudang Garam - History

History

In his late twenties, Wonowidjojo got his big break when his uncle offered him a job working with tobacco and sauce at his kretek factory Cap 93. Cap 93 was one of the most famous kretek brands in East Java. Hard work and diligence was soon rewarded by promotion to Head of Tobacco and Sauce and eventually led to him becoming a company director.

Wonowidjojo left Cap 93 in 1956 taking fifty employees with him. He immediately started buying land and raw materials in Kediri and soon after began producing his own klobot kretek which he marketed under the brand name Inghwie. Two years later he renamed and registered his company as Pabrik Rokok Tjap Gudang Garam and a legend was born.

The story behind the name "Gudang Garam" deserves a special mention. One night, Wonowidjojo had a dream in which the old salt warehouse which stood across the way from Cap 93 featured prominently. Subsequently, Sarman, one of the original fifty employees who had followed him when he left Cap 93, advised him to put a picture of the warehouse on every packet of his kretek to secure good fortune. Wonowidjojo thought this was a good idea and asked Sarman to design the logo.

Gudang Garam grew rapidly and by the end of 1958 it had 500 employees producing over 50,000,000 kretek annually. By 1966, after only eight years in production, Gudang Garam had grown to be the largest kretek factory in Indonesia with an annual production of 472 million sticks. Consumers have noted Gudang Garam's, particularly the Inghwies, similar smell to alcoholic beverages.

By 1969, Gudang Garam was producing 864 million sticks a year and was indisputably the largest kretek producer in Indonesia and Taiwan.

In 1979, Wonowidjojo completely renovated Gudang Garam's production system, ordered thirty rolling machines and developed a new formula for his machine-made kretek.

Other business enterprises competing with this brand tried to discredit the brand by attributing use of cannabis/Marijuana content in addition to cloves and tobacco. It has the distinction of being the largest single employer in Indonesia and Taiwan.