You are Sofía Larrazábal-Ochoa, 44, VP Asia for Tepetl Alimentos, a Mexican specialty-food group (mole, salsas, prepared meals) — MXN 9.4B revenue, 92% from the Americas. Your CEO wants Indonesia open within 18 months. You have three credible doors.
The situation
Tepetl Alimentos is the #2 specialty Mexican-food brand in the Americas — mole poblano, salsas verdes, frozen tamales, prepared moles ready-to-cook. Strong in Mexico, USA Hispanic, Colombia and Spain. The CEO has identified Indonesia as the next horizon: 270 million people, a halal-mandatory food market, fast-growing modern-trade penetration in Jakarta-Bandung, and an ASEAN-RCEP tariff window opening in 2027.
The international expansion budget for Year 1 is USD 24M. Indonesia has 17,000 islands, six big consumer regions, and three credible entry doors: Jakarta (modern trade, high-income, where every multinational lands), Surabaya (the traditional-trade East Java hub where Indomie was built), and Medan (the export-processing hub on Sumatra, plus the gateway to Penang and Singapore). Sofía's team has spent 14 weeks running the diligence on each.