Pancious Opens in New Location, Continues Rebranding Project

Pancious, formerly Pancious Pancake House, has rebranded its image. (Photo courtesy of Pancious)

New restaurants keep popping up in Jakarta like mushrooms during the rainy season. But luckily, the market is never saturated as adventurous local foodies always yearn for something new and exciting to whet their appetites.

Recently, Pancious — formerly Pancious Pancake House, an established local franchise, opened its new restaurant at Grand Indonesia Shopping Town, Central Jakarta, for its 11th location in the Greater Jakarta area. So far, the franchise operates a total of 14 outlets in Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya.

The opening also marked an ambitious rebranding project.

“The rebranding project is part of our commitment to keep moving forward, not only in the local food and beverage industry, but also internationally,” Pancious cofounder, Fransisca Tjong said.

For the project, Fransisca has engaged the services of international brand consultant A.S. Louken.

“I truly admire the Pancious team,” said Danny Anthonius, country manager of A.S. Louken Indonesia. “It’s not easy to build a franchise from zero and achieve great success in a relatively short time. But they’ve done it all with a great spirit and an open mind.”

Four young foodies with a penchant for pancakes opened their first restaurant, Pancious Pancake House in Permata Hijau, South Jakarta, in March 2007.

Initially, the restaurant offered only comfort food, such as pancakes, waffles and burgers. But in the following years, the restaurant began to serve heavier main dishes, including steaks, pastas and risottos.

(Photo courtesy of Pancious)

“They owe their success to a solid team, systematic SOP [standard operating procedure] and continuous improvements,” Danny said.

“But an integrated brand development is needed to guarantee their continuous growth.”

For Pancious, A.S. Louken has refreshed the restaurant’s name (“Pancake House” has been dropped), logo, interior concept and menu.

“[With the new name], we want people to know that we’re not only selling pancakes, but also steaks, pastas and many other dishes,” said Seliyanthi Rachmat, corporate marketing manager at Pancious.

The new “P” logo is scribbled in handwriting.

“It shows our personal touch in everything that we do,” Seliyanthi said. “It also shows that we’ve started it all from scratch.”

The change to the restaurant’s decor is quite significant; the interiors now boast a sleek industrial feel with rough plastered walls, exposed ceilings, raw wooden furniture and open kitchens.

“With the open kitchen, we want to show to our customers that we create everything a la minute and serve them fresh from the oven,” Seliyanthi explained.

The open kitchen at their outlet in Grand Indonesia is quite eye-catching; it is neatly framed between old and discolored wooden planks and crates stamped with the restaurant’s staple ingredients, such as eggs, milk, chocolate and maple syrup.

“Our interior concept is the marketplace,” Seliyanthi said. “It’s a good place for friends and families to hang out and enjoy good food and drinks at good prices.”

The menu, now condensed into six colorful pages on a wooden pad, is divided into sections, such as appetizers and salads, pastas and risottos, steaks, burgers and sandwiches, and of course, pancakes and waffles.

A sample three-course meal would have the Pancious favorite grilled baby potatoes, lightly browned and served in a woven basket, as an appetizer. Salmon pesto pasta for a main, cooked al dente with the restaurant’s homemade pesto and olive oil, and coming with generous chunks of grilled salmon.

For the finale, the Coco Baileys pancake is served with rich Baileys caramel sauce, chocolate fudge and crushed almonds.

The menu is refreshed twice a year; once on the restaurant’s anniversary on March 1 and once at year’s end.

The latest addition to it is the tropical fruit punch, a specialty drink made of a combination of freshly squeezed peach, orange and lychee juices. The sunshine-hued beverage is served in a tall glass jug that easily serves three persons. Diced guava, orange and lychee add a twist to the drink.

“Our happiness is to see our customers having a good time at Pancious,” Francisca said.

“They’re the most important part of our business.”

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