Entrepreneur Matteo Larghi had been working in marketing for 15 years when he decided it was time for a change of scenery.
Having grown up in Italy, Matteo started his career working at an advertising agency in Milan, but soon decided he wanted to move to Australia. “I went to Sydney with little money, and was sleeping on couches sending out CVs for a while,” says Matteo. “I met a guy who was the owner of a cool web agency, got a business sponsor visa and ended up staying for three years.”
After a brief stint living back in Italy, Matteo moved to Zurich and spent six more years working at another agency: “I loved my job there, designing and working with really creative teams. But after a while, things changed. My father got sick and eventually passed away, and I broke up with my girlfriend. I started having a shift of mindset after working in that digital space for 15 years.”
“I started doing some research and thinking – what if I completely changed my life and opened a café here in Bali?”
Looking for a fresh start, Matteo sold everything he owned and took a sabbatical year from working. “It was an internal process of releasing things,” he says. “I started out at Kathmandu in Nepal, and went to Everest base camp. From there I went to Myanmar, Cambodia and eventually Bali. I planned to stay for a few months – do some surfing, relax. I ended up staying eight years! Bali really got me.”
Matteo’s change of scenery went hand in hand with a change of career. When he got to Bali, he had the idea of setting up a café specializing in one of his passions - matcha green tea. “I drank matcha ever since I went on a trip to Japan in 2006. I was there by myself for a week – it was a little bit ‘Lost in Translation’. Drinking matcha green tea became a routine for me.”
When he arrived in Bali, Matteo looked for somewhere nearby where he could find matcha, but was disappointed by what was on offer. He spoke to his brother, who told him about a matcha café which had recently opened in Milan. “I started doing some research and thinking – what if I completely changed my life and opened a café here in Bali?”, he says.
Launching the business
Matteo put together a business plan, created a menu and found a location for what was to become Matcha Café Bali in the resort village of Canggu: “It all happened really quickly from the initial idea. In six months, boom, the café was open.”
The café proved popular with tourists visiting Bali, as well as with local residents. It resonated with the laid back, spiritual and health-focused culture of the island, which drew Matteo to staying there for such a long time. “I wanted to open a holistic place where you can appreciate the health benefits of matcha, which is one of the most powerful antioxidants you can drink in the world,” he says.
Matcha Café Bali survived the pandemic through a savvy shift to e-commerce, at a time when no tourists were able to visit Bali.
The café’s success led Matteo to think about expanding the business. He had an expansion plan lined up alongside a possible new business partner in 2019, but the pandemic put a stop to those plans. He laughs as he recalls the day Covid-19 hit Indonesia: “I have a tradition every year where I go surfing with my friends on my birthday. That happened to be exactly the day where the global pandemic was announced, and everything was shut down.”
Matcha Café Bali survived the pandemic through a savvy shift to e-commerce, at a time when no tourists were able to visit Bali. Using his experience in marketing and web design, as well as his connections with matcha farmers in Japan, Matteo set up an e-commerce store through Shopify. He found photographers to take high-quality photographs of his products, and made sure the branding was unique and eye-catching. “If tourists cannot come here, than maybe I can go there with my products,” he says.
The secrets to a smooth sell
Eight years on from launching Matcha Café Bali, Matteo decide he wanted to return home to Italy and was looking into selling the business. He contacted a few business brokers in Indonesia but didn’t have much success finding a buyer, which eventually led him to BusinessesForSale.com.
“Within a week of putting up my listing I had about 20 leads, and half of them went to phone calls. Two people from those calls wanted to do due diligence,” he says. In less than two months, he had completed the sale of Matcha Café Bali – a buyer was lined up, sale terms were agreed, and lawyers were drafting letters of intent: “I think I paid maybe 80 Euros in total to advertise the business!”
Matcha Café Bali’s strong branding, unique location and profitability were all factors that helped the business sell quickly. Matteo’s experience working within marketing agencies informed the visual identity of the café and the website, which caught the eye of interested buyers.
Matcha Café Bali’s strong branding, unique location and profitability were all factors that helped the business sell quickly.
So what’s next for Matteo? “Although I sold the physical café, I didn’t sell the e-commerce side of the business,” he says. “I’m taking that with me, and launching a new venture called Matchakin as I’m moving back to Italy.” He aims to target more restaurants and other B2B revenue streams with his matcha products, alongside selling to customers. “For me its time to really conquer the European market, and after that the American market. That’s my plan,” he says.
Matcha Café Bali is proof that a strong business idea, providing a product or service that can’t be found elsewhere, can work - even if it is a complete pivot from your past experience. “When I was in Bali, nothing was planned. I wasn’t intending to open a café and stay here for eight years. But things happened and I rode the wave! I’m very grateful I lived here in Bali with my work, my friends, my rescue dogs. It was really a good life.”
