Background
In 1970, company founder Anastasia Tjendri-Liew moved from her hometown of Palembang in Indonesia to Singapore. Marrying accountant Johnson Liew in 1973, she turned her keen interest in baking and cooking into a home business two years later by producing butter and chiffon cakes from the kitchen of her four-room flat in Marine Parade. Tjendri-Liew sold her products by word-of-mouth, and they proved so popular that she eventually started supplying them to shops.
However, she did not have a food-manufacturing license, and was told by government officials to shut down the home operation in 1979. The demand for her products continued and a few months later, Tjendri-Liew opened a shop at Marine Terrace. As the previous tenants had not done well, she was able to obtain a low rent of S$1,200, and named the shop Bengawan Solo after an Indonesian folk song. Her cakes and traditional Southeast Asian kueh remained popular, with demand increasing significantly after a positive newspaper review.