On October 9, Frank Van Eynde, Flanders Investment & Trade Economic Representative in Shanghai, was present at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Jati & Kebon Outdoor Leisure Goods Operation Center in Nanjing's Gaochun district, Jiangsu province. The project has a total investment of USD 45 million, which is the largest foreign investment project attracted and started in Gaochun district this year.
Jati & Kebon's Outdoor Leisure Goods Operation Center is located in the Gaochun Economic Development Zone. The project's total area is about 30 acres, mainly used for new factory buildings, with a total construction area of about 30,000 square meters. It is planned to be completed in March 2025 and officially put into production in July of the same year. After completion, it will become the Asian headquarters of Jati & Kebon Furniture, with an estimated annual output value of CNY400 million.
The company has been focusing on the production and manufacturing of outdoor furniture for more than 30 years, and has innovated the full industrial chain model of “brand, design, production, sales, and service”. It is a leader in the global outdoor furniture industry. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Mr. Johan Verbeke, President of Jati & Kebon Furniture, said that Gaochun was chosen because of its superior geographical location, adjacent to the Yangtze river and close to Shanghai, with obvious advantages in logistics and transportation. In addition, Gaochun district's excellent natural and business environments are also important factors in attracting companies to settle down.
About Jati & Kebon Furniture
In 1976, Mr. Firmin Verbeke decided to start a company that would sell lawnmowers and other powered tools for garden maintenance. The business became an instant success, as a result of hard work and a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Entrepreneurship definitely ran in the family, because a few decades later, in 1995, his son and daughter Johan and Leen Verbeke took over the reins of the company. Together, they started to switch the focus on the sourcing and distribution of teak garden furniture from Indonesia, a country well-known for its excellent craftsmanship. They came up with the brand name Jati & Kebon, Indonesian for 'teak' and 'garden', in remembrance of where it all began.
In the following years, the company grew steadily under the leadership of Johan Verbeke. The product range was expanded to outdoor furniture made from different materials and sourced from several Asian countries. In 2011, Johan Verbeke decided to invest in a production facility in China; today, this plant manufactures high-quality outdoor furniture made from various materials and employs more than 200 workers. In 2016, another production unit was started up in Semarang, Indonesia. This facility is specialized in woven and wooden items and employs more than 170 workers. Today the company's products are sold across the world, both under private label and also under the Jati & Kebon brand. In 2021, another exciting milestone was added to the Jati & Kebon story by opening a brand-new warehouse and headquarters in Nazareth, Belgium.
