The culinary business continues to grow in Indonesia, this can be seen from the data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) which recorded the performance of the food and beverage industry in Indonesia which grew 5.33 percent on an annual basis as of quarter 1/2023. The growth of this industry is the fourth largest money in Indonesia. In addition, as reported by Bisnis.com, Educator at Foodizz Academy Sarita Stedja said, the interest in the food and beverage sector is still very high. The reason is, many culinary businesses have grown in Indonesia, ranging from coffee shops, bakeries, restaurants, tent stalls, and many more. The large growth of this culinary business makes competition in this industry tighter, so business owners need to innovate to continue to be number one, one of which is by making the secret recipe of the culinary business itself. With a secret recipe, the business has something that distinguishes it from other culinary businesses, and can be its own uniqueness that is not owned by similar businesses. Unfortunately, the secret recipe for the culinary business is also easily dismantled by the person inside. In order for this to be maintained, of course there are several things that business owners need to pay attention to to maintain the secret recipe of this culinary business itself. How? Check out the following article until the end!
Terms of Culinary Business Recipes in Trade Secrets
Many business owners wonder, can a recipe be a protected trade secret? This is widely questioned because there is a lot of market competition in the culinary industry. Referring to Article 2 of Law No. 30 of 2000 concerning Trade Secrets (Trade Secrets Law) states that a special recipe with economic value is included in trade secrets. Where according to the Trade Secrets Law, the definition of trade secrets is information that is not known to the public in the fields of technology and / or business, has economic value because it is useful in business activities, and its confidentiality is maintained by the owner. In addition, information that can be considered a trade secret includes several things such as:
- Information is considered confidential. This is written in Article 3 paragraph 2 of the Trade Secrets Law which states that information that is considered a trade secret is only known by a few parties and is not generally known.
- Article 3 paragraph 3 of the Trade Secrets Law also states that information that is considered a trade secret is information that has economic value, the confidentiality of the information can be used to carry out commercial business activities or can increase economic benefits.
- Article 3 paragraph 4 of the Trade Secrets Law also states that information whose confidentiality is maintained by the owner or the parties who control it.
If a recipe meets the above criteria, it can be considered a trade secret that needs to be protected.
How to Keep the Secret Recipe of Culinary Business?
If a culinary recipe meets the criteria mentioned above, then it’s a good idea to protect the recipe properly. Here are some tips that can be applied to protect the confidentiality of culinary business recipes:
Share Prescription Information Only with Specific People
To protect confidential recipes, make sure to restrict the trade recipe information to certain parties only. Also, make sure to make a trade secret agreement for certain parties who can access the recipe information. This can help you protect your recipes from unscrupulous people in the business.
Keep Confidential Documents in a Hard to Access Place
Make sure to keep confidential documents in a place that cannot be accessed easily by anyone. You can also store them in a safe place with an access code to provide extra security. For example, by putting it in a safe or in a room coded “Staff Only”.
Limit Employee Activities Other than during Working Hours
Many companies are ‘missed’ when outside working hours. Therefore, make sure you limit employee activities to do work outside of the specified working hours. If it cannot be avoided, then provide strict supervision to avoid the risk of revealing the secret recipe of the culinary business.
Conduct Trade Secret Related Activities within the Company Only
If the trade secret is a hardfile document, avoid conducting activities related to the trade secret document in public places. For example, by reproducing the document in a public photocopy place. This certainly increases the risk of the spread of trade secrets that have been well protected.
Outsource to Third Party
The confidentiality of culinary business recipes can also be made in collaboration with outsourcing parties because as a business actor, you can buy and prohibit outsourcing parties from selling to other parties legally and safely.
Don’t forget to make a trade secret agreement!
Speaking of the protection of confidential information, this is included in the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). especially if this confidential information has economic value and is a business activity, so of course it must be protected and kept confidential by the business owner. Even so, culinary business recipes do not need to be registered, but efforts need to be made so that the confidentiality is maintained. The things that can be done are:
- The establishment of a standard procedure in the form of internal provisions in a business. This provision contains how employees can maintain the confidentiality of a prescription.
- Make confidentiality agreements with employees in employment agreements made between employees relating to the company.
Yes, both confidentiality agreements (CA) and non-disclosure agreements (NDA) have in common to keep important information or trade secrets from being disseminated to other parties. In other words, CA is intended as an effort to protect trade secrets from parties within the company, while NDA is to protect trade secrets from parties outside the company such as investors, suppliers, vendors, or other business cooperation partners. If there is a use or disclosure of trade secret information to third parties for commercial purposes, then this can be suspected as a violation. Furthermore, you or the company can seek compensation or report the act of infringement.
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Referring to Article 13 of the Trade Secrets Law, an act that can be categorized as a violation of trade secrets if a person intentionally discloses a recipe, reneges on an agreement and violates written or unwritten obligations. So in this case, violators can be subject to a maximum imprisonment of two years and / or a maximum fine of Rp. 300 million rupiah.
KH Contact
Well, for KH pals who are also currently running a culinary business, don’t forget to protect secret recipes by making a CA or NDA, yes! Because making these two agreements is a little different from agreements in general. Where, you as a business owner need to understand what risks might occur in the future. In addition, you are also required to write down the terms and company information that must be protected confidentially. So you need a professional team that can help you organize it properly to avoid risks in the future. Let’s protect your secret culinary business recipe with Kontrak Hukum! We can help you to make a confidentiality agreement that complies with applicable legal provisions safely and quickly, only for a fee starting from IDR 900 thousand! For booking information, please visit KH Services – Confidentiality Agreement page. If you have other business-related questions, you can also consult for free at Tanya KH or via direct message (DM) to Instagram @kontrakhukum.
