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Bangkok Post : Friday July 29, 2005
The operator of the 25-year-old Thai restaurant chain Blue Elephant hopes to strengthen its brand locally by
offering its grocery products at upmarket supermarkets geared for well-heeled Thais and international consumers.
Blue Elephant International hopes the venture will substantially boost its annual revenue from grocery sales which now stands at about 40 million baht.
Previously, Blue Elephant only distributed its grocery products at its 13 restaurants around the world and at some upmarket supermarkets in Europe.
It had shied away from offering the products in Thailand in the view that Thais in general would not buy instant ingredients for home cooking when they could easily buy fresh Thai food anywhere.
''Now, we want
customers who are buying our grocery products abroad to be able to
see them on the store shelves in their country of origin,'' said
Herve Haurie, the company's executive export manager.
More importantly, the company sees huge potential to expand the market for its ready-made products in Asia, especially in Hong Kong and Japan, after gaining strong acceptance from Thai food lovers in Europe and the Middle East.
Marketed under
the brand The Blue Elephant Cooking School Bangkok, its grocery
products include curry pastes, salad dressings, sauces, coconut
cream, Pad Thai noodle kits, dried fruits, milk chocolate and
cookbooks.
Production is now outsourced to about 10 local
suppliers, but the recipes and product designs were created by Blue
Elephant staff, Mr Haurie said.
The grocery products are now available in The
Emporium shopping complex and other department stores operated by
The Mall Group. The company is currently in talks with King Power Co
about selling the products at King Power's duty free outlets.
Mr Haurie said Blue Elephant only began its retail business three
years ago. In Europe, its grocery line is available in 400 outlets
of Monoprix, Carrefour, Delhaize and Harvey Nichols.
Last week, Blue Elephant signed a contract to construct a
20-million-baht factory for its food products in the Rangsit area of
Pathum Thani province. The facility is due to be operational in
February.
Once the Rangsit factory is up and running, the company will be
ready to kick off its new product line of chilled ready-to-eat meals
for the Asian market.
Apart from the new factory, the company also runs a 50-million-baht
food factory in Brussels, Belgium.
According to Mr Haurie, the three-year-old Blue Elephant Bangkok
last year generated 120 million baht in revenue, of which 40 million
baht came from exports of its grocery line. He expects the company's
total revenue will reach 200 million baht this year.
Begun in Brussels, Blue Elephant International now runs 13
restaurants located in Brussels, London, Copenhagen, Paris, New
Delhi, Dubai, Beirut, Lyon, Malta, Kuwait, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and
Bangkok. It has plans to open restaurants in Moscow, Jeddah and
Shanghai.
Apart from its groceries and restaurants, the company also runs
cooking classes at its Bangkok branch. All the classes are
supervised by one of the founders of Blue Elephant, Nooror Somany-Steppe,
who is married to another one of the company founders, Karl Steppe
from Belgium.
According to Ms Somany-Steppe, 20% of her students are Thais and the
rest are from abroad. The tuition fee for the cooking class starts
as 2,800 baht.
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