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THE NATION : Published on
Friday July 29, 2005
High-end Thai restaurant chain Blue Elephant yesterday launched its
range of Thai groceries in the local market and said it would invest
Bt20 million in a factory to produce most of them itself.
Blue Elephant executive export manager Herve Haurie said the factory
would be built near the Navanakorn Industrial Estate
and would open in February next year.
He said the company was currently considering the factory’s
production capacity and which products would be made there. However,
the factory will not produce coconut cream or oyster sauce and will
continue to outsource their manufacture, as it is doing with the
rest of its grocery range currently.
Blue Elephant’s line of Thai groceries for home cooking includes
coconut cream, curry pastes, various sauces, Thai sweet basil
dressing, pad Thai noodle sets, nuts mixed with Thai herbs, dry
exotic fruits, elephant chocolates, as well as Blue Elephant
cookbooks.
The products range from Bt35 to Bt200 in price.
Haurie said Blue Elephant had been exporting similar products to
some European and Asian countries for several years. Many of them
are sold in international supermarkets such as the Monoprix and
Carrefour stores in France, Delhaize and Carrefour in Belgium and
Harvey Nichols in Great Britain.
In Thailand the products have been available at high-end outlets
such as at The Emporium and The Mall department stores and will be
sold at the Siam Paragon shopping complex when it opens later this
year.
Blue Elephant is also in talks with Tops Supermarket and duty free
shops to carry their range.
However, Blue Elephant doesn’t expect big revenue from the domestic
market.
Haurie said the domestic market was a channel for Blue Elephant to
advertise its products to foreign tourists, who will buy the
products in their own countries when they return home.
The company expects revenue of Bt200 million from exports of its
groceries this year - Bt80 million more than last year.
Blue Elephant currently has 13 restaurants in 13 countries and will
open its next branch in Bahrain. |
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