Page 58 - FoodFocusThailand No.175 October 2020

SITE VISITTE VISIT
SI
Thailand is a food heaven with a wide range of
agricultural products from North to South of the
country. Since agricultural products are easily
perished, processing to food and beverage
products can prolong a shelf life and gain value
to the agriculture materials.

Healthy Snacks -

Crispy Fruit and Veggie Chips

Greenday Global Unlocks Agricultural Products
to Expedite a Market Demand

Regarding to the trend of well-being, healthy food products become the In addition to vacuum frying, Greenday is also processing a vacuum
top interesting topics. Besides, if the product offers a convenience to freeze drying focusing on fruit products such as strawberries, grapes,
consumers, for instance, ready-to-cook, ready-to-eat, or easy-to-carry, it is bananas, peaches, apples, durian, and etc. Besides, the production
even driving a high consumer demand in these days. of vacuum air drying process is available. These manufacturing
Food Focus Thailand Magazine had the opportunity to interview the processes have been all certified by GMP, HACCP, HALAL and BRC.
executives who brought the new knowledge to continue the family journey.
They created extensive agricultural products to support a growing market Viewing the Market with a Sharpen Strategy
of healthy food. Not only selecting a good name was required, but also envisioning the
market was the key successful element. “At the beginning of the
Becoming Greenday business and the international market penetration, it was not as beautiful
“I grew up with a family business more than 40 years. My father had been as expected. We encountered a fierce competition from Vietnam who
exporting a variety of Thai food products from snacks, noodles, shrimp paste, could produce similar products with a lower price. They had both
fish sauce, pickled fruits, including mortars, shrines, or even silver and gold advantages on labor wages and raw material costs. At first, we fought
papers. It was easily said whatever in need to international markets, we in a price war, but finally we realized it was not possible. So, we decided
exported all. At that time, those main markets were to every Chinatown to change our strategy. The strategy was not on a price competitiveness,
scattered around the World.” said Mr.Chairat Kongsupamanon, CEO and but on a target segmentation. We looked back to our products and
Co-founder of Greenday Global Co., Ltd. eventually developed new outputs, targeting to health-conscious
Graduated from the Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Science, customers who had a high purchasing power. The healthy food trend
Chulalongkorn University, Mr.Chairat would like to bring the knowledge to continued to grow in Europe and Asia with a larger size of healthy food
his family business by developing Thai fruit and vegetable products. He saw lovers. They were willing to pay more to buy quality products” said
the opportunity of Thai agricultural products which could be easily accepted Mr.Chairat. He also added when changing a new target group, the
to foreign markets. He began to study to create new products of fruit and product development and the distribution channel must be revised as
vegetable processing. The main focus was to be in a premium quality, not well.
in a price competitive market arena. The first rule was that his food products The Crucial Determinant is to Manage Material
must be greatly hygienic, so everyone including his families could consume Planning
with an absolute confidence. “One major problem was an insufficient raw material for production.
“Before the name of ‘Greenday’ brand, we initially wanted to use the One counter measure was to implement a contract farming. This was
name ‘Kin Dee’ (Eat well) to make it easy for people to remember. However, an agricultural assurance program for agriculture or livestock farming.
we would like a great perception to people all over the World. Thus, the The contract was an advance agreement between a farm owner and
universal name in English which had a similar meaning of Eat Well had a private buyer who guaranteed the “insured price” of products upfront.
come up. That was the root story of ‘Greenday’ on all packaging in this day” Therefore, the food producers were able to get the raw materials as
mentioned by Mr.Chairat. He also added that the branding was very expected. This was one of an important strategy for resource planning
important. It must be a name which communicates and creates an impression since the materials upstream were all agriculture products. Remarkably,
of product at once. the production planning must be precise and accurate. On one hand,
if the poor planning leading to over stock, it would be burden on cost.
Innovation Leading to the World Market On the other hand, if the raw material was inadequate, the production
A variety of fruits and vegetables from various locations in Thailand were would be shortage, and the orders would not be fulfilled.” said Mr.
processed with care and put in a deliberated design packaging. Greenday Chairat.
started with just 2 machines, focusing on processing of jackfruit, pineapple,
banana, sweet potato, taro in the final form of mixed fruit products. Until Distribution Channel
today, Greenday had step up to the top list of healthy snacks of vegetables “The biggest problem for SMEs at the beginning of their business was
and fruits. The brand had been recognized by both domestic and international the distribution channel. On our early days, our products had not been
markets. The contribution of success was from the innovation in innovative well known to the market. So, putting the products to the department
processing and the promotion of well-being. store, the modern trade, or convenience store were very difficult and
“We use a vacuum frying process with rice bran oil. This process is for time-consumed. In my point of view, the new business might consider
vegetable products such as okra, broccoli, onion, pumpkin and taro, etc. participating in exhibition or trade fair. This way could create an
The key factor is the technology to control pressure and temperature. The opportunity to meet, and to exchange an intensive discussion to any
vacuum-frying uses a high pressure with lower temperature to remove water interesting partner. This was a good alternative to entering the market.
rapidly from the product. Thus, the process can maintain a great nutritional For instance, Greenday had gained a lot benefit from this approach.
value, appearance, color, and taste. This is different from thermal processing Currently, we focus on both convenience stores, and e-commerce
in the past.” mentioned Mr.Chairat. marketing channels to reach the healthy market from children and
mothers to tourist customers.” Mr.Chairat concluded.
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