Pies in the sky

23 กุมภาพันธ์ 2558

Pies in the sky

ENTREPRENEURS
Pies in the sky
Former flight attendant finds fulfilment and success after being inspired by the taste of a delicious food in Hong Kong
23/02/2015
Krissana Parnsoonthorn

Former flight attendant Nathanaporn Euawanthanakhun never expected a holiday trip to Hong Kong a few years ago would give her a chance to find a food that inspired her to build a multi-million-baht business.

She recalls the godsend when her friend took her to a restaurant in the Chinese territory and ordered roast pork pies for her to taste.

"When I had the first bite, its taste was really good with a rich roast pork filling. I saw many Thai customers buy the pies, so I brought 30 pieces back home. I got an idea that I should make similar pies to sell at my bakery outlet in Bangkok," she says.

At that time, Ms Nathanaporn sold cakes, biscuits and other items at her small April's Bakery in front of Tops Supermarket in CentralPlaza Ratchada-Rama III shopping centre. She wanted a signature product — and the Hong Kong-style pies were the answer.

She spent about three months trying to make pies with a similar taste to the one she ate in Hong Kong. It was like an experiment. She tried many ingredients from flour to spicy materials to create her own recipe. Finally, she got it.

In 2012, she introduced her roast pork pies at her bakery but sold only 100 on the first day. She had to sell cakes and other products to maintain monthly sales at the level required by the shopping centre.

However, Ms Nathanaporn did not give up with her pies and used many promotional gimmicks to convince customers to try them. She also asked her family for financial assistance, refinanced her car and sold belongings such as luxury bags to help with cash flow for her start-up business.

"I did so many things, as I didn't want to close my business and go home to Nakhon Sawan province. Customers helped me a lot. When they ate my pies and tasted how delicious they were, they told their friends to try some," says Ms Nathanaporn.

The former flight attendant went into the bakery business in 2010 when she left her airline job. She used her savings to open a coffee and bakery shop at a community mall on Praditmanutham Road in Bangkok.

She named her shop April's Bakery after her English name at the airline. All air crew must have an English name, so her colleagues called her April because she was born in that month.

Workers in the central kitchen make pies for all of Nathanaporn’s outlets.

"My coffee shop could not make a profit. The community mall had few customers and the rent was very high. I decided to close it and sought a chance to have a small booth in front of supermarket where there were a lot of customers from morning to evening," she says.

April's Bakery moved to CentralPlaza Ratchada-Rama III in 2011. The signature roast pork pies were introduced a year later.

With her promotion efforts lasting almost a year, the pies finally won wide acceptance among Thai customers in Bangkok. Sales grew to 400 pies a day and Ms Nathanaporn decided to open her second outlet in the Silom area.

Thai Diamond Food Co was established in 2013 to handle the pie operation under the April's Bakery brand.

Ms Nathanaporn then created a variety of fillings in addition to roast pork — honey and curry chicken, tuna, taro, yellow and red bean, black sesame and green tea and custard.

Her business took another step when she sold franchises to people in both Bangkok and major provinces. Now she has six April's Bakery outlets on her own and franchisees have opened another 50.

Thai Diamond Food has a central kitchen in the Sathu Pradit Road area to make April's Bakery pies. It produces both ready-to-eat and frozen pies for all 56 outlets. The kitchen can make up to 40,000 pies a day.

The company sends ready-to-eat pies to all Bangkok outlets each morning, while provincial franchisees order frozen pies and bake them at their outlets.

"I have almost 100 workers at the central kitchen and sell about 20,000 pies on average a day. During Chinese New Year, my pie sales went up to nearly 30,000 a day," Ms Nathanaporn says.

Her first foreign franchise is under negotiation to open in Singapore this year.

Ms Nathanaporn plans to launch her new Manee dessert brand for export soon. Taiwanese-style pineapple cake is a major product for the brand, which also makes cakes with durian, mango and kiwi fruit.

Her company will attend a big food fair in Hong Kong in May to introduce Manee products to foreign customers.

New machines have been installed at the central kitchen to produce pineapple cakes by mass production. This is totally different from pies, which still rely on some manual procedures.

Ms Nathanaporn, managing director of Thai Diamond Food, says each Manee pineapple cake comes in an airtight package and can be kept as long as a year.

"Let's see how many orders we will get from the Hong Kong fair. I think we can adjust our machines to serve the orders," she says.

She is still keen to open a cafe and restaurant under April's Cafe in Bangkok this year. The cafe concept is being designed and she plans to serve her pies and tea as well as some Thai dishes.

She is also eyeing opportunities to expand her food business to neighbouring countries in the next two years. That may involve sales of pies franchise to local investors or the export of Manee products.

Asked how she felt about her business today, Ms Nathanaporn says it is absolutely beyond her expectations. The company has already turned a profit, while sales last year amounted to 120 million baht.

"I still have a long way to go as my company is considered a new player in the market. I will create more foods and I will feel happier if my foods can reach more customers," she says.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/481377/pies-in-the-sky