This year, a total of 21 SMEs received awards. The standout SME categories this year included beverages and agricultural products. "Tiger Brand" tea and coffee won the Rising Star SME award, notable for its rich, less sweet taste at an affordable price. "Charinphan Farm Japanese Melon" won the Agricultural Product SME award, excelling in innovative soilless cultivation (Substrate Culture). This reinforces the success of collaborative product development between SMEs and 7-Eleven, prioritizing consumers to elevate product standards, add value to Thai farmers' raw materials, and sustainably distribute income back to the community.

The Success Story of 'Tiger Brand' Ready-to-Drink Tea and Coffee: A Strong Trend, Exceeding 200 Million Baht in Sales at 7-Eleven. The business journey of Thiti Puavaranukroh, CEO of Kaoming Group Co., Ltd., didn't start with success, but rather came from continuous learning and adaptation. His inspiration for starting his business stemmed from his love of drinking fresh orange juice. They developed a 100% honey orange juice product and launched it in 7-Eleven. However, a short time later, they learned important lessons about pricing and marketing, forcing them to step back and look for new ideas to develop delicious and affordable beverages. This led to the creation of the "Phayak" brand of tea and coffee, and their successful presentation to 7-Eleven, resulting in approval for distribution.

"Another stroke of luck occurred at a trade show when the 7-Eleven management team tasted our tea and coffee and loved the flavor. They invited us to present our products to them, a crucial opportunity that allowed us to collaborate on product development. This resulted in our ready-to-drink, low-sugar, concentrated tea and coffee, priced at only 20 baht, which launched in 7-Eleven in 2023. The response was overwhelmingly positive, especially on social media, with numerous reviews and shares praising its delicious, well-balanced taste and affordable price. This led to exponential brand growth, with orders exceeding our initial production capacity – from a single shift at our factory." "We had to immediately switch to full-capacity 24-hour production," Thiti explained.

By 2025, the company aims to generate 200 million baht in sales in 7-Eleven. Currently, the brand "Phayak" offers seven products: Thai tea, green tea, cocoa, mocha, milk coffee, black coffee, and colorless Thai tea. The best-selling flavors in 7-Eleven are Thai tea, green tea, and cocoa.

Thiti added that the core of the "Phayak" brand is developing products that meet consumers' daily needs at affordable and value-for-money prices, especially for working professionals who want high-quality, readily available ready-to-drink beverages. At the same time, the company adheres to the principle of using 100% domestically sourced ingredients to support Thai farmers, maintains product standards, and continuously develops new products.

Another award-winning Thai SME in the "Agricultural Products SME" category this year is "Japanese Melon" from Charinphan Farm in Hang Dong District, Chiang Mai Province, owned by Natthanich Kityanurak. She started her agricultural journey about 10 years ago after leaving her regular job in Bangkok to return to her hometown and begin a new career as a farmer. She sought high-value, short-cycle alternative crops and finally decided on Japanese melons.

Before starting, she spent six months learning from a group of young farmers and then experimented with growing them on over two rai of her former rice paddy land in Chiang Mai, where the climate is conducive to melon cultivation. She began by dividing the land into two rai for testing, using a soilless cultivation system in a greenhouse from the outset. This system allows for controlled watering and she upgraded to GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) standards to control product quality at every stage. She then expanded to working with a network of local farmers to jointly plan production and generate income for the community. Furthermore, she developed Charinphan Farm into a tourist attraction and an agricultural learning center.

“We wanted to make Japanese melons easily accessible to Thai people while maintaining quality and taste comparable to imported fruits. Therefore, we chose to use imported seeds from Japan and cultivate them in a soilless greenhouse to control quality at every stage. Each cycle takes about three months, from sowing to harvesting. We carefully oversee everything ourselves to ensure pesticide-free, consistently high-quality produce.” "And they all have a consistently sweet and juicy flavor with a Brix level of 14," Natthanich recounts.

In 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Charinphan Farm began selling its Japanese melons through 7-Eleven's All Online channel. They sold whole melons, which were popular among consumers both for personal consumption and as gifts for special occasions. The 7-Eleven team helped improve the delivery process, developed packaging, and optimized the packing for fresh fruit. At the same time, 7-Eleven continuously supported marketing activities to increase awareness and effectively boost sales. As a result, online sales have become one of the main channels for the business. Currently, over 50% of Charinphan Farm's revenue comes from sales through All Online. ส่งความคิดเห็น ใช้ลูกศรเพื่อดูคำแปลทั้งหมด

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