Thread: Bottled sauces in Thailand.

Hello folks!

I was wondering if anyone here in Thailand has experience of small scale food production for retail? A few sauces I created have caused quite a stir over the last couple of years amongst friends and family, and now I have the time to think about this seriously. The idea is to do a small run initially and to have them sold at a stall or something (not quite planned that bit out).

The production part I can do; sterilisation, hygiene, packaging, consistency of product etc. but what else do I need to consider specifically in Thailand? Any regulations about it? Are the person selling it likely to get hit up by the rozzers for some certificate I do not have? I'm not talking about it getting into tesco or big c but the first run will be 1000 bottles of three different sauces (some of which will be given to local places free as a market trial).

So what are your considered thoughts?

By the way, this would be a ketchup original (perhaps an unsweetened one as well) and a bbq and a chili. They hit a good note with thais and farangs alike, but would cost a bit more than a bottle of variety 57 but not as much as some of the import products. Would it be worth while inviting a bunch of you round to a sampling knowing that you would give honest feedback to some bloke you do not know or care about?

Thoughts - all welcome

Originally Posted by Gilbert

what else do I need to consider specifically in Thailand?

Fuck all

Put it in a nice bottle, wack a nice sticker on it, put on a shirt and tie and head off to see the buyers from foodland, villa, lotus and big C

Originally Posted by Albert Shagnastier

Originally Posted by Gilbert

what else do I need to consider specifically in Thailand?

Fuck all

Put it in a nice bottle, wack a nice sticker on it, put on a shirt and tie and head off to see the buyers from foodland, villa, lotus and big C

....and best of luck if you are Farang attempting to do this.

Originally Posted by Rural Surin

....and best of luck if you are Farang attempting to do this.

Not me guvnor - I will be the brawn behind the brains. It's not like that though; no way we could produce enough for a supermarket except maybe the smaller ones and even then the margins would not work any better than putting a stall up for a couple of weeks to test it out.

Lots of people produce foodstuffs up here in Udon (my wife is a baker and a chap round the corner does proper curries for example) and I wouldn't worry about any regulations as how you do it is bound to be cleaner than the 'official Thai way'.

Don;t give too much away for free but you should start to think about making friends with all the 'deli' places you slagged off recently, as they would be your best places to retail from.

One barrier you may encounter is that most people are not happy paying (significantly) more for a superior product despite what they may say. I would pitch it directly at the main competition price-wise, at least to start with, and then make small pricing adjustments over the next 2 or 3 years indexed to how successful the products are. You'll probably struggle to get much beyond a 20% premium over the perceived market leader though.

Dragons Den will help you and maybe make you a millionaire ,

Originally Posted by Rural Surin

....and best of luck if you are Farang attempting to do this.

Those who dare Rodney, those who dare

Gilbert, where are you based?

Gibert I hope you have a go at this and succeed. Many moons ago in the Western world, going to Sunday markets where some old dear was bottling and selling her own BBQ or Tomatoe sauces and relishes sort of thing was something to look forward to. There's Farangs making and selling all sorts of food products in Thailand as you know but not homemade sauces (that I've ever seen in Pattaya at least). Good luck to you.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Don;t give too much away for free but you should start to think about making friends with all the 'deli' places you slagged off recently, as they would be your best places to retail from.

They would never sell it, and I would have no interest in our products being associated with their offerings.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

One barrier you may encounter is that most people are not happy paying (significantly) more for a superior product despite what they may say. I would pitch it directly at the main competition price-wise, at least to start with, and then make small pricing adjustments over the next 2 or 3 years indexed to how successful the products are.

Very tough to increase prices! It's a different artisan product and not aimed at the people who would think that the pattaya delis are the pinnacle of gastronomy just because they sell meat pies. Quality not quantity, and a rigorous protection of the profit margin as opposed to pissing it away selling it half price to delis.

Originally Posted by Morden

Gilbert, where are you based?

Pattaya.

Originally Posted by Headworx

Gibert I hope you have a go at this and succeed. Many moons ago in the Western world, going to Sunday markets where some old dear was bottling and selling her own BBQ or Tomatoe sauces and relishes sort of thing was something to look forward to.

Cheers. We'll be doing a run in a few weeks when the sample packaging arrives. There are a lot of unnecessary ingredients in most sauces here, and most are packed with GMO and chemicals so after giving up trying to find an alternative, I started making my own. I made a batch yesterday, and had a shock when the chilli sauce blew my head off. Only upon inspection did I realise that the sausage I was dipping into to was packed with chilli.

Anyway, it will appear on the table of a couple of places local to me; they have nothing to lose I guess as it will be free, and they will let me know if anyone requests gmo 57 instead

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Lots of people produce foodstuffs up here in Udon (my wife is a baker and a chap round the corner does proper curries for example) and I wouldn't worry about any regulations as how you do it is bound to be cleaner than the 'official Thai way'.

Don;t give too much away for free but you should start to think about making friends with all the 'deli' places you slagged off recently, as they would be your best places to retail from.

One barrier you may encounter is that most people are not happy paying (significantly) more for a superior product despite what they may say. I would pitch it directly at the main competition price-wise, at least to start with, and then make small pricing adjustments over the next 2 or 3 years indexed to how successful the products are. You'll probably struggle to get much beyond a 20% premium over the perceived market leader though.

Please tell me who does the good curries - are they the Brit type ?

Ta

Gilbert,

I PM'd you.

Selling at a market stall with a sausage sizzle going to the farang crowd would work.
Thai businesses have no appreciation for finer condiments and generally wont stock a more expensive one when a cheaper option exists.
You only have to look at the upmarket German themed places where they do great chunks of wonderful roast pig with sauerkraut and then only give you tomato sauce and french's hotdog mustard to go with it.

When I spent 40 min making my Tex-Mex sauce yesterday for the burger the missus asked why don't I just buy a bottle of bbq sauce instead of going to all that trouble....

Originally Posted by joepaai

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Lots of people produce foodstuffs up here in Udon (my wife is a baker and a chap round the corner does proper curries for example) and I wouldn't worry about any regulations as how you do it is bound to be cleaner than the 'official Thai way'.

Don;t give too much away for free but you should start to think about making friends with all the 'deli' places you slagged off recently, as they would be your best places to retail from.

One barrier you may encounter is that most people are not happy paying (significantly) more for a superior product despite what they may say. I would pitch it directly at the main competition price-wise, at least to start with, and then make small pricing adjustments over the next 2 or 3 years indexed to how successful the products are. You'll probably struggle to get much beyond a 20% premium over the perceived market leader though.

Please tell me who does the good curries - are they the Brit type ?

Ta

They are the British restaurant style curry.

I think Los Amigos still sells them.

Originally Posted by Gilbert

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog
Don;t give too much away for free but you should start to think about making friends with all the 'deli' places you slagged off recently, as they would be your best places to retail from.
They would never sell it, and I would have no interest in our products being associated with their offerings.

Well, have fun failing then.

Originally Posted by Gilbert

Quality not quantity, and a rigorous protection of the profit margin

Again, good luck with that.

Originally Posted by Necron99

Selling at a market stall with a sausage sizzle going to the farang crowd would work.

too right, good advice, but I dont think he really wants advice...

I like your small stall at the market idea. You might even be able to get someone else selling food stuff there to sell your stuff for a share. I wonder if restaurants might be interested in your stuff. It wouldn't hurt if the farang community support each other in the way the Chinese seem to do. The price is pretty much everything for the Thai people I'd guess. Cheap seems to be everything.

Well, all the best to you. If you do get a restaurant in Pattaya to use and sell your sauces let us know as many of us probably get down that way once in a while. I'd give them a try as I'm always buying more of that kind of stuff.

^ x2. If a local is having a go and making a good homemade product I'm interested. Please keep us updated if you go ahead with this.

I got this for my birthday. The warning on the back says I'll die if I eat it so I'm looking forward to that. I might try a bit on some pizza later.

Holy shit this is hot like never before. It won't go away and I have the hiccups.

I was gonna say, be careful they are insanely hot!

^^ Only 600,000 Scovilles, don't be such a pussy.

But it does say only to use as a cooking additive and no to do anything stupid like pour it on your pizza.

Heres the taste test.

one drop on your pizza is enough.

I put quite a big dollop my my pizza.

Originally Posted by Necron99

^^ Only 600,000 Scovilles, don't be such a pussy.

Ummmm it says 1.4 million on the bottle!