Thailand: Sant Bhirom-Bhakdi searches for ways to keep Singha strong well into the future

As heir to Thailand's oldest brewery family, Sant Bhirom-Bhakdi searches for ways to keep Singha strong well into the future, Bangkok Post published May 8.

Watching a little boy sip beer with his father might shock most families, but the sight was a common one in the Bhirom-Bhakdi clan, operator of the country's oldest brewery. Since he was five years old, Sant Bhirom-Bhakdi developed a taste for the frothy brew normally associated with older men with big bellies. With his long experience in beer tasting and a gift to spot a tasty brew, he was appointed brewmaster for the fourth generation of the family to run the Boon Rawd Brewery (now Singha Corp) business.
To hone his beer-tasting skills, he studied at the Domens Institute of Technology in Germany, where many of today's renowned international brewmasters have trained.

Santi, his father, and Piya, his uncle, hoped he would continue the beer business. But Mr Sant, now 30, saw consumer behaviour changing at an alarming pace. His new idea was to shift the brewery's focus to non-alcoholic drinks, because he realised the empire could not survive on beer and bottled water alone.

After starting work at Boon Rawd Brewery, Mr Sant, business development manager of Singha Corporation's Business Innovation Centre, set up a new division in 2004 to broaden his appeal through new kinds of beverages. Only Mr Sant and two others worked for this unit at first. After three years, the number rose to 40. On top of that, it has about 20 new food and beverage products in the pipeline.

Moshi, the first Singha sister brand for green tea drinks, was born from this centre and launched two years ago, when the green tea market started to become saturated.

''The sales volume didn't achieve our target,'' Mr Sant admits, adding that the product's future was under consideration.

Despite the setback, Mr Sant, who counts racing as a hobby, did not give up on the Moshi brand.''Doing business is not different from car racing,'' he says. ''I always face many obstacles in the battlefield. Sometimes it rains, sometimes my car is badly affected by dust. If we learn to adjust ourselves to unexpected situations and concentrate more on the problem, we can find a clue to win the game.'' Although Mr Sant loves speed, he is methodical and cautious when it comes to introducing new products.

''Moshi gave me the understanding that when offering products we have to require clarity in the concept, packaging and, most importantly, the product selling point,'' he said.

Mr Sant says he aims to develop a trend-setting product in the future.

''We don't sell what we like, but what consumers want,'' he says.

Lately, his unit has introduced ''B-ing'', a new functional drink brand that will compete with the likes of Gatorade. B-ing has a clear selling point: it contains mixed multivitamins.

Before launching B-ing, Mr Sant distributed it to staff for internal taste tests.

Since the launch in February, about two million litres of B-ing have been sold, accounting for half of its target in the first year of operation.

Aside from new products, Mr Sant also extended the company's existing line. It developed Singha's lime soda and superberry drink and distributed them at restaurants in Peninsula Plaza, My Place and Kalapapruek for market tests two months ago. If the response is satisfactory, the new products will be distributed elsewhere.

''We want to increase the sales opportunity of Singha soda, which is normally mixed with whisky only,'' he said.

To broaden the market base, Mr Sant launched the ''Singha Soda Battle of the Year Thailand 2007'' contest and is sponsoring the concert by the Korean superstar Rain in Bangkok next month. He aims to attract more of the hip-hop and young generation to try Singha soda in many product formats.

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