Can someone run a business through passion alone? For the family behind Farm Chokchai Group, the perfect marriage between a teenager's dream of becoming a cowboy and the personal grit to take the bull by the horns when times got tough proved a winning combination for Thailand's pre-eminent cattlemen.
Like any business, Farm Chokchai Group has seen its ups and downs, though this year its perennial perseverance will be crowned with a diamond as the company celebrates its 60th anniversary. The survival of the business through the years has been a product of love, vision and know-how.
When chief executive and managing director Choak Bulakul was 25, he had just graduated with a bachelor's degree in Agribusiness Management and Technology from the University of Vermont and was expected to take the helm of the family business.
That business, of course, was not a small shophouse, but rather a sprawling 20,000-rai beef and dairy farm with 5,000 cows to corral. If that weren't a daunting enough task, what he didn't know beforehand was that the farm was saddled with a massive 500-million-baht debt.
"We operate a complete dairy farm with professional management," said Mr Choak. THITI WANNAMONTHA
"It's not worth mentioning how all of that debt was racked up. What we had to do at that time was deal with it," Mr Choak says. Twenty-five years later, he has not only freed the company from all of its debts, but he's diversifying into related agricultural ventures to help add value to the family venture.
But before looking to the future, it's helpful to look back to 1957, when Mr Choak's father, Chokchai Bulakul, a successful player in the world of real estate, took the bold step of pursuing his dream of becoming a buckaroo.
Mr Chokchai founded Chokchai Farm after purchasing 250 rai on a plateau in Pak Chong district, Nakhon Ratchasima.
He followed up by importing Santa Gertrudis beef cattle from the US, while also promoting Thai beef cattle. His activities included both bovine breeding and serving up beef products to be sold at home and abroad.
The business more or less ran without a hitch before a marketing crisis hit the beef cattle industry in 1978, forcing Chokchai Farm to make the switch to dairy farming.
The farm adjusted itself by raising a crossbreed beef cow capable of producing high-quality milk in a tropical climate.
In 1985, the company's sterilising and bottling plant, which produced various types of milk under the Chokchai Milk brand, was founded to process the raw milk being pumped out at the dairy farm. It was a milestone for the company to complete the cycle from breeding to producing a range of milk products.
But it would not be all downhill from there.
In 1994, Thailand opened its market to tax-free imports of dairy products from Australia and New Zealand, two countries that both had strong expertise and access to higher technology in the industry. The fierce competition against such well-positioned players ended up pushing Chokchai Milk into the red.
Ultimately, the family had to sell off the Chokchai Milk business and its distribution channels in order to survive, leading them to reconsider the viability of their venture.
By that time, Mr Choak had saddled up and taken the reins of Farm Chokchai, with the determination not to sell the farm despite the rough terrain that lay ahead.
Farm Chokchai Group produces 22 tonnes of raw milk a day.
"I insisted on keeping the farm because I still believed we had valuable expertise and the business could go on and diversify into other lucrative areas offering high value," he says.
With his educational background, Mr Choak was able to improve management of the farm in order to get higher-quality milk. That milk was then used as a raw material for the company's Umm! Milk brand of dairy products, including a premium-grade ice cream.
The ice cream in particular proved a hit, selling well in department stores across Bangkok and at the shop in front of Chokchai Farm in Nakhon Ratchasima.
"The idea of producing Umm! Milk was to have unique, premium-grade dairy products that we could derive added value from," Mr Choak says.
The move further showed how the business could diversify into other areas generating higher returns.
Then, in 2000, Chokchai Farm began an entirely new endeavour by wading into the agri-tourism business.
Mr Choak set up Chokchai Ranch Resort Co Ltd to operate an innovative agro-knowledge farm tour, a boutique-style camp and a merchandising business selling related souvenirs.
Chokchai Ranch Resort links the businesses of tourism and agriculture. The attraction welcomes millions of visitors every year.
The endeavour has received a warm welcome from clients, with millions visiting the farm annually.
Mr Choak also diversified into the restaurant business by setting up Chokchai Food and Restaurant Co Ltd to operate Chokchai Steak House and Chokchai Steak Burger, which use premium-grade beef from the company's farm to create added value for the group.
But he says that despite the success of the new ventures, the company will not lose sight of the venture that got them to the dance: the farming and cattle business. Farm Chokchai will keep pushing forward with research and development to improve the company's dairy products.
"We operate a complete dairy farm with professional management," Mr Choak says.
He says management of the farm is divided into four departments: feed, breeding, milking and healthcare.
Nowadays, Farm Chokchai Group runs a substantial dairy farm with more than 3,000 head of dairy cattle, producing 22 tonnes of raw milk a day. Half of that is sold as raw material to other dairy companies, and the rest is produced for the Chokchai Farm brand.
Farm Chokchai Group runs a substantial dairy farm with more than 3,000 head of dairy cattle.
"Ours is the first dairy farm in Asia to have internationally acceptable breeding standards for our dairy cattle exporting programme," Mr Choak says, adding that the export markets are Malaysia, Vietnam and Laos.
To celebrate the 60-year anniversary of Farm Chokchai Group, the company will continue to employ R&D to ensure production of premium-grade products with professional management standards.
In line with the strategy to maintain a focus on premium-grade products, the company is exploring business opportunities with Hokkaido Milk, a premium-grade dairy producer from Japan.
Mr Choak says his company was approached by the famous Japanese firm because Chokchai Farm is the only site in Asia that can control the proportion of water used, as well as the quantity of protein in every single drop of milk, on account of the modern technology employed and the quality of the breeding management techniques.
"That's why Hokkaido Milk looked to us," he says. "We can produce, control and maintain the high standards of quality it needs."
Mr Choak says the group will continue with its current business model of improving farming technology and diversifying into other farm-related businesses to create value-added products.
Half of the farm's raw milk is sold to other dairy companies, and the rest goes into Umm! Milk products.
Umm! Milk products from Chokchai Farm are popular among consumers.
Farm Chokchai Group celebrates its 60thanniversary this year.
