Chokchai Farm, one of the largest ranches in Southeast Asia, plans to renovate a 150 rai plot of its land in Pak Chong, Nakhon Ratchasima province, to pave the way for new tourist attractions.
Farm Chokchai Group managing director and CEO Choak Bulakul poses with trophies awarded by the Tourism Authority of Thailand for Excellence in Agro Tourism.
The farm, which has been in the dairy business for 57 years, will also be more aggressive in online marketing and expanding its presence throughout Thailand and the Southeast Asia region.
"I am proud that our family-run agricultural business can go this far," said Farm Chokchai Group managing director and CEO Choak Bulakul, the oldest son of farm founder Choakchai Bulakul.
Chokchai Farm raises 3,000 dairy cows for milk and exports its own breed called "Chokchai Friesian", a crossbreed between a native Thai species and Holstein Friesian, the world's highest-producing dairy animal, to various neighbouring countries.
It also operates daily farm tours and hosts a campsite, which attracts up to 200,000 visitors a year. The farm also operates chain restaurant outlets including Chokchai Steakhouse, Prime Steak@Farm Chokchai and Umm!..Milk, for which it plans to offer franchise licenses this year.
The farm will also invest more in food and tourism. It expects to generate up to 2 billion baht in revenue this year.
What do you plan to do with farm tour services?
We have grown from cowboy shows and farm tour packages for the general public to CSR & Knowledge Tourism packages for corporate and government agencies. The latter service allows customers to see how we run our corporate social responsibility activities such as producing biogas, organic farming and planting trees.
We also look for new opportunities because people tend to look for new tourism experiences. We plan to have fine dining within the farm where our visitors can enjoy panoramic views. We are also thinking about opening a night tour to offer experiences that our visitors can't find anywhere else.
In addition, we will demolish the old warehouses at the front of the farm to show our new milk processing plant, a 300 million baht investment, built in the shape of a jumping horse. The building will be our new landmark, which visitors can see from Highway No.2.
We also plan to create interactive retail outlets to stimulate the purchasing power of our visitors.
Please elaborate about the concept of interactive retail.
The concept is similar to what we see at theme parks such as Disneyland and Universal Studios. Every attraction inside these parks has an outlet in which visitors can buy items and souvenirs.
At Farm Chokchai, we already have stories to tell, so we will just tie them with commercial products. For example, if we open a new service for kids to practise riding horses, we will also tell them why a cowboy has to wear jeans, a pair of boots and a cowboy hat. The information will trigger young customers to buy the costume in our gift shop.
We might open part of our new factory for visitors to try making Umm!..Milk ice cream. Or we might build new facilities for them to learn how to make chocolate and pastries. The interactive retail outlets will not be as big as those in theme parks, but will be an area where our visitors can participate in activities related to our brands.
The initial cost of investment will be about 100 million baht.
How is your dairy farm business today?
We have exported our milk cows to various countries including Vietnam, Laos and China. We will sign a contract with Myanmar's government to be its consultant and will provide dairy cows, feed and knowledge of farm operation to their farmers.
The Malaysian government has also expressed the same interest in our farm services, as the country has a policy to promote dairy farms to its farmers. This is a good opportunity to expand our products and services to neighbouring countries.
Do you plan to expand Umm!..Milk outlets outside Bangkok?
Food is also our focus. Umm!..Milk now has 25 branches in Bangkok and its vicinity. We are looking to expand further, we have the "Model 25" franchise license, which means those who have the license must open 25 Umm!..Milk outlets in their targeted area such as the North, Northeast, South or even abroad, in places such as Malaysia and Singapore.
It has to be 25 outlets because we truly know the cost of operation, logistics and management. The model is almost complete. The last step is to finish the legal process for franchisees.
How much do you invest in R&D each year?
We don't have to spend much in R&D because we work closely with universities such as Mahidol University and Khon Kaen University, as well as the National Innovation Agency. They have research teams and an annual budget. They are glad to push their academic research to benefit the real business world.
For example, last year we worked with Mahidol University's Institute of Nutrition to launch lactose-free cow's milk. The milk is the first of its kind in Thailand and we see it has high potential, because about 50% of Thais are lactose intolerant. We produce 1,200 bottles of the lactose-free fresh milk a day and will increase to 2,500 bottles in the future. We will introduce other products through co-operation with academic research teams in the future.
How do you plan to tap into online business?
We have just moved to e-commerce service by introducing discount coupons for set menus in our Prime Steak@Farm Chokchai Restaurant's Prasanmit branch. The feedback is very good. In the past few months, e-commerce has driven the restaurant's revenue up 20-30%. We plan to offer more products and services online such as collaborating with hotel booking websites to offer online booking for stays at Camp@Farm Chokchai.
We want internet users to see us and be able to buy our products or services while they are online.
You said you apply a sufficiency economy philosophy for managing Chokchai Farm. Please elaborate.
We always run the business with cash. We have never asked for a loan. We do not have high ambitions to be the largest ranch, but we aim to offer the best products and services. We do not have to set up targeted growth. We run the business as it should be run. We also employ professional teams and have created a KPI [key performance indicators]-based system. We try to have a benchmark on par with companies in the stock exchange. We do not yet have a plan to raise public funds, but if we want to, we can.
How do you want the public to perceive you when they hear your name?
I am now 47 years old. I don't want people to see my name or face as the logo of Chokchai Farm. I see our farm as a knowledge-based organisation and me as an expert and speaker who always wears a cowboy hat and boots and joins academic seminars or forums to share my knowledge and business management experiences.
Chokchai Farm has grown from a cattle farm to an institute where people can come for farm consultancy services.
