Homemade Cheese Co.: A taste of home

WE all occasionally yearn for a piece of back home in whatever form it may come, but managing director and owner of Homemade Cheese Co., Elad Bryn, has gone as far as producing the comfort food himself. The popularity of his range of yogurts, soft cheeses and dips have established him as a highly reputable dairy products-provider in the unusual setting of central Bangkok. Since 2008, the 33-year-old Israeli has brought a taste of the Mediterranean to the capital’s restaurants, hotels and customers.

What are the challenges of producing dairy products in Thailand with regards to sourcing? How do you maintain quality of Mediterranean-style products in the tropics?

Surprisingly we found a good supplier, but the problem is there aren’t many options. We came up against a list of complications due to a lack of choice. Through trial and error, we found the right people to work with and have helped set standards which they maintain, so it’s been educational for both parties. Our products are 100% fresh with no added preservatives and the company ethos strives towards eco-friendly practices as much as possible. By using the best ingredients, quality can be of top standards, but working closely with clients and guiding their staff also is the key to maintaining them. We can ensure quality up to the point that we deliver, but additionally we work closely with our clients and their staff, sous chefs and so on, to ensure the right handling and thereby the consistency of quality.

What are the complexities of making instead of importing and staying viable at the same time?

Rules and regulations have caused me a lot of headache here in Thailand, as well as access to information on what you can and cannot do; especially given the fact that I had some new products that were unfamiliar and found that the existing guidelines don’t always apply to us and how we do things. It was more or less unchartered territory. Being pioneers to an extent, however, have given us an edge in terms of cornering the market and put us at an advantage. I don’t feel as though we need to compete with imported products as our range is extremely fresh. The alternative is often industrialized products which have had to pass through customs, be transported and so on. Not to mention the preservatives to prevent them from spoiling. By the time they reach here they end up expensive despite being a commercial, industrial product.

What are your best sellers and who are your main clients?

Mainly the Greek and natural yogurt are the top sellers, along with the feta cheese. We supply to four- and five-star hotels and restaurants in Bangkok and surrounding provinces.We are also the official suppliers to Tops supermarketsfor their own-brand of natural yogurt and fresh cheese here in Bangkok.

What is your customer retention since the start and what is the secret to keeping your clients? How do you ensure price consistency if the price of some of the ingredients you out-source fluctuates?

Rate of retention has been good as we see and treat our clients as partners rather than follow the customer-buyer relations model. We work very closely and directly with them and our services go beyond the moment of sale and delivery. We’ve forged almost personal relationships throughout the years that are hard to break.

Another thing is that we only aim for quality products and to try to make it as natural as we can and our customers know that.

Our principle in production is ‘keep it simple’. That means not adding anything that is not needed to products from our range, and most definitely nothing that is not natural. These days people are looking more closely into what they are buying, including myself; once I look at a cheese or yogurt product and there are too many ingredients or names of ingredients that I don’t understand, then I know I shouldn’t buy it.

Up to 90% of our products are locally sourced; however, ingredients such as chickpea, which is the basis for hummus, is not found in Thailand, and therefore sourced from abroad and it’s not always easy to predict price-rises both nationally and internationally. In general,we tryto bear the brunt of sudden increasesin costs if need be in order to only increase ours once a year.

Would you consider expanding your product range or adding other foods to your range in the future?

In the future, we might expand our hummus production line and add other Middle Eastern dips and new flavors to current dips, but we want to do things the right way and we understand that it’s a progressive process.

For now the focus is very much on taking the time to study the market carefully while growing. Every expansion in our marketing and production comes with issues to be considered such as logistical staff training and that of additional regulations, which is all-consuming in terms of time and resources.

 Regarding other dairy products, once we move to the new facility with better technology we will have more room to expand both vertically and horizontally; meaning we would be ready to move into new markets and introduce other products to our existing ones. It’s a progressive process and I plan to take it step by step, for the time being we prefer to focus on our core business and what we do, only when the time is right will we begin to consider new directions for the future.Not to mention that you never know what opportunities might present themselves along the way; I always remain very open to new ideas and joint ventures if they show a potential to create a synergy with our business and they share a similar vision and ethos to ours.

Another aspect of expanding is that we also have to make sure the suppliers are ready for the shift in demand. My two main focus points as we go forward where the farms are concerned is that we convince them to upgrade their technology to match ours – in other words, introduce them to modern technology. The second is that the standards of milk are maintained, if not elevated, and quality is not compromised. As I previously mentioned, we endeavor to take people forward with us and improve standards in the region. It’s about vision not just profit.

The method to achieving these goals is also by looking at the bigger picture, and identifying other areas where we can use our knowledge and experience to upgrade standards and technology through input from abroad that can improve the quality of the products of the people we work with in future ventures. This applies particularly to suppliers for the aforementioned Middle Eastern dips. This could mean either aiming to work with small local existing producers that need access to modern technology who are targeting the same market that we already sell to, or by joining with a partner to create a new company or product for the market.

What are your thoughts on AEC (ASEAN Economic Community) integration? How will it affect the dairy industry in Thailand, and your business?

In theory the AEC is very promising, however, I do believe that integration in practice will take some time. Nonetheless, we do see it as a good thing that we can benefit from in a couple of years and are taking it into account vis-à-vis our development plans for the longer term.

Do you have plans to expand further outside of Thailand?

Homemade Cheese Co. is currently working on expanding. The first step is to move to a bigger place, then once we acquire the right technology we wish to expand into further in Thailand and perhaps intoneighboring countries. Currently, we do sometimes sell to KohLanta, Samui, Hua Hin, Pattaya and some small islands near Phuket. In general, these clients approach us; we tend to try to discourage them at first as we understand that things could go wrong along the journey or with the handling by the clients themselves. Not wanting to compromise on quality, we cannot ensure the correct handling after delivery to these destinations. In the case that the product is not 100% satisfactory we reimburse the client, which is not cost-effective for us. Going to the next level by expanding in terms of staff and larger quarters for production would hopefully absorb these types of problems. A farm belonging to the company itself is also a long-term vision of mine.