Thailand to be pastry hub

Managing director AP Nikhil said his company launched the Pastry Club in Thailand to coordinate with business partners around the world, including chefs from several hotel chains and restaurants in Thailand, for other food activities.

The company next month will negotiate with chefs from at least 10 international hotel chains in Dubai to form business alliances with the club, in order to produce various lines of ready-made cake mixes, baked snacks and cakes for both local consumption and export.

The first self-standing concept store will be opened in Dubai in August and another two are planned for Jakarta and Sydney. The company also offers "food tours" for local and foreign customers. Five of its food tours in Thailand and Singapore are sold out.

He said offering food tours would not only help tourism businesses, but also bring food skills from international chefs who would transfer pastry-making technology into Thailand. This will create new opportunities for Thais to export raw materials and process pastries, cakes and desserts.

Nikhil said Thailand's food exports last year reached an estimated Bt15.6 billion, or 10 per cent of the country's export revenue. Even so, snacks, premixes, ready-to-make desserts or even finished desserts accounted for less than 0.3 per cent of the total food exports.