Bangkok Airways Enters Gourmet Food Business

14th Jan 2015

Bangkok Airways, Thailand's only profitable airline company, is not about to abandon its core business just yet.

However, the airline is looking at diversifying its business portfolio by setting up a wholly-owned subsidiary to capitalize on the growing demand of gourmet food in the country.

With the initial capital investment of THB50 million, the operator of the country's only boutique carrier has launched recently the aptly named Gourmet Primo Company (GPC). Its specific business activities include the production, distribution, and supply of kosher and halal-certified gourmet products to companies primarily involved in airline catering services, as well as restaurant and hotel chains across the country and abroad.

The airline source said that the new subsidiary will create a value chain to enable them to serve its customers better. While their initial target markets are those in airline catering services, they will also cater to other companies in the food business such as fast food chains and in-house hotel restaurants.

Some of the products that they will initially offer are baked goodies such as cakes and pastries.

According to the new company director, Swiss-born Linus Knobel, GPC would serve as the company's platform for more business diversification in the future.

Bangkok Airways set up its own catering service company, Bangkok Air Catering Co., in 2006 which currently operates from Suvarnabhumi Airport. It offers catering services to a number of airlines operating from the country's main international gateway through a concession agreement with Airports of Thailand Plc. (AoT), the operator of six major international airports in Thailand.

The airline, however, lamented on the existing concession terms that AoT has granted them, as it restricts them to expand their business beyond catering services outside Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Thus, the Gourmet Primo Co., was born. The company executive admitted that the airline has long wanted to grow its food business beyond airline catering services, but was unable to do so because of the restrictions.

The new venture is seen to be the only way to grow out of its nutshell, so to speak.

The new company will set up its integrated facility a few kilometers from the airport and will start its operations in November this year.

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