He put savings of just Bt1 million into the new venture, and the business has since expanded into one generating revenue of Bt10 million, with double-digit annual growth targeted for this year and the next five years.

“I started my business with something that had a connection to my lifestyle. I love to drink coffee, and I had been trying to find the best-flavour coffee from domestic and overseas sources since I started as an IT employee at a corporate business.

“I then visited the ‘China Coffee Fair’ in 2011 and tasted Cafedirect from the UK, which was promoting its products at the event. I loved the Cafedirect flavour and decided to negotiate with the company to be the exclusive distributor of its products in Thailand,” Chate, the founder and managing director of Renova Foods Co, said during an interview with The Nation.

He said he had used his savings to order the first three shipments of Cafedirect coffee for local distribution.

The premium products from Britain enabled him to focus on top supermarkets such as The Mall Group, Central Food Retail, Villa Market, Gourmet Market and Home Fresh Mart.

“Our coffee got positive feedback from the market, so we then decided to expand our range from coffee to other products, and especially fruit juices,” he said.

The company now imports 13 food and drink products for distribution around the country, with the focus remaining on the sale of premium items.

This enabled Renova Foods to bring in revenue of about Bt10 million last year.

The company plans to boost its range from 13 products to 30 categories during the course of this year, which should make it possible to achieve growth in double digits from last year’s level, Chate said.

“The key to our success is our focus on quality products and having a marketing strategy that entails a close relationship with our customers. We also cut operating costs such as logistics and accounting by outsourcing such functions to specialists, which in turn gives us the flexibility to focus on the products and the business,” he explained.

As Renova Foods is a small company, it is vital to reduce fixed costs and focus on the key aspects of running the business – that is, products and marketing – he stressed.

“We concentrate on finding quality products to serve our target group, and also on how to distribute our products to customers. This is the main key to our success. Outsourcing other operations to cut operating costs is the way to keep our business slim and flexible, with a view to driving long-term growth,” the company founder said.

Renova Foods currently employs five people.