Thai Preserved Food Factory Co, the producer of Wai Wai instant noodles, is planning to diversify into functional and premium foods, as it aims to ensure sustainability of its business in the future.
Deputy Managing Director of the company, Veera Napapruekchart has confirmed this plan to diversify into functional and premium food in 2024, as it hopes to cash in on the emerging trends such as low-cholesterol and low-sugar foods, gluten-free products and products tailored for the elderly. The company is also looking into plant-based products.
Marketing Director Yossarun Thamkongka attributed the focus on premium products to the difficulty in raising the price of instant noodles, which falls under the country’s price control list. This has been worsened by rising production cost of instant noodles.
To cope with these challenges, the company recently launched high-fibre ‘riceberry vermicelli’ as a health conscious alternative to instant noodle. It aims to achieve sales of Bt 100 million (US$2.87 million) from the new Wai Wai product in 2024.
Yossarun added, “Our focus is shifting towards future foods and more premium offerings while maintaining a commitment to affordability.”
Meanwhile, Thai Preserved Food is planning to allocate big budget towards building a new factory in Ratchaburi province within the next 5 years. This new factory will add to its existing 2 factories in Nakhon Pathom and Samut Sakhon which has a total production capacity of 700 million pieces per year; 600 million in noodle packets while 100 million units in cup packaging.
