17 years of 'April Bakery' raking in a billion, 7-Eleven and Dubai Chocolate pump up sales
7-Eleven has the opportunity to serve hundreds of thousands of "April Bakery" pieces per day due to high consumer demand and Dubai Chocolate, a lesson in menu management, fashion products help brands make money, support growth
From the initiation of the first “Hong Kong-style roast pork pie” in Thailand, the name “April Bakery” was born and grew in the market. Now, it is 17 years old and the business is earning “1,000 million baht” in 2025. The next step is to realize the dream of taking the Thai brand to the international market. The big goal is the “United States.”
Kanokkan Mathuraporn, President and CEO of Singha Foods Industries (Thailand) Co., Ltd., the creator of the “April Bakery” brand, projected the business in 2024 as very challenging because the year started with “sales” and “slowing purchasing power”, which put the risk of missing the revenue target. However, in the second half of the year, the “Dubai Pistachio Chocolate” trend was very strong, so he caught the trend, invented the formula, and developed the Dubai chocolate product to sell at 39 baht through 7-Eleven, which turned the whole year around to generate over 630 million baht in revenue, growing by 20%, achieving the set target.
2 formulas to expand the growth of "April Bakery" The first is the distribution channel. The company can supply 18 products (SKUs) to the number 1 convenience store, 7-Eleven, which has more than 14,000 branches, allowing consumers to access the products well.
The company has been distributing bakery products through 7-Eleven for 5 years. There is a learning curve to increase sales. It must develop new products to supply consumers, making products circulate quickly (sell out). In the beginning, the development of new products was only 1 item per year. Now, it can create more than 10 items per year.
“Selling products through 7-Eleven has helped us a lot. When we first entered, we were just a small SME operator. Now, we have grown a lot.”
Formula 2 is to follow the trend of bakery fashion menus among consumers because it is a strategy for "making money". For example, April Bakery's Dubai Pistachio Chocolate was produced in the market towards the end of the trend but was still able to generate sales and create good growth. The demand for products from 7-Eleven is as high as a hundred thousand pieces per day, but the company can only produce 70,000 boxes per day. And when all the products are combined, 7-Eleven needs 260,000 boxes per day, but the company has a production capacity of 180,000 boxes per day.
From such needs, in 2024, the company invested almost 100 million baht to build the 9th factory and increase employment to 1,200 people from the original 500 people.
Currently, the company's sales come from convenience stores, 80%, the rest from the storefront, which has 30-40 points of sale, and sells products through cafes, coffee shops, etc. The previous points of sale were selling franchises for about 500,000 baht, but from now on the plan is to focus on opening stores itself, so the rights to sell products in the form of franchises are bought back to own 70% of the stores.
In 2025, the company will also expand a new model, a shop in the form of a sit-down bakery and beverage shop. Inside the shop, freshly baked bakery is created to create an experience for consumers. The first branch at Charoen Krung has very good sales, and the second branch at Asiatique The Riverfront, which will open this May, has an investment budget of about 1 million baht per branch, compared to a kiosk that invests in hundreds of thousands of baht.
In addition to the Thai market, the company is also looking for opportunities to expand its market abroad. In the past, it has sold master franchises to Vietnam and Cambodia, but the big goal is to penetrate the “US” market with a Dubai chocolate menu from Thailand and is looking at a large retail chain like “Costco”. Currently, it plans to present its profile to partners.
“April Bakery” specializes in a variety of dessert menus, but its “hero” product is the red pork pie that made it famous. The next step is to build on the success of Dubai chocolate, which led the company to purchase land in 10 Chiang Mai provinces to grow cocoa. It expects to harvest the produce at the end of this year and to support the cocoa cost, which has increased by 400% this year, but the company has not yet adjusted its product prices.
“Adjusting product prices will immediately cause sales to drop, even if they increase by 2-3 baht. For example, bakery products priced at 39 baht will be adjusted to 41-42 baht. Even if we adjust the price down, sales will not return. Selling products at the new price (with increased prices) is very difficult.”
From the business plan, the company has set a sales target of 1 billion baht in 2025, confident that it can be achieved. From the first 2 months, sales grew very well, averaging 90 million baht per month.
“Long-term goal: To make Thai bakery brands known in the world market, to be a bakery chain or network, and to be an expert in making various bakery products, including chocolate.”
Reference website : www.bangkokbiznews.com