The irony is that Pure Thai Natural Co Ltd DOES HAVE a nice office. A big office, even. Fairly centrally located. But almost inevitably when the client wants to meet, they choose their favorite café, in their neighbourhood and in their comfort zone.
And that's how we found ourselves at D'Manita in Mae Rim, Chiang Mai yesterday, sampling yet more of the stunning northern Thai coffee culture.
Our Chinese-Taiwanese client, Khun Juno, had asked for more product samples after the first samples went off to Shenzen, in the People's Republic of China. And so it needed 15 minutes to explain the textural changes in the new test batches, and to chat about what sort of packaging she has in mind. It's one of the serious plusses about being a niche, handmade natural products business: we can react & respond to our clients' ideas and that inevitably takes us out of our comfort zone. It's sort of the old patriarchal model in reverse: instead of some guy in an office dreaming up some product idea and then spending a fortune on market research to see if people want it, we start with what the client wants and then work backwards consultatively to determine how we can create, adapt, package and produce cost effectively and for their market (which is almost always just a slight variation from what we already do). All of our best products have started life this way.
And along the way we get to see a LOT of lifestyle experience café culture, which is HUGE in Asia.
I took my 16 year old daughter, Miss Ploi, with me. Partly cos she literally OWNS the majority shareholding of our Thai company 😆 but mostly because I want her to GET IT - how customers work and think, how negotiation happens and how you take an idea from dream-concept to something on a shelf somewhere, which builds a future and pays the bills and creates jobs. Yes, this is the face of an emerging new breed of tri-lingual (at least), multi-racial, progressive & creative young business owners.
The café is MILES from anywhere - about 3 km PAST the Tiger Kingdom down a series of narrow, meandering villages roads that go through the village, up the hill and behind the temple. LOADS of parking and just an endless array of instagrammable backdrops. 😆
It wasn't busy on a Friday afternoon, but I am assured it is PACKED with IG warriors on Saturdays and Sundays. Mental not to AVOID it on this days!
Like so many contemporary businesses, D'Manita leans towards look and image more than it seems to worry about the quality of the coffee. Our meeting was VERY upbeat and positive and after our client left, I sat back to finally enjoy an Americano (long black for the Aussies in the room). Perhaps I was too elated and buzzed, but I didn't even bother to complain about the coffee. That weak wishy washy brown stuff in the cup let the whole experience down!
It's sad to find a great café serving B grade coffee - and SOOO UNNECESSARY in a country where we produce world class Arabica beans that are stupid-cheap. Perhaps they have newish staff yet to attend the Barista course? We hope so. But be forewarned that if you do ever go to D'Manita, that you probably should stress when you order that you like your coffee hot and strong. 😆
Choosing to travel a little differently right now, even amidst my working day to day.
Savor The Moments.
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