Mango farmer’s daughter branches into juice business

Kusuma’s father Kamrai Choeichom pioneered mango farming in Ang Thong, a traditional rice-growing area, about 20 years ago. Mangoes from his farm covering more than 100 rai (16 hectares) have been well recognised in export markets, which has made him a role model often quoted in agricultural news.
But Kusuma was not satisfied with just growing mangoes. As with other agricultural goods, mango plantations face many limitations, including markets, weather, and other uncontrollable factors. With strong support from her husband Pol Colonel Prasit Poonsangsiri and her sister Kanokwan Choeichom, who is an agricultural expert at the Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Ministry, she decided to establish a mango-juice business. 
She started rolling out the products on December 9.
“It will become bigger than our mango-farm business,” she said in an interview with The Nation last week.
Kusuma, 37, has been a marketing consultant for beauty clinics and other brands. 
Tops Market and Centara Hotels and Resorts have agreed to place her products, branded as “Mango Juice KamRai by Kusuma”, at all of their Thailand branches beginning next month.
Kusuma said she was not afraid of big brands such as Malee, Doi Kham and Tipco, which are already in the mango-juice market, because she was confident in the quality of her KamRai juice.
“I’m not afraid because we are definitely different from them,” she said.
Kusuma said she co-developed her KamRai juice with a subcontract factory with the objective to make it a smoother drink than traditional mango juice. KamRai juice, produced from pasteurised mango powder, has no flavour added, although a little sugar is added to ensure a consistent taste in every bottle.
Unlike Malee, Doi Kham and Tipco mango juices, which all come in paper containers, KamRai juice is packed in a 150-millilitre glass bottle. 
It retails at Bt35 a bottle.
KamRai mango juice’s real target will be export markets, especially China and Dubai. But Kusuma said she was somewhat surprised that traders from Singapore and Hong Kong found out about her juice quickly, perhaps because fresh mangoes from KamRai farm have been shipped to these markets for many years.
Kusuma plans to develop four other mango-related products. They will be concentrated mango drinks for juice dispensers at hotels, restaurants and other outlets; pickled mango in syrup form; mango juice for children packed in paper containers; and a mango dessert cafe franchise, similar to MangoTango.
Kusuma expects to open her first mango dessert cafe and starting selling franchises by the end of this year, targeting tourism spots in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket and other resort towns.