- Bangkok Post -
Malongo, the French coffee brand, has made a splash in the Thai market after entering six months ago to tap the growing local trend of coffee as fashion and lifestyle choices. The recent surge in coffee shops of all sizes nationwide encouraged Europ Continents Co, a distributor of high-tech laboratory and industrial equipment, to open its new business line of importing premium coffee beans and machines from Malongo.
Malongo, the French coffee brand, has made a splash in the Thai market after entering six months ago to tap the growing local trend of coffee as fashion and lifestyle choices.
The recent surge in coffee shops of all sizes nationwide encouraged Europ Continents Co, a distributor of high-tech laboratory and industrial equipment, to open its new business line of importing premium coffee beans and machines from Malongo.
"Historically, coffee machines emerged in France 200 years before appearing in Italy, but Italians are better at marketing," said Rattana Aussawaprasitkul, a marketing executive at Europ Continents.
While competing in hotels, restaurants and caterers with other top brands such as illycaffé and Lavazza from Italy and Boncafe from Switzerland, Malongo has also ventured into the home-use sector with its innovative compact coffee machines priced from 8,500 baht.
"Nowadays, coffee has become more than just a drink, it's a taste of living. And coffee machines are also used as a decoration for residences or the workplace," said Ms Rattana.
More than 100 of the small coffee machines, which work with coffee pods or capsules, have been sold in the past six months, generating over 1.5 million baht to Europ Continents.
She said that even though high import duties on the beans means it costs almost 27 baht to make a cup of Malongo, the coffee has still gained a good response from Thai coffee enthusiasts seeking different brews from all over the world.
Malongo has registered 16 types of coffee with Thailand's Food and Drug Administration from Brazil, Ethiopia, Colombia and Haiti.
Europ Continents plans to market the Malongo machines to broader target groups including offices, restaurants and hotels with a sales target of more than 400 units this year.
It also plans to open a Malongo Café by the second half of the year that will also serve as a showroom for its coffee machines. Sukhumvit Road is being scouted for a suitable location.
Europ Continents has eight offices in Southeast Asia, with separate coffee units in Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.