Ma-Khwaen-Spicy-Dip e-book

Ma- Khwaen Spicy Dip

Rumtae Company

Business Proposal

i

Board Members

Sawalee Saowalak 603080576-5
President

Salisa Sawatdee 603080157-5
Vice President

Artittaya Thongchai 603080175-3
Secretary

Thanawin Promphiphak 603080114-3
Treasurer

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Executive summary

Overview

Rumtae Company was established in 2020 and is a growing manufacturer of spicy
dip. It was founded by Salisa, Sawalee, Artitaya, and Thanawin after they completed their
International chili making course at the University of Washington in 2018. The founders
moved back to Thailand into their first location at Khon Kaen in September this year.
Nowadays, the principal offices are located in123 Mittraphap road, Mueang Khon Kaen
district, Khon Kaen, 40002

Objectives

The objectives for Ma-Khwaen Spicy Dip in the first three years of operation include:

1. To exceed customers’ expectations for food service and food products.
2. To increase the number of clients served by 25% per year through superior service.
3. To develop a sustainable start-up business that is profitable.

Business Product

Rumtae Company makes Thai spicy dip. We select quality raw materials and monitor
every step of the production process through the standard production process with modern
machinery. We aim provide consumers with the highest level of security and protection.
Presently, our Makhwaen spicy dip is in the growth stage. It competes primarily based on
low-cost and high speed of manufacture and product differentiation. Our future plans include
developing taste and packaging.

Risk/Opportunity

Makhwean is a powerful medical plant in Northern Thailand. It is good for nourishing
the heart, treating trapped wind, reducing swollen, and healing headaches. Although it is best-
selling in the North, the taste and the name of Makhwaen is unfamiliar for Isan people, so it is
a huge risk to penetrate the market here. However, Isan people mostly prefer to eat spicy dip,
thus it has a high opportunity that the customers will buy our products. Moreover, the founder
has an intention to sell our product on onsite which the company is located in a city area
where a large number of people such as children, juvenile, adults who are employed can
easily approach our company. And sell products online to penetrate customers from other
provinces.

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The Solution

Since the name of Makhwaen is unfamiliar for Isan people, it might be difficult to
penetrate the customers. But, because Isan people prefer to eat spicy dip, we plan to stimulate
sales to make customers open their mind and become long-term buyers. Thus, our marketing
plans to stimulate sales in the first phase is 50% discount from the usual price. This plan can
persuade customers to buy our product and rate the quality of products and word of mouth
which it can stimulate the sales, get new customers together with keeping an existing
customer base.

Our Target Market

The founders hope to serve the customers who are 20-30 years old with household
income approximately 1500 baht per month. Ideally, these customers will suggest their
friends, which might apart from the target customers, to buy the products as well. The
ultimate goal is to persuade these customers through product quality and word of mouth and
keep them as regular customers for the long term.

Competition

The popular dips in Khon Kaen shared two things: spicy and reasonably priced. None
of them offered herbs, as a main ingredient, from other regions other than the Northeast.
Moreover, half of them can be bought via an online platform. Our competitors are heading in
the right direction, but only our dip is different since we provide the herbs from the northern
of Thailand with several benefits. In addition, the degree of spiciness of the dips is also
divided into three levels (low spicy, medium spicy, and very spicy) to suit the preferences of
many types of the customers. Besides, Ma-Khwaen Spicy Dip is also found easily via online
platforms.

Keys to Success

The keys to success in this business are:

 Creating a high level of customer satisfaction in our service and products, which will
lead to customer retention each month.

 Great product quality and variety that will be used to aid in customer retention and
growth.

 Exceeding our customers’ expectations by offering them a higher quality of food for a
competitive price.

Capital Requirements

We are seeking 300,000 baht which will enable us to develop our product by
purchasing the latest sealing machine and utensil, supporting shipping cost and packaging,
hiring workers, and enlarging manufacturing production capacity. We expect to provide an
exit within 3 years by a dividend of public offering.

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Ma-Khwaen Spicy Dip

Rumtae Company
Product

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Table of Contents

Board members……………………………………………………………………………….i
Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………….ii
Ma-Khwaen Spicy Dip Product…………………………………………………………….iv
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..1
Survey Report…………………………………………………………………………….......2

Part 1: Personal Information…………………………………………………………..2
Part 2: Consumer Behaviour…………………………………………………………..3
Part 3: Suggestions…………………………………………………………………….6
Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………10
Conclusion and Recommendation…………………………………………………………11

1

Introduction

As several civilizations rise, one of the key factors that drives human lives across the
world is food. From the previous generation to this modern generation, food have been
developed and transformed into many forms. Dip, which is a thick sauce in which pieces of
food are dunked before eating, is one of foods that has remained popular since ancient times.
Many food-related sources say that one of the oldest known dips is hummus, which is made
from chickpeas and combined with garlic, vinegar and occasionally lemon juice. Some state
that it was made in Damasco in the 18th century, while others argue that it was first prepared
by Saladin in the 12th century. Dip is used to add flavor or texture to a food, such as bread,
vegetables, fruits, seafood, meat, potato chips and etc. A lot of people also prefer dip
nowadays since they can enjoy new tastes from a variety of dips that can match to many other
foods. Many dips in Thailand consist of several herbs. However, Ma-Khwaen which is a local
herb can rarely be found in dip.

Ma-Khwaen is most commonly used in Northern Thai, and it can be hard to find
outside Thai and Lao-focused markets. Related to the Chinese Szechuan peppercorn and the
Japanese sansho pepper, Ma-Khwaen is known for its bright citrusy flavor, spiciness and the
mild numbing sensation so unique to certain “Northern-Style” dishes. For example, for the
laab spice mix, and sometimes used to flavor salads and stews. Moreover, Ma-Kwhaen can
nourish blood, lower blood pressure, provide heart care and cure stomach pain. With its
medicinal properties and unique flavor, Ma-Khwaen can be an ingredient for the new dip that
we would like to develop.

Our aim is to create a new product with a great combination between a local herb
from Northern parts of Thailand and dip which is one of the most popular foods on earth. Ma-
Khwaen dip can be a great choice for people who prefer a new taste of dip with spiciness and
benefits for their health. This product not only supports local people by using this local
ingredient, but also promotes Ma-Khwaen to other people.

2

Survey Report

Part 1: Personal Information

Figure 1.1 Gender of 40 respondents

Figure 1.2 Age of 40 respondents

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Figure 1.3 Household income of 40 respondents
According to the findings, most of the respondents were female (70%), but 30% of
respondents were male. Surprisingly, all respondents aged between 20-30 years old. Besides,
most of the respondents had a household income less than 15,000 baht. It was followed by
household income 20,001- 30,000 baht (15%), 30,001 50,000 baht (15%), and 15,001 -20,000
respectively. However, there were some respondents whose income was more than 50,000
and 100,000 baht.
Part 2: Consumer Behaviour
This part discovered consumer behaviour of respondents. It is divided into six
sections as follows: frequency of dip consuming behaviour, spicy level preference, influence
on food purchase decision, Expense per meal, promotion influence on purchase decision, and
Ma-khwaen consuming experience

Figure 2.1 Frequency of dip consuming behavior of respondents

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2.1 Frequency of dip consuming behavior of respondents
37.5% of the respondents sometimes ate dip while 32.5% said they seldom ate it.
Moreover, 17.5% of the respondents who often ate dip and 10% of them regularly ate dip.
There were only 2.5% of the respondents who had never tried dip.
2.2 Spicy or heat level preference of respondents

Figure 2.2 Spicy or heat level preference of respondents
Medium, hot and mild were the most preferred spicy levels for the respondents with
35%, 30%, and 22.5% respectively.
2.3 Influence on food purchase decision of respondents

Figure 2.3 Influence on food purchase decision of respondents
The factor which influences almost every respondents was taste (95%). It is followed
by price (80%), quality (75%). Moreover, 47.5% of the respondents chose quantity and
product design (45%) respectively. However, only one respondent (2.5%) purchased food by
his/her preferences.

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2.4 Expense per meal of respondents

Figure 2.4 Expense per meal of respondents
Over half of the respondents spent money between 50-100 THB for each meal, while
25% of the respondents spent less than 50 THB for each meal and less than a quarter of the
respondents spent more than 100-150 THB per meal.
2.5 Promotion influence on purchase decision of respondents

Figure 2.5 Promotion influence on purchase decision of respondents
Most of the respondents (62.5%) agreed that discount influences them to buy the

product the most while buy 1 get 1 respectively influences 35% of the respondents. On the
other hand, a free sample had the least influence on the respondents (2.5%), and giveaway
seemed to have no influence at all.

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2.6 Ma-khwaen consuming experience of respondents

Table 2.1 Ma-khwaen consuming experience of respondents

Have you ever eaten Ma-Khwaen dip? Yes No
92.5% (N=3)
7.5% (N=37)

Majority of the respondents (92.5%) had never eaten Ma-khwaen dip before whereas
only 7.5 % of respondents had eaten Ma-khwaen dip.

Part 3: Suggestions
This part explored the respondents’ suggestions on the developed product. It consisted

of six sections as follows: impression towards spicy dip, price preference for Ma-Khwaen
spicy dip, packaging preference for Ma-Khwaen spicy dip, packaging size preference for
Ma-Khwaen spicy dip, purchase channel preference, and preference to purchase Ma-Khwaen
spicy dip.

3.1 Impression towards spicy dip of respondents

Figure 3.1 Impression towards spicy dip of respondents

57% of respondents felt neutral towards spicy dip whereas 22.5% and 7.5 of
respondents had positive and negative attitudes towards spicy dip. Moreover, 7.5% of
respondents felt extremely positive regarding spicy dip while only 5% felt extremely negative
towards it.

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3.2 Price preference for Ma-Khwaen spicy dip of respondents

Figure 3.2 Price preference for Ma-Khwaen spicy dip of respondents
Many respondents were willing to pay 20-40 THB for Ma-Khwaen dip (72.5%). In
contrast, 32.5% of respondents preferred to pay 50-70 THB. However, no one wanted to buy
more than 70 THB.
3.3 Packaging preference for Ma-Khwaen spicy dip of respondents

Figure 3.3 Packaging preference for Ma-Khwaen spicy dip of respondents
Over half of respondents (60%) were in favor of using thin wall plastic containers

(tray) as the container of the dip. 15% of respondents were willing to use a plastic bag while
12.5% of them were interested in using a plastic PET jar for the container. 7.5% of
respondents liked a glass jar for the dip. On the other hand, only 5% of the respondents
preferred to use a squeezable plastic tube.

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3.4 Packaging size preference for Ma-Khwaen spicy dip of respondents

Figure 3.4 Packaging size preference for Ma-Khwaen spicy dip of respondents
Most respondents preferred the products in a small size (62.5%) while over a quarter

(37.5%) preferred the products in the medium size.
3.5 Purchase channel preference of respondents

Figure 3.5 Purchase channel preference of respondents
Most respondents preferred to buy the product onsite (67.5%). However, more than a

quarter (32.5%) preferred to buy the product online.

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3.6 Preference to purchase Ma-Khwaen spicy dip of respondents

Figure 3.6 Preference to purchase Ma-Khwaen spicy dip of respondents

27.5% of respondents seemed not interested in buying products while half of the
respondents felt neutral. However, 22.5% of respondents seemed interested in buying the
product. Moreover, respondents also wanted to try a new taste of dips, and they suggested
that the survey should provide more information about Ma-Kwhaen.

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Discussion

According to the first section, respondents were all 20-30 years old, and most of them
were women. Their household income was less than 1,5000 THB per month. As a result, the
developed product should have a reasonable price that 20-to-30-years-old customers could
afford.

In the second section, most of them sometimes and seldom ate dip, and it indicated
that dip is not their main choice of food. However, the result of spicy level preference
revealed that most respondents preferred hot, medium, and mild levels of spicy. Therefore,
we will provide these three spicy levels on our product. Moreover, we will do our best to
develop our product in all aspects which are product design, quality, taste, price, nutrition,
and quantity. We will mainly focus on a taste that mostly influences customers. In the
promotional process, we will use discounts to attract customers because most respondents
love this technique.

In the third section, most of the respondents felt neutral towards the spicy dip,
corresponding to the frequency of spicy dip consumption of respondents in the second
section. Therefore, the respondents showed a slight interest in the dip. For the price
preference of the dip, the respondents afforded to purchase Ma-Khwaen dip in the 20-40 baht
price range and preferred a thin wall plastic tray as a container for its portable size.

According to the size and material of the product preferred by the respondents, it is
possible to develop the product using high quality and affordable plastic containers in a
portable size with the 20-40 baht price range, which is suitable for improving a spicy dip
product to have remarkable flavor and the quality corresponding to the price. For the Ma-
Khwaen spicy dip purchase channel, most of the respondents were in favor of buying the
product from an onsite store. Thus, we have the intention to sell our product in both onsite
and online stores along with advertising through social media platforms for reaching online
consumers and gaining more profit.

Even though the majority felt neutral towards purchasing Ma-Khwaen spicy dip, these
collected data help to create strategies to convince customers to buy such as reasonable price,
public relation, the purchase channel which is available both on onsite and online including
product development. We intend to develop the product until our Ma-Khwaen spicy dip is
spread word of mouth by customers in a positive way.

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Conclusion and Recommendation

In conclusion, the target customers were all 20-30 years old with the household
income less than 15,000 baht per month. According to the survey, to exceed the customer’s
satisfaction, we developed Ma-Khwaen spicy dip at an affordable price for our target, which
is 20 baht per bottle (50 g). We also produce products into three levels of spiciness to meet
the needs of the customers: low spicy, medium spicy, and high spicy. Meanwhile, we focused
mostly on the taste of the dip. Thus, we developed our products with a focus on taste, quality
and reasonable price. We also highlighted the flavor of northern plants that are full of health
benefits. Our products can be purchased both in-store and online to target a wider customer.
To increase the customer’s attraction, we will discount the products in the first stage of our
sale by 50%. A price reduction may result in a lower profit in the early stages, but the quality
of the product itself will lead to higher profits in the long run.

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