Frito-Lay’s dominance of the global potato chip market is coming under threat from various players emerging in national markets, and its Thai operation is the latest to meet new competition in the form of the Sansai Landsettlement Co-operative Ltd, based in the northern city of Chiang Mai.
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Frito-Lay, the snack food division of PepsiCo, processes around 10,000 tons of potato per year. This dwarfs the volumes currently processed by Sansai, but the Thai group hopes to nibble away at the US giant’s lead. Last January [2001] the group launched the Alu brand of chips in 20 gram and 100 gram bags, retailing at Bt5 (US$0.11) and Bt20 respectively, and sales have grown to the point that products are now distributed nationwide. Indeed, CP Consumer Product Co Ltd, a subsidiary of agribusiness giant Charoen Pokphand, is said to be mulling becoming a major distributor of Alu chips.
The firm’s monthly production capacity is about 4,000 kilograms of chips, made from ten tons of potatoes. However, Bt10m has been spent on new equipment for frying and packaging chips and a further Bt1m has been earmarked for a new cold storage unit, as the group is set on a path of steady expansion.
The brand name Alu was chosen, as it is the Hindi word for potato and well recognised in the region. As Indian cuisine is popular throughout Asia and beyond, the word also enjoys a high level of recognition in the country’s target export markets, such as the United Arab Emirates.
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