All Thai-ed Up

If one were looking for a prime example of how the cliché "from small notions come big ideas" can be reflected in life, look no further than Thai in a Box.

What started in July 1999 as a get-together among five friends, who had drifted apart, and then decided to raise some P300,000 for a takeout delivery counter venture, has now blossomed into a five branches mini-empire of dine in/takeout establishments. What makes things even more amazing is that all five friends are self-confessed non-cooks.

I met two of the managing partners, Edmon Bautista and Ramonito Sicat, at their new looking Podium outlet. They were more than ready to explain how this venture grew to surprise even the most optimistic among them.

Edmon recalls, "The other three partners are Jojo Sicat, Tess Gonzalez and Raymund Pagdanganan. We had been watching those TV series from the States where you always had people bringing to their New York apartments those take out boxes of Chinese food, and we were wondering why nobody was putting up a similar business here in Manila. We rustled up some money together but when we looked for a space, the one offered (our Meralco Ave. branch) was bigger than what we had expected and we were forced to expand the concept to include dine in tables. We had to borrow money, look for favors left and right, and, somehow, things just fell into place and that first outlet was put up for under P1.5 million."

Ramonito adds, "We also had to decide what kind of cuisine we’d produce. We figured the market for Chinese and Japanese was already saturated, so it was almost by default that we opted to go Thai. In 1999, what Thai restaurants there were were all on the expensive side, and carried a Thai name. We wanted to make the cuisine more affordable and have a name that was very customer-friendly given the demographics of our intended market. We cut down on the spicy element of Thai food and spawned rice toppings-type dishes, ideal for the takeout aspect."

The boxes are certainly attractive, and with the colors replicated in their interiors. There’s a sleek, funky modern look to the establishment that belies the inexpensive nature of the food that’s on tap. The old reliables of phad thai noodles and chicken pandan are there, as well as tom yum soup (though in this variant, it’s a seafood tom yum and not just plain shrimp). There are seafood, chicken, beef and pork curries, all served as rice toppings. The Thai steak is a T-bone cut with a special marinade, while the specialty vegetable is Thai kangkong.

All items are served freshly cooked. The owners accept that their version of Thai cuisine is a Filipinized one.

"None of us are chefs. We’re eaters," the two said. "In order to be successful, we felt we had to listen to the customers, and so we modified the preparation to satisfy the great majority of our clientele. If you want to go more spicy, more authentic, we give you the sauces to add to your dish."

"Here at the Podium, we get a number of customers coming from the ADB and they comment on how they actually prefer our version of Thai food," they add. "It’s just something easier for their taste buds."

At Thai in the Box, the customer is truly the king. The menu was especially designed by a graphic designer, in consultation with the owners. The idea behind the menu was to keep the number of items at a specific number so that ordering, whether for dine in or takeout, would be a simple matter. It is a far cry when they started, when there were more than 200 dishes assembled for testing and tasting purposes. Gone as well were the Thai names of the available dishes. Keeping everything simple and in English was the dictum. The key vision was fun dining, comfort food, even if it was Thai cuisine.

At it’s core, Thai in the Box remains a testament to strong bonds of friendship overcoming financial obstacles, and sticking to a concept that, at its inception, was fresh and innovative. With their ages averaging out to the late 20s, the owners of Thai in the Box maintain that one essential key to their success will always be capturing the imagination of the market. In their particular case, never letting the business supplant the primacy of their friendship lies the foundation of why they’re enjoying their success.