Developing a new product from 0 to something is not easy. We learned this the hard way when we tried to get our products, TAAN THAI Cooking Kits, to the US market. In a 3-part blog post series, I will share with you first how we came up with the concept of our products. The next two parts will be about our Kickstarter Campaign and some dos and don'ts that we learned. The third part will be about the product process and how we manage to get our product successfully to the US market.
We have four products: Khao Soi Noodles, Pad Kra Pao, Tom Kha, and Thai Tea Drip Bags. The reason we started this brand is because 1) we are all from Thailand and 2) we think that Thai cooking abroad has so much room for improvement in terms of the products to be offered. So, there we go doing this without knowing how exactly we will achieve our goal.
TAAN THAI Cooking Kits: Authentic, Easy to Cook, Easy to Keep
Let's start with the recipes. We want our products to be as authentic as possible. In researching and developing our products, we started with something that is closest to our hearts: our families. We looked into our mothers' and grandmother's recipes and did many experiments to get consistent tastes we liked. For some recipes, such as Khao Soi Noodles, we searched for home-cook recipes that are original in those areas (such as Chiang Mai for Khao Soi). In finding suppliers, we made sure that they could manufacture exactly the tastes we envisioned and still be vegetarian-friendly. There were tens of iterations of the prototypes to make sure that the tastes were indeed authentic-just like how Thai people enjoy these menus.
Us with our moms during the R&D phase
Then, we have another design requirement: it must be easy to cook. This requirement concept is developed from my experiences as a student abroad. During my time (and still is now), it was extremely hard to find all the ingredients required for many Thai home-cooked dishes. I had to buy separate ingredients for more amounts than I needed and ended up throwing the rest away at the end. So, TAAN THAI products come in boxes, and inside those boxes are single-use sachets perfect for a portion to share and include all the ingredients needed to create a perfect Thai dish. For example, Pad Kra Pao, or Thai Holy Basil Stir-Fried Mix, includes freeze-dried Thai Holy Basil leaves and Thai chili that are harder to find outside of Thailand. By doing this, there is no more than 3 steps to cook and enjoy authentic Thai food with ingredients from Thailand. Tom Kha and Khao Soi also come with freeze-dried herbs and include powdered coconut milk. So there is no need to buy other main ingredients for these dishes. TAAN THAI Thai Tea comes in the form of a drip bag, where you can simply put it over a cup and pour hot water over the drip bag to get the original Thai Tea. For those conscious of health, we also offer a non-coloring variation of Thai Tea as well.
Us visiting different potential suppliers
Last but not least, it must be easy to keep. Our products are all easy to keep. They do not require refrigeration to store the products, and because they are in dried, powder form, there is no need for chemical preservatives. All products' shelf lives are 1-2 years long. This is the product design's requirement, and we tried our hardest to find suppliers who are able to deliver authentic products with innovative twists for us.
Behind the beautiful promo photos are just whatever we find in our kitchens
Long story short, if you like how we came up with our products, please give it a try - they are the labor of our belief in our dream. We are also open to brand affiliates. So, if you are building affiliate programs yourselves, please feel free to reach out to me and we can talk more about our potential collaborations :)
If you'd like to follow more stories from our journey, you can follow us from here:
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youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@taanthaifood