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Foodland (Thai: ฟู้ดแลนด์) is a chain of supermarkets operating in Thailand. Somsak Teerapattanakul constructed a store in Thailand in 1972. He and seven other businessmen made the decision to invest 3 million baht to construct the first store, which is “Foodland”. From 1972 till the present, there are 24 branches in total in Thailand. It can be found in 3 locations in Thailand, Bangkok, and surrounding areas, Pattaya and Korat. Foodland has four main Good & Services which are Butcher’s Choice, Fruit & Imported Vegetable, Fresh Food, and Took lae dee (Thai: ร้าน ถูกและดี). There are also some incidents like Jackson Wand reviews, the Shooting Incident in “Nakhon Ratchasima” and COVID-19 related.

History

Somsak Teerapattanakul, also known as “Frank Lim” was born in China in 1935,  he grew up and graduated high school at St. Stephen's School in Hong Kong before moving to settle in Thailand. He started by working at various companies as a department store, bill writer, salesman, and even truck driver. He thought of constructing a store in Thailand. So, he and seven other businessmen made the decision to invest 3 million baht to construct the first store in 1972. At first, the store wasn't called Foodland but was known as "Ploenchit Supermarket," which had a 400 square meter footprint and was housed in Ploenchit Arcade. In the Patpong neighborhood, Somsak and two other joint venture partners built a second supermarket in 1972 with the name "Patpong Supermarket." It is 200 square meters in size. The fact that both stores are "open 24 hours a day," while having some other extra service such as a medical store with a pharmacist or even a bookstore for the first several years, and it is their key selling point. The first few years of service were not very good because stores with air conditioning and closed doors are unfamiliar to Thai people but Somsak still decided to purchase the grocery chain "Daily Lane" in order to build a third location in the Ekkamai neighborhood in 1974. However, this new supermarket differs from the previous one in that it was the first branch to open under the name "Foodland" before the names of the two preceding supermarkets were progressively changed to include "Foodland" as well to provide for management flexibility. The workload has been more intense since he already had two branches constructed two years ago. Somsak felt that he needed to get help from someone who had knowledge of the retail industry. He believed he lacked sufficient knowledge. So, he recruited a Hong Kong retailer expert who had 20 years of experience in the retail sector to join him, and that appeared to work well. In the end, Foodland is a stand-alone model that is growing and spreading its branches.

Branch

From 1972 till the present, there are 24 branches in total in Thailand .It can be found in 3 provinces in Thailand, Bangkok, and surrounding areas, Pattaya, and Korat. Starting with Bangkok, and the surrounding areas, this province is where most Foodland branches are located, 20 branches can be found here consisting of Thonglor, Lat Phrao, Hua Mak, Phetchaburi, Ramindra, Sukhumvit Soi 5, Srinakarin, Charansanitwong, Sukhumvit Soi 16, Lak Si, Pinklao, Phetkasem, The Bright Rama 2, Ratchada, Patpong, Rama 3, Porto Chino Rama 2, Phutthamonthon Sai 4, Nawamin, and Bang Na. The other 4 branches are Pattaya Kiang,

Royal Garden Plaza, and Terminal 21 Pattaya which are located in Pattaya, and lastly Korat branch which is the only branch in Korat. Sadly Foodland has announced that the plan to expand more branches was postponed due to economic problems, also Foodland only gains profit of only 10-12% which is very small compared to other supermarket retailers meaning that it’s not worth opening a new branch.

Goods & Services

Foodland is a supermarket that has been in the retail business for a long time. It is a supermarket that has built-in restaurants that are open 24 hours a day. Its fresh, high-quality, and wide variety of products that experienced experts have selected to meet the standards made “Foodland” well-known. In addition, the products are sorted by category in order for customers to shop more conveniently, and also take care of customers with excellent care and courteous service. Lastly, Foodland goods & services could be separated into four main topics, “Butcher’s Choice”, Imported Fruit & Vegetables, Fresh Food, and “Took lae dee” restaurants.

Butcher’s Choice

Foodland has established a small butchery for producing sausages and German ham called “Butcher’s Choice”. The recipe was invented by a German master butcher who is a professional in sausage making. He inspected, and supervised closely the production to get a truly premium quality product and also made improvements by listening to the received feedback from customers. The factory is also very strict in the production process and has been certified for good hygienic systems, GMP, and HACCP to make customers confident in the quality and safety of the products.

Imported Fruit & Vegetables

The freshest and the best quality fruit & vegetables were handpicked from all over the world with standardized transport with complete inspections from the start to finish. Customers can be confident in the quality of freshness, cleanliness, and safety.

Fresh Food

Foodland also has a variety of meats and seafood. The Department of Livestock, called "OK Livestock," has certified the cleanliness and safety of the meat standards. In addition, Foodland has supervisors and specialist teams stationed at all branches of Foodland to serve or advise on choosing different parts of meat for cooking 24 hours a day.

Took lae dee (Thai: ร้าน ถูกและดี)

Took lae dee has been established since 1972. The food is made with fresh ingredients from Foodland every day at a reasonable price. Took lae dee is designed in an open kitchen style to show customers every step of the food preparation process, and the signature of Took lae dee is that you can choose to order food 24 hours a day.

Incident

Jackson Wang Review

On 20 July 2022. World famous artist “Jackson Wang” has reviewed the menu at “Foodland” after he ordered an American Fried Rice and Corn Chowder at night after his practice. The price is really reasonable with its food quality. This caused the name of Foodland to be mentioned again and attracted a new group of customers.

Shooting Incident in “Nakhon Ratchasima”

On 8 February 2020. The Terminal 21 Korat mall, where the Foodland branch is located, has been damaged by the incident. The terrorists shot people along the way and also kept people as hostages, burning gas tanks and causing explosions and fires in the mall.

Covid-19

On March 9, 2021, the Ramintra Foodland branch was shut down for a few days due to a COVID-19 infection among on of the staff members. Since March 9, 2021 at 7 p.m., this branch has been closed. On March 13, 2021, it reopened at 5 a.m. Foodland Supermarket had planned for cleaning, disinfection, and urgent testing of staff members in risk groups on the day that it closed. and cease holding on to observe the symptoms in the subsequent order.

References

• Somsak Teerapattanakul create a legend ‘Food land’ 24 hours food place, October 15, 2019, https://www.thepeople.co/read/12984 (Article).
• Salika, “Somsak Teerapattanakul, who opened the legendary Foodland, the land of food 24 hours a day, with the latest bang of the trend, American fried rice, Took Lae Dee by Jackson Wang.” July 21, 2022. https://www.salika.co/2022/07/21/somsak-teerapattakul-foodland/ (Article).
• Kanokwan, “50-year route 'Foodland', Thailand's first 24-hour supermarket.”,  July 22, 2022. https://workpointtoday.com/the-story-of-foodland/ (Article).
• Wikipedia, Nakhon Ratchasima shootings, October 8, 2022,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakhon_Ratchasima_shootings (Website).
• Thansettakij Multimedia, Somsak Teerapattanakul at the age of 84 with the creation of a food empire “Foodland” , December 22, 2016, https://www.thansettakij.com/content/120894 (Article).
• FOODLAND CO., Foodland supermarket, N.D., https://www.foodland.co.th/th-th/home.html (Website).