Many people living outside of London, especially in the Midlands, should be very familiar with the renowned name of The Globe Trading or The Globe Supermarket. The supermarkets themselves, along with Cash and Carry of The Globe Trading enterprise has expanded up to 8 shops, which are spread out within various towns of the Midlands such as Leamington Spa, Cheltenham, Banbury, Northampton, Warwick, Abingdon and Oxford, and interestingly the Cash and Carry in Warwick is said to be the biggest distributors of Thai products in the whole of Europe.

Today, i-ASiA team have the pleasure of meeting with Mr. Montchai Karmakharm, the owner of the Thai supermarket empire, which has the most numbers of Thai supermarkets in England, this is but one of many of Khun Montchai’s businesses which he runs.
After having graduated Bachelor degree in engineering in England, Khun Montchai went back to work full time as an engineer in Thailand for a period of time. Because his elder brother had opened a Thai restaurant in Banbury, it was this opportunity that had led him to return to England in 1983. At the beginning, he helped to manage his brother’s restaurant by operating in all aspects of the work involved in running it. Today the restaurant has expanded to more than 18 locations around the UK.

The first initial thoughts of venturing into the supermarket business

Khun Montchai and his family members were running 10 very successful Thai restaurants already and this involved having to order large amounts of the appropriate ingredients from various suppliers. Then there came a time when he decided to bring in Thai made products and ingredients himself with a view to cutting down costs. After that he saw a business opportunity in this process which led him to expand and develop a supermarket based business venture in the name of ‘Cash and Carry’. The services which Cash and Carry provide include selling and supplying products to Thai and Chinese supermarkets and restaurants around the UK.

The supermarket business

Not only does The Globe Trading provide foods and beverages, there are many other types of products such as furniture, cutlery and accessories for restaurants and homes as well. Customers who wish to order any specific goods from Thailand can do so at the centre as there are the necessary services provided for this to be done.

Problems and obstacles

During the beginning stages, khun Montchai tried ordering the goods to his restaurants. At first, he only ordered one container’s worth of goods, which meant a lot of hardships was involved in the process. After that the second and third containers were brought in and as he got more and more the amount of goods increased by a significant amount. Nowadays an average of 6-7 containers are brought in, this excludes the shipping of fresh fruits and vegetables and newspapers and magazines which arrive by air freight and accumulates to 3000 kilograms weekly.
The main problem which he faces now is the fact that the whole world are suffering economically this year, and the currency of the pound sterling has weakened, therefore the costs for goods delivered in the UK has to be marked up accordingly to maintain the business. Apart from that, bad debt is one of the major problems that happened.

Future plans

Khun Montchai has a vision to penentrate within the U.K. market by increasing and expanding the number of supermarkets as many as possible around the country. This would in turn increase the amount of goods and products ordered directly from Thailand and the costs of ordering would be cheaper if large bulks were to be involved. The knock on effect of this would be cheaper prices for the customers so they can maintain a good customer relation.

Apart from his businesses, khun Montchai also produces farming goods and products and he owns several acres of farmland in Thailand which are produced and exported internationally. With the help of farmers and agricultural experts in Thailand, he has had the opportunity to improve the farming industry of the whole country. With this in mind it is fair to say that khun Montchai, not only is he the buyer and retailer of these products, but also the producer.

www.theglobetrading.co.uk

The Globe Trading (UK) Ltd.
Unit 3 Lock Lane, Warwick CV34 5AG Tel. 01926419990

The Globe Supermarket
Banbury, 26 Parsons St., Banbury, Oxfordshire OX16 5LY Tel.01295271788

The Globe Supermarket
Cheltenham, 322 High St., Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 3JF Tel.01242253688

The Globe Supermarket
Leamington Spa, 23 High St. Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV31 1LN Tel.01926889797

The Globe Supermarket
Northampton, 12-14 Sheep St. Northampton, Northamptonshire, NN1 2LU Tel.01604230645

The Globe Cash & Carry
Northampton, Unit 40 Rothersthorpe Ave., Northampton, Northamptonshire, NN1 2LU Tel.01604877077

Thai Orchid Oriental Supermarket
20 High St., Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 5AX Tel.01235525540
MK Oriental Mart, 42 St. Clements St., Oxford OX4 1AG Tel.01865248846