Sasin Alumnus Drives One-Size-Fits-One Strategy at Food Passion

Chanin Choopojcharoen (Sasin MBA 2010), Chief Product Innovation and Quality Officer at Food Passion, the owner of the popular grill and barbecue restaurant chain Bar-B-Q Plaza, aims to enhance the customer experience across all branches by adopting a personalized approach to products and services. Through data-driven technologies and innovations, Food Passion is transitioning from a traditional one-size-fits-all marketing strategy to a one-size-fits-one model that caters to individual customer preferences. Chanin shared with Sasin that the consumer market has undergone rapid changes, prompting Food Passion to diversify and create more products and services that cater to individual tastes and preferences. “In the next five years, there’s going to be an ever-changing landscape for both competitors and consumers. So, we need to adapt to the market really fast, and we need to understand and empathize with our customers very carefully,” said Chanin. His strategy is to personalize every location, every restaurant, and every customer’s experience. Another brand under Food Passion, “Joom Zap Hut,” based on northeastern Isan cuisine, also offers a personalized experience by catering to consumers through providing “a good atmosphere, a good space for consumers to enjoy live music, and good food at an affordable price.” Food Passion also has other brands and products in its pipeline to adapt to this ever-changing market. While the strategy has evolved, Bar-B-Q Plaza’s unique products, including its signature sauce and attention to detail, remain the long-standing secret to the restaurant’s success over 37 years of thriving through crises and evolving market landscapes. Integrating Sustainability into Daily Operations From ingredient sourcing to waste management, Food Passion collaborates with a wide range of partners, including Central Pattana, a leading department store company, and non-profit organizations such as Scholars of Sustenance, an international food rescue foundation, to reduce food waste and loss through effective waste segregation and management. “By reducing waste and managing all the waste products into different areas, we reduce a lot of waste that goes to landfill,” said Chanin. “We also have many other initiatives to reduce carbon emissions in our company, and that has been running for three years now. We have successfully reduced carbon emissions by 5% from the base year, and we’re aiming to reduce by 30% in the next five years.” Food Passion also collaborates with local farmers in Tak province, Amphoe Phop Phra district, to source fresh cabbage daily from the mountains and villages, ensuring that farmers receive fair prices for their products. Leadership and Management Style While many leaders rely on verbal meetings with their employees, Chanin’s leadership style is more visual and imaginative. “I see things in pictures, so I like to envision things and draw them out in pictures and map things out. I use these maps or drawings to communicate with my employees or peers so they can understand my point of view and perspectives, and so we can align and take off from there,” he said. “Then we come back and reiterate to see whether our vision is working by talking to customers, empathizing, and reiterating every time there are changes or things we need to adapt.” When everyone, including his team and clients, can see his plans visualized in pictures and drawings, the strategy becomes clear, resulting in alignment on goals and strategies. Building a Culture of Happiness and Innovation “If our employees are happy, then they’re happy to take care of the customers, and they’re happy to take care of the company. That brings more profit, and that is the cycle of happiness that we believe in,” said Chanin. This philosophy of employee development has proven successful. Food Passion recognizes that employees are key drivers of change and adaptation, a belief that has earned the company recognition as Thailand’s number one best employer for ten consecutive years. “We have to trust in our employees and our team to come up with ideas,” said Chanin, adding that mistakes are accepted as opportunities to learn rather than reasons to punish. “We believe in the power of failing forward and moving on,” he said. The Sasin Experience As a Sasin alumnus with a background in Science, Chanin benefited from learning about finance and business strategy, which helped him understand financial structures and devise business strategies. But what he gained from Sasin went beyond the curriculum. “Another thing that surprisingly came out from the Sasin experience is learning many leadership styles from my classmates and peers,” he said. By observing how his classmates led their own companies, he was able to apply different leadership styles to fit his organization. As parting words, Chanin has this advice for Sasin students: “Be present and enjoy every single minute of your time and experience at Sasin. Don’t take any opportunities for granted because this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and you really get a lot out of it.”