Best seller! Nothing to stop E.HOI boiled cockles from condo kitchens to sales in the hundreds of thousands

One trend that is currently of interest to those who want to have their own food business is cooking food at home without having a storefront and selling it through online channels or various platforms, with delivery services serving delicious food to customers' homes. E.HOI, a restaurant selling boiled cockles with spicy dipping sauce, is a clear example, which Ms. Ice-Waranya Musikachai Started from a kitchen in a condo, selling only one menu, but was able to generate hundreds of thousands of baht in income. And now, she has expanded by opening a shop, selling both offline and online channels, expanding her customer base and increasing sales. It's very interesting how she thought of it and started building this brand.

Starting from a square frame It would not be wrong to say that E.HOI was born from a square frame. Because Khun Ice lives in a condo room in the middle of Bangkok, her lifestyle is to order food from applications and delivery every day. No matter how far away the famous shop is or if she doesn't even know where the shop is, if it's delicious, she'll order just by pressing her smartphone. This sparked some ideas for her. "We come from a family that does business. We grew up with grocery stores. We already know that business requires investment and what we have to do. And Ice herself likes to cook and is in the kitchen. One day, I was watching a TV program that talked about cockles.

Ice saw the picture and thought that the product should be more valuable. She could take a picture and attract customers. It looked delicious, even though she doesn’t eat shellfish. But the people around her, both her friends and family, ate it. She thought that the average person would eat about 80% of the time. So she thought that there was no need to make something that she ate. She tried making it for other people to eat.” It turned out that anyone who ate the cockles she made was addicted.

Create a brand that focuses on a single product and is the best. She is another person who dreams of having her own business, even though she never thought she would get into the cockle business because she doesn’t eat fish or shellfish. However, when the idea began to take shape and she was determined to do it seriously, the birth of E.HOI began in a square room on a condo. “E.HOI was established with the intention of making the best product right now. The goal was to sell the best cockles. If you think of good cockles, delicious cockles, quality that doesn’t disappoint, and delicious dipping sauce, it has to be E.HOI.” Even though she doesn’t eat cockles, for her, that wasn’t a limitation. On the contrary, it became a matter that made her have to study and learn more deeply to cover her weaknesses. She started by searching for cockles. “Once I decided to do it, Ice studied it to the utmost. When I started, there were many obstacles. I had to learn, try and make mistakes. Investing 3,000 baht and opening a shop was right for me, but it was just superficial. If I didn’t study more, it wouldn’t have been possible. The first factor was the raw materials. I wanted cheap raw materials to make the most profit. It turned out that there were many species of cockles, such as Indian cockles or Malaysian cockles. I tried ordering. In conclusion, the cost price is different, but the quality is also different. Two - Regarding the middleman, we have never met him, so he sent us bad products. We have no right to demand anything because we do not know where he is and cannot track him down. Ice tried ordering continuously. In the end, we were lucky to find a straightforward seller. Because he saw that we were a newbie, we talked and told him about the problem. Ice did not have much background. If you can help, please give me some advice. I asked for information directly. I received advice on everything. No cheating. If there is a problem, I can file a claim.

For the taste of the cockles, she relies on people around her to help her decide, so she can receive feedback and make improvements until there are no more criticisms. “At first, I didn’t sell through food ordering applications. I mainly sold through Facebook and Line, which were mostly my friends who supported me. They criticized me without any consideration, they would directly scold me. If it wasn’t good, I would fix it. It was like buying knowledge until I thought that the taste of everything was good, so I started selling through the application. I would also listen to feedback from customers. I would tell them that the products sent in this lot were from this pond. Tell me if they were different or not. Which one is better? They would explain it to me.” With her determination to study, learn, and experience from trial and error, she is now skilled at selecting cockles. She can tell which cockles are delicious or not by looking with her eyes and smelling. Each place has different cockle shells and different smells. Currently, what E.HOI sells are pond cockles or farmed cockles, which have full shells, thin shells, no smell. They are easy to open and the price is quite high. “They are with us every day. They are almost like friends. Blind people still have to learn how to live their lives. Ice is the same. Even if they don’t eat them, they have to replace them with something else that they can’t.”

An online clam shop that uses technology perfectly E.HOI is a boiled cockle shop that started in a condo and sells through online delivery platforms. In addition, she orders all the ingredients online. With today’s communication technology, it is very convenient. If you choose to use it well, you will have more opportunities to become an entrepreneur, even without leaving home. “Nowadays, communication technology is very important and it also saves a lot of energy. If I go to buy cockles myself, I can’t carry 20-30 kilograms a day. I also have to buy other things. I definitely can’t do it alone. So Ice chooses to order cockles via Line. I order packages via various applications. It’s like someone goes shopping for me. When I wake up in the morning, I can push them up to my room to sell them because we know how to use technology in our business more. However, there may be transportation costs and trial and error. For example, the cost of transporting cockles from the pond is 500 baht.”

Quality online food stores must be good. And the picture must be as shown in the picture. A restaurant without a storefront that focuses on selling online or via application, by delivering, or what is known as a Ghost Kitchen, is a new trend that is gaining a lot of attention due to the readiness of various platforms that support food delivery, including reducing the cost of managing the storefront. E.HOI also had its origins as one of those. Something to think about is, as a new restaurant, how can you build trust with customers? Ice explained this issue in a thought-provoking way, saying that building your own brand and image is important, and the food pictures must be as shown in the picture. “We must not lie to customers. When you receive the product, it must be as shown in the picture. If the product you receive is not as shown, customers will definitely order it for the first time and only time. Nowadays, there are people who take E.HOI's food pictures to open their own restaurants. Our customer took a screenshot and sent it to us to show that someone had copied your picture and shop name. He tried ordering it, and it was nothing like what we made.” “What Ice just said may seem simple, but I want to say that everything has details, starting from the cockles. Ice tried and made mistakes until he knew that this was the best. Even though the price is high, he accepted it. He spent the money and wanted something delicious. Even though he paid a little more, but got something better, it was worth it than eating something that didn't taste good. It's better than being disappointed with something he ordered and it wasn't good. This includes us as well. We ordered cheap products but the quality was not good. We really couldn't sell them." This is reflected in the giant cockles, which E.HOI specially orders to be 30-35 pieces per kilogram and 35-40 pieces per kilogram, which is considered a large size. In the market, the size is 90 pieces per kilogram. They also have to be washed thoroughly on a daily basis. After the cockles are boiled, they are opened and checked for dirt and smell before being sent to customers. Ingredients such as chili, garlic, and lime for making dipping sauce are also ordered to sell on a daily basis.

Adapting to COVID-19 During the COVID-19 crisis, E.HOI adapted like many other shops. It was a change that could be seen as a positive thing. Since the condo where Ice was staying was an area where there were infected people, she decided to go back home to settle down before deciding to officially open a shop at Talad Sai 2. “I talked to my family that I wanted to continue the business, but the location here is not like the condo. Everyone goes to the market to buy food to eat. If I sold online like the condo, it would be a success. We had to see what we could do with the location. So I went out to open a shop. But going out to set up a shop alone is not like before. So I asked my brother to help. And it became a family business. Now, E.HOI has both a shop and an online shop.” E.HOI opens the shop from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Currently, there are customers both near and far. The original customers still order online. The new customer base is the area near the shop. When there are twice as many customers, the income doubles. Previously, there were an average of 20 orders per day. Orders are increasing to 20-30 kilograms per day, or around 40-60 orders.

“When selling without a storefront, we use images for advertising. The disadvantage is that customers will not see the process of making our food before it is ready. Therefore, we only have one chance to present our products. If we make a mistake, we do not have the chance to make amends. However, having a storefront has the advantage of being able to present our products while meeting customers and having conversations. However, the disadvantages are the weather and the cost of renting space. However, the positive effect is that our income increases significantly.”

Advice for those who are starting out For those who are starting to open a restaurant or run their own business, Ice gave advice and encouragement that “I want you to look at what you are good at first. First, you have to work in a job that you like and what sources of ingredients are near you. What are the outstanding ingredients in your area that can be used to make a business, such as sun-dried beef? Make good packaging, have a logo, make it interesting, delicious taste, beautiful photos, look delicious, attractive. These factors help the business grow on its own. The most important thing is sincerity, do not deceive customers.” “Doing business has advantages, disadvantages, and obstacles. Selling online, no storefront, but we sell through the application, so we have to pay a percentage, similar to renting a storefront. You have to study the ingredients you will sell well first. Learn well first because there are many people who call Ice and say they want to sell like Ice, but Ice asks back if you know how to store these ingredients. No one has said they know. They just want to do it. If you invest, Ice is afraid that you will lose money. So I want you to learn everything carefully before doing anything because nowadays, technology is easily accessible. You can learn from the internet.”