The man behind the new shop in Hua Hin is the 51 year old Ole Frendesen. Back in Denmark, the dynamic businessman has sold Kvik kitchens from his own shop for more 14 years. Now he is looking forward to make the wide range of the Danish designed and Danish produced Kvik kitchens available for the vast number of foreigners who establish a new home in the area or for Thai people who appreciate the qualities of a western produced kitchen.
Made in Denmark
Ole Frendesen already owned a house in Hua Hin before the idea of opening a Kvik franchise in Hua Hin came about. That made the decision to establish himself as a businessman in Thailand a lot easier.
Now, with a house and a foot in both Thailand and Denmark he is ready to serve customers in both countries. The plan is to stay in Hua Hin from mid September to mid April and then stay the remaining six months in Denmark, more precisely in Odense where the famous Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen was born.
In Denmark, Kvik is selling their kitchens and wardrobes under the slogan “Everybody has the right to a cool kitchen.” And if there is anyone who knows how to give the costumers what they are looking for, it is Ole Frendesen.
“Depending on the season and the market situation we are selling between 500 and 800 kitchen per year in Odense, Ole Frendesen says.
“Kvik has a good name in Denmark for its design and quality. It’s simply value for money”, he says.
In Thailand, the Danish kitchen expert will serve potential costumers from his 200 m2 showroom in the very center of Hua Hin.
57 kitchens sold already
Ole Frendesen will establish a complete collection of Kvik products when the time is right but from the beginning the kitchens can be delivered within six weeks.
And in a way you can say the Dane already started to exercise how to get the Kvik products into Thailand and installed in peoples homes.
“We have already sold 57 kitchens to a housing development project here in Hua Hin. All the 23 containers full of the Danish produced kitchens have already arrived – or will do that pretty soon. And that is even before the showroom is opened.”
In fact, all 57 kitchens will be installed in the housing project Oriental Beach Pearl, owned and managed by Flemming Sorensen, another active Danish businessman in Hua Hin.
This gives Kvik kitchens in Hua Hin an instant start. But this is just a beginning. If things go Ole Frendesens way many more developers and consumers will soon nurse their own right to a cool kitchen.
First in Thailand
Kvik in Hua Hin is set to open on 11 January and will then be the first Kvik shop outside Europe. In Scandinavia, Benelux and Spain, Kvik already has 118 stores. A few days later, another Kvik franchise shop is scheduled to open in Bangkok. The two stores are meant to serve as a foundation for further expansion on overseas markets.
Kvik Executive Director, Carsten B. Andersen believes in Thailand.
“We see Thailand as the door to the East, and with the Kvik concept, we feel on safe ground – both due to the many foreigners living here but also because Thailand has a large and growing middle class with considerable purchasing power,” Carsten B. Andersen says.
“We do not enter the market with inflated prices to signal high-end. We will be at the same level as the local providers and instead turn on parameters such as fast delivery and beautiful Danish design, which in Thailand has a very high status,” he explains.
“With the success we expect in Thailand, we can prepare for further expansion in the East and potentially in other overseas markets as well,” he
says, adding that the group is already looking at a range of new markets.
