For one Pattaya fruit vendor, stinky durians are creating the sweet smell of success.
Thongkam Rayubsri, owner of Golden Durian, expects to earn a million-baht profit off this year’s crop of the creamy, smelly fruit, a substantial increase from last year. He’s become so popular, in fact, other vendors are impersonating his shop online.
Golden Durian has only two locations, both in Pattaya: on Soi Sida and Soi Korphai. But, thanks to Facebook, its reputation has spread far and wide. Now even competitors are posting falsely that they operate Golden Durian franchises.
Since April, people have been arriving from the East, Bangkok and even the far North to buy his fruit. The shops have had to implement a computerized queue-management system to keep the crowds orderly.
“We started using queue management last year after experiencing problems with line jumpers,” Thongkam said.
While Facebook is responsible for many of his customers – he gets regular inquiries from remote provinces about driving directors – the quality of his fruit is what really is driving business.
He started selling early in the season with durians from Chanthaburi, where it first became available. This month, Rayong fruit came into season and Thongkam expects to continue to sell the local durian through the end of June. In all, he said, the season will last about eight months.
“This year’s crop of durian is excellent and better than the past year,” he said. “And although we buy from middlemen, they are trustworthy and guarantee the good texture and taste.”
He said reasonable prices also help. He sells durian for 80 baht per kilogram, which is at the high end of last year’s price range, but less than other shops this year, he said.
“We don’t take too much profit,” Thongkam said. “If we get a shipment at a cheap price, we sell cheaply. If it costs us more, the price goes up a little bit.”
The smell of durian is unique. In many public places, its consumption is forbidden because the smell is so strong.
Its texture is like custard and the taste like almond. Durian can help to reduce cholesterol because it contains polyphenols and fibers to reduce cholesterol. However, intake must be limited to a single a day to be useful.
Moreover, durian has antioxidants. Hence, eating durian in proper portions will benefit health and prevent diseases such as heart disease, cancer and others, its advocates claim.
Durians may be a very good source of nutrients, but they are also high in calories and carbohydrates. A durian can have anywhere from 885 calories to 1,500 calories depending on the size.
