Chataya Supanpong says her family business, including Bar B Q Plaza, is making big moves at home and abroad. By Pitsinee Jitpleecheep

It hasn't been easy for Food Passion, the operator of Bar B Q Plaza and Joom Zap Hut, to stay afloat in the market for over three decades amid an onslaught of hundreds of restaurant brands both local and international.

Mrs Chataya has added several brands to Food Passion's portfolio.

Chataya Supanpong, the eldest daughter of Choopong and Nipanan Choopojcharoen, the founders of Bar B Q Plaza, is one of the key players keeping Bar B Q Plaza at the forefront of Thailand's 400-billion-baht restaurant sector.

After completing her master's degree in marketing in the US in 2002, Mrs Chataya began her first job as an account executive at a global advertising agency in Bangkok and honed her skills in that field.

"I never thought to join my family's billion-baht food business because my first aim was to become a psychologist or a ballerina," Mrs Chataya says with a smiling face.

It wasn't until 2003 that Mrs Chataya felt compelled to join the family business after Bar B Q Plaza, which had flourished for more than 30 years, began struggling to compete against the growing number of restaurant brands at leading shopping complexes.

She eventually decided to come on board at Bar B Q Plaza Co (the former name of the company), first as business development manager.

While helping run the family business, Mrs Chataya tried her hand at her own business, called Fireplace, to capitalise on the wave of Korean-style barbecue restaurants.

She opened the first Fireplace in 2006 at The Emporium shopping mall, but it closed after just six months.

"I've learned that it's not easy to build one restaurant successfully overnight," she says. "So I got involved with Bar B Q Plaza again and dedicated my time to laying a strong foundation that will keep Bar B Q Plaza alive after many chains have already thrown in the towel."

Mrs Chataya and her son enjoy outdoor recreation during time off.

Mrs Chataya was promoted to assistant managing director in 2012 along with her younger brother and sister. All were allowed to take part in shaping the company's vision.

"We then changed the company again, but only with a new perspective, while preserving all the existing unique and strong points of Bar B Q Plaza, such as the family relationship and flat organisational structure," she says.

Mrs Chataya and her siblings have transformed Bar B Q Plaza into a professionally run company and rebranded to become trendier and a place where people want to work.

Bar B Q Plaza Co was renamed Food Passion in 2015 and management was decentralised.

With those changes in place, Food Passion was named one of the 14 best employers in Thailand, according to Mrs Chataya.

"In the past, it took several months to get enough staff to open a new Bar B Q Plaza," she says. "We were the last choice for people to work for. The situation now is totally changed. We can recruit the number of new staff we need in only one day."

Mrs Chataya has also spearheaded the company's overseas expansion via the franchise system. As of June, the number of Bar B Q Plaza restaurants in Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia had reached 25.

As well, she oversaw the addition of two restaurant brands -- Charna and Space Q -- to the company's portfolio in 2018 in order to ramp up the customer base.

Located on the second floor of Siam Center, Charna positions itself as a restaurant for health-conscious diners. Space Q is a barbecue and shabu restaurant in Thong Lor Soi 11, catering to younger people.

The two latest brands are considered enough for now, but Mrs Chataya has previewed the company's next chapter by purchasing a 74% stake in Food Sun Co, the operator of the Korean restaurant chain Red Sun in Thailand.

Apart from 12 Red Sun eateries in Thailand, Food Passion has acquired the rights to open and manage Red Sun franchises worldwide (except in South Korea, China and Cambodia).

With all these efforts, Food Passion's sales leapfrogged to 3.8 billion baht last year from 1.2 billion baht a decade ago. The number of people who work for the company rose accordingly to over 4,000 from just 100.

Mrs Chataya, husband Ruangchai Supanpong and their daughter relax at home.

The company is aiming for 6% growth in 2019.

Food Passion now runs five restaurant brands with a combined 213 branches: Bar B Q Plaza (152 branches in Thailand and 25 branches elsewhere in Asean), Joom Zap Hut (22 branches), Charna (one branch), Space Q (one branch) and Red Sun (12 branches).

To top things off, the company has won several awards. Mrs Chataya herself recently garnered a Asean Women Entrepreneurs Network award.

The network of businesswomen in the region exchanges knowledge and proposes initiatives to promote economic and trade activities to enhance gender equality and empower and strengthen entrepreneurship skills for women in Asean.

"The successful recipe of Bar B Q Plaza is the collaboration with business partners to expand our customer base and sales channels, brand portfolio and our workforce, making them an important part of our success and able to compete in the world market," Mrs Chataya says.

Looking ahead, she sees Food Passion becoming stronger and more competitive, with a clear-cut aim and vision.

The company pledges to share its future success with its teams in order to engage everyone in the Food Passion family and make them an important part of the success of the company, with the hope that it will grow and compete successfully in the world market.

"Sometimes there may be obstacles," Mrs Chataya says. "But no matter how big they are, we believe that passion changes everything. And if we put more emphasis on finding solutions than on the problems, we will see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"More importantly, we have to be optimistic and rational about everything. Suffering disappears when we understand the cause of the problems. We can also try to be happy with little things, such as having an opportunity to dine with all our family members or watching the birds on the green trees."