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09/24/2012

From Cambodia for Cambodia

Khmer Brewery sticks to its values and writes a very special success story Perhaps there's no better example of how a single idea can write the first chapter in a success story than that of Khmer Brewery Ltd. from Cambodia. When Peter LEANG was the Senior Executive Vice President of the trade of FMCG at the family-owned Chip Mong Group he had plenty of dealings with foods. Cooking oil, condensed milk, sugar, and beer were all on the program. As was beer. And it was beer that got Leang thinking. As like most Cambodians he likes a glass of beer or two, he imagined setting up a brewery. He presented his idea to the family committee who, on finding the relevant market research yielded positive results, gave him a free hand. Leang states, "In 2007 I was given the go-ahead for the project. As an absolute novice I had to find out what kind of technical equipment a brewery would need. By the end of 2011 our brewery was finished and the KHS technology ready for operation. We launched our Beer Cambodia brand to the Cambodian market on 01.01.2011. The date was deliberately chosen to stress our goal of becoming number one on the local beer market." Khmer Brewery currently operates three KHS turnkey lines: a canning line, a glass line, and a keg system. This means that only filling and packaging machinery from KHS is in operation. According to Leang, this was exactly the right decision to make. "When I ordered our KHS engineering I acted according to the philosophy of our company group which states that the best, most profitable solution is always to invest in outstanding equipment right from the start. Incidentally, just six months after starting up Khmer is already Cambodia's number two brewery. Beer sales for the first half year of 2012 clocked up 300,000 hectoliters. Further increases in capacity are planned up to 2017 when the company is reckoning on an output of four million hectoliters of beer. Leang considers one guarantee of the brewery's success to be that with Beer Cambodia Khmer is producing a beverage that gives Cambodians the taste they want. Market tests confirm this. Khmer Brewery also sees itself as a brewery for its country and its people. Every single act is checked as to its suitability for the population of Cambodia. The team of employees is 99.99% Cambodian, for example. On the environmental side of things, too, the brewery is a pioneer. For instance, 1.5 million euros has been spent on a wastewater treatment plant so as not to pollute the environment. Leang states, "We hope that the people of Cambodia can be proud of 'their' brewery. This means that we act according to their wishes." All told, Khmer Brewery has shown that sticking to your values can result in great success. Says Leang, " 'From Cambodia for Cambodia' is the motto that in the future will push our company towards further success."