By Tara Mitchell

Nuntiya and Patcharin Hame-Ung-Gull, thirty-something Thai sisters, are gorgeous, charming and impeccably dressed. They love good food and routinely dine in Bangkok’s finest restaurants. But don’t let their glamour fool you, because dining out is their job. The elder sister is running Gourmet One supplying gourmet food and the younger sister is running Beverage One supplying wine to Bangkok’s restaurants and hotels industry.

They  are  savvy  and  successful  businesswomen armed with MBAs, who run four companies between them. They aren’t afraid  of  getting  dirt under their nails, and shrug of those who fuss about the possible damage to their manicures.

“Most  people  aren’t  used  to  seeing women work like us,” says Nuntiya.

“Lifting  and  carrying  things,”  adds Patcharin.

The  sisters  have  a  habit  of  finishing each other’s sentences. If you were to
close your eyes, you’d be  forgiven  for thinking  you  were  talking  with  one
person.

Right now  they are  talking about  the men  at  the Port, where Nuntiya and
Patcharin can ofen be found loading the locally sourced and imported provisions they supply for luxury cruise liners, such as rice, sugar, fruit, vegetables, meat and fish.

They started supplying provisions as a business in 1998, shortly after they graduated with MBAs –  Patcharin from Khon Kaen University’s Bangkok campus and Nuntiya from the Stanford University  affiliated campus, also in Bangkok.

They  supply  several  cruise operators carrying passengers from Singapore,  Vietnam,  Australia  and America,  including  the  prestigious Star Cruises, the third largest cruise operator in the world.

“We only have a couple of hours to load the provisions before the tide goes out,” explains Patcharin. She is wearing a red blouse with a ruffed collar, a  tailored black blazer, and a black pencil skirt.

“We  help  them  load  because  we want them to work faster,” says Nuntiya.  She is wearing a white blouse with a ruffled collar, a tailored black blazer and black trousers.

It’s easy to imagine this is an effective strategy: two beautiful women in high heels, dressed to the nines in corporate chic, lifting crates to shame men into working harder.

Nuntiya  and Patcharin believe  in  leading by  example;  they are no strangers to hard work. In addition to their company which supplies cruise ships, they also run the Lost and Found service at the Suvarnabhumi Airport, liaising with airlines to reunite frantic passengers with their lost luggage.

As  if  this  weren’t  enough,  Nuntiya  entered  the  high-end food and Patcharin entered the beverage industry, importing gourmet  food  and wine  for five-star  restaurants  and hotels in Bangkok. They work through two companies: Nuntiya  is the General Manager of Gourmet One, while Patcharin is the Managing  Director  of  Beverage One.  Between  them,  they manage a staff numbering more than 80, two offices and several warehouses.

“In  the past,  the role of women was mainly as housewives,” says Patcharin, “But nowadays we have more responsibilities than ever,” says Nuntiya. Te sisters wear identical diamante rings on  the  ring fnger of  their  right hands, as  though engaged to each other.

They learned about responsibilities at an early age. They  grew up  in Bangkok with  a  strict mother, who ensured they were home before dark,  even  through  their  university  years. They laugh as they share memories of racing home in a panic as the sun was setting.

Nunitya teases Patcharin about having to get permission  to  see Teh Lion King at  the cinema.  But  they  readily  admit  their mother’s traditional  parenting  style  taught  them  invaluable life lessons.

“She taught us discipline and how to take responsibility,” says Patcharin.

“She  taught  us  to  care  about  other  people, too,” says Nuntiya.

Their father was a businessman who ran the Lost and Found service at  the airport. From him  they  learned  that  in business, fexibility is as important as reliability.

As Nuntiya  puts  it,  “In  his world,  you  can’t only take, you must also give.”

“Everything goes two ways,” adds Patcharin.

She should know. The  sisters may  be  separated  by  two  years, with  elder Nuntiya  taking  after  her  father while  younger  Patcharin  looks more  like their mother, but  they  seem as connected as  identical  twins. They  live together. Both carry two mobile phones, one for speaking with clients and one for speaking with each other.

Do they shop together?

“No,” says Patcharin.

“Yes,” says Nuntiya.

A secret sisterly glance passes between them before they admit, in unison,
“Sometimes.”

Intimately connected sisters working together might sound like a recipe for disaster, but they are quick to point out the diferences between them and how this complements their working relationship. For instance, Nuntiya is the “picky” one, but Patcharin is more easy-going. Patcharin’s under-graduate degree was  in Business Administration majoring  in Computers, while
Nuntiya’s was in English Literature.

“Nuntiya loves to talk and entertain,” says Patcharin. “She’s very good with clients and public relations.”

“With  finance,  accounting  and  paperwork,  Patcharin  is  fantastic,” says Nuntiya. “If you want to talk about money you talk to her.”

As Managing Director  of  Beverage One, Patcharin’s job involves a lot of wines which are imported from Chile, France, Australia and America. She sees a lot of potential growth for the industry in Tailand and fnds that local consumers are becoming increasingly educated about wine.

Nuntiya,  the  General Manager  of  Gourmet  One, knows what’s good when  it comes to imported food,  sourcing  premium  chilled  beef,  chilled lamb,  live  Canadian  lobster,  trufes,  farmed cheeses, Valrhona chocolate, Rougie foie gras, caviar, live oysters, perishables from Europe and Australia  for an  impressive collection of five-star Bangkok establishments.

Her suppliers, whom she visits regularly to build relationships, crisscross the globe, from France to Australia, Italy to New Zealand, and Holland to Canada.

“Chefs trust us,” says Nuntiya, “Because we are honest. If the fish is frozen, we tell them. If a product  is more expensive  in one place  than  the other, we  tell  them. We always give  them  a choice.”

Gourmet One is one of Bangkok’s largest suppliers of foie gras, reflected  in Nuntiya’s obvious familiarity with  the  industry as she discusses how corn-fed French geese and duck difer in texture, colour and taste from the American soya-fed varieties. The Rougie Foie Gras, founded in 1875 in Perigord Region, is today the world leader for foie gras. Its products essentially designed for leading hotels, restaurants and luxury shops. Selected by all leading chefs their products fnd a place on the most prestigious tables throughout the world.

Since 1922 Valrhona has been producing one of the best chocolates  in  the world  and specializes  in  creating  a  range  of dark chocolates with a superior  taste. Using  the finest cocoa beans, Valrhona  supplies  chefs  around  the world with  the  best  that money can buy. Famous Michelin star chefs choose their produce in the pursuit of excellence. Their chocolates, made of cocoa beans selected with specific quality criteria offer a fantastic
palette of aromas combined with a perfect texture.

As  far  as  Patcharin  and Nuntiya  are  concerned,  nothing  but good can come from fusing Tai food with foreign ingredients. “We make a  fabulous green curry,” says Patcharin. “Imagine a Tai green curry cooked with high-quality Australian beef.” Her dancing eyes are  irrefutable proof not  just of her  love of food, but also of her capacity to experiment.

The  Hame-Ung-Gull  sisters  love  to  experiment  with  food. Tey  readily confess to a weakness for pasta – all Italian cuisine, really – not to mention French, Japanese and Vietnamese. Tey dine out constantly to keep abreast of trends in the food and wine market.

They take me to the Four Seasons for  lunch, to sample what Nuntiya calls “the product.”  The sisters are obviously well known here and we are quickly ushered  to  a  secluded booth. The Executive Chef  comes  to  say hello  and Nuntiya talks business, up and coming orders. We taste succulent Australian beef imported by Gourmet One, as well as Valrhona chocolate and French raspberries, part of a decadent dessert selection.

These  days,  when  not  out  wining  and  dining,  sourcing  and  importing,Nuntiya and Patcharin are busy organising an innovative fundraiser for Said Jai Tai, a foundation under the royal patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn that supports, among others, poor children.

The gala event will take place at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in May with Gourmet One and Beverage One sponsoring the event. The plan is to bring 15  executives  chefs  from Bangkok’s  top hotels  to  cook  in pairs,  each collaborating on one dish to complement the seven-course meal. The famous chefs will be filmed as they work, projected live onto screens for the guests
to enjoy.

“It will be the first time 15 executive chefs in Bangkok work together,” enthuses Nuntiya.

This could not have been an easy feat, convincing five-star establishments to give up their chefs for an evening, much less convincing the highest calibre in their field to give up being the boss of the kitchen to work in partnership with others.

Then again, who could resist the charms of the savvy Hame-Ung-Gull sisters?