GETTING TO KNOW In August, we sat down around a glass of Mojito with Thibault Spithakis, CoFounder of Chalong Bay Rum at their restaurant, Cane Crush.
Last month, we had the pleasure to sit down with CoFounder of Phuket’s favorite rum, Thibault Spithakis, who created the well-known Chalong Bay Rum back in 2012. We couldn’t resist but ask him a few questions. Tell us a bit more about yourself
loved the country from before. Before leaving the US, we did several market studies to find out the best way we could implement our beverage into Thailand and took a flight to Phuket. How did you come up with Chalong Bay Rum? When we moved to Thailand, we thought there was
I was born in the south of France, near Marseille, where
something to be done in the spirit business. Marine’s
I grew up in the countryside, helping my grandfather and
background is in biology, and both our family were working
father in the grape growing and wine making. My parents
in the wine and spirit industries, so we were familiar with
really pushed me to get out of the countryside to study,
the many processes needed to produce alcohol.
so I ended up studying business administration in France, specializing in Finance. Once I graduated, I wanted to travel the world to experience different cultures and ended up pursuing my work experiences in England and China, before landing a job in Russia, where I lived with Marine, the CoFounder of Chalong Bay Rum, for over a year. After an 18-month trip to the United States to study my MBA, I landed a job in Corporate Finance, but I was worried the impact on my soul would be too much, so we decided to move to Thailand and try our luck there, as we really
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THE GUIDE PHUKET | September 2020
We chose rum because Thailand is one of the top producers of sugar cane in the world, not just by size, but also by quality, and we wanted to create a product that uses ingredients from local farms. Self-sufficiency, empowerment of local farmers, and strong support to the local communities are the foundations of Chalong Bay Rum, and we ensure our sugarcane partners receive all the tools and training they may need and receive a higher value for the sugarcane and their work than standard market rate.
