Skinless durian a booming business – at 3 times the price

0
4753
Fruit vendor Pairin shows off her peeled durian, “what you see is what you get”.
Fruit vendor Pairin shows off her peeled durian, “what you see is what you get”.

A Pattaya vendor selling the stinky durian fruit at three times the normal price says her business is booming because she sells it without the spiky skin.

Pairin Janmee said May 11 her idea to sell only durian meat came to her after suffering through fussy customers and heavy rain. She said she used to sell durians as most vendors do, by stocking the whole fruit and cutting them open as needed.

But she said many customers didn’t like the durian she cut: It was either too hard, too soft or had the wrong texture. A lot of fruit, she said, was wasted, especially when it rained and sales slumped. Pairin said she decided that slicing different durians and selling a variety of textures would win her more business.

The cost of doing so, however, is higher, so she jacked up prices to 350 baht per kilogram, when durian this year can be bought from street vendors for 120 baht per kilo.

Nonetheless, she said sales have boomed since making the move, especially after she advertised her business on Facebook.

Customer Supattaraporn Srirarath said she came to the stand to buy three kilograms of durian after seeing Pairin’s Facebook post. She said she liked that she could get exactly the texture she preferred.

Bencharath Sriruang bought 2 kg. and said she appreciated being able to choose the meat she liked and thus didn’t think it was too expensive.

While peeled durian certainly is not as common as whole or pieces of durian, packs of meat in plastic are found in markets and even street stalls everywhere in Thailand.