Getting to Know Kirirom Food Production

Yesterday and today, we had our first set of meetings with the KFP sales team based in Phnom Penh. Vimol is one of three siblings who help run the family business as the Director of Sales and Marketing. Nakry and Sok Ly, responsible for international sales, were also present in giving us an overview of the company, from its origins as a mango farm in 2002 to building the first commercial scale dried fruit factory in Cambodia in 2013.

Kirirom built the factory as a response to the oversupply of mangoes during picking season and as a way to prevent waste by utilizing fruits that are not good enough for the market - those with broken or impure peels or overripe ones. Today, the factory produces dried mangoes, papayas, and pineapples.

Vimol explaining the pros and cons of different packaging
From left: Nakry, Vimol, Sok Ly, and Juliana

Short visit to the KFP offices
From left: Amruta, Elif, Margaret, Martha, and Juliana

Of course, there was also a product sampling portion to our meeting. Kirirom produces three types of dried mango (ranging from sour to sweet, all natural to sugar added products) as well as dried papayas and pineapples. We may be biased, but everyone at the table thought these were the best dried fruit products we had ever tasted. The Kirirom products taste much more natural and have better flavor than others we have tried. Our supermarket visit confirmed that KFP products are the top shelf, high quality products, available at the local and high end supermarkets.

Kirirom endcap at Aeon supermarket

Finally, after a long day of work, we took advantage of the 9^th floor swimming pool in our hotel to take in the view of the city at night and ended the day with a lovely sunset swim. Tomorrow our team heads to the Kirirom factory and farms in the countryside to see first hand the production process.

Beautiful sunset view from the hotel