The Red Bull story: how a drink that failed its market test now sells almost 14 billion cans a year
Krating Daeng: the Thai drink for truck drivers that became Red Bull
The drink inside a can of Red Bull was not invented in Austria. It began as a sweet drink with no bubbles, in a small glass bottle, sold to tired truck drivers in Thailand. So what did a toothpaste salesman from Europe see in it?
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1
Around 1980, Rono drives a truck through the night in Thailand. At a small shop by the road, he buys a little glass bottle of Krating Daeng. It is sweet, it has no bubbles, and its caffeine helps him stay awake.
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2
A Thai businessman, Chaleo Yoovidhya, makes it, and he began to sell it in 1976. It is a tonic drink: a drink sold to keep tired workers going, like drivers and builders.
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3
In 1982, an Austrian man lands in Bangkok for work. Dietrich Mateschitz sells toothpaste and shampoo around the world for a German company, Blendax. After each long flight, his body still lives on European time. He has jet lag.
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4
On the way from the airport, he asks the taxi driver to stop and buy a bottle of Krating Daeng. He drinks it over ice. "One glass and the jet lag was gone," he said later.
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5
Not long after, he reads a magazine in a hotel bar in Hong Kong. In Japan, one company paid more tax that year than any other company, and it makes tonic drinks. A company only pays that much tax when it earns a lot. So in Asia, these small bottles are a giant business.
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Then the idea hits him. In Europe, shops sell cola, juice, beer and water. People drink coffee to stay awake. But no big brand sells a cold drink like this one. He wants to be the first to bring a tonic drink to the West.
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But the drink is not his. Chaleo owns the recipe and the factory, and he has no reason to share them with a toothpaste salesman. Luckily, Chaleo's company already works with Blendax in Thailand, so the two men can meet. Mateschitz goes to see him with an offer.
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Go further
Two names behind the bottle.