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Siripong Akkarasriyuk, chairman of Hawell’s (Thailand) Co Ltd, announced the sale in a recent Facebook post, saying he is seeking a successor to take over the brand and offering a 5 million baht referral fee, according to the Bangkok Post.

Hawell’s was a familiar presence in local shopping malls in the early 2000s before several factors led to the business’s decline. Only one standalone branch remains today.

Siripong, who founded Hawell’s in 1999, said in the post that he had spent the past two years extensively negotiating with malls to open branches but was repeatedly told there was no space, despite vacant locations becoming available after other shops moved out.

“No matter how many times we contacted them, the answer was always the same,” he said.

Opening standalone stores, meanwhile, would require substantial investment. Franchising was therefore considered an option, but after careful consideration, Siripong concluded it could create more problems and potentially cause irreparable damage to the brand.

The first Hawell’s branch opened at Central Pinklao in December 1999. It received a positive response, and within three years the brand had 22 branches.

Siripong, who has been passionate about ice cream since childhood and began his career as an ice-cream peddler, became a familiar face on talk shows featuring Thai entrepreneurs. Hawell’s became known for quality servings at lower prices and was a Thai ice-cream brand of the Y2K era.

However, difficulties emerged when major rivals began negotiating exclusive-use clauses with malls to prevent direct competitors from opening branches. This forced nearly all Hawell’s branches to close, with Central Pinklao becoming the last to shut down in 2014.

A compilation of Hawell’s outlets over the years. Photos via Facebook/Hawell’s

In 2023, the Hawell’s name returned with the launch of its first standalone model in Bang Bua Thong, Nonthaburi, which remains in operation.

The challenge of expanding the business, however, is only one of the reasons Mr Siripong gave for putting Hawell’s up for sale.

“The most important reason is that my family and I have only two years left” — the timeframe he has set to renounce worldly life.

Siripong has publicly expressed his devotion to Buddhism for years. He is the author of “Success Derived from the Buddha,” published in 2016, and has been giving many talks on Buddhism. He has been planning the next stage of his life for more than 15 years.

Within two years, he plans to secure land to establish a forest retreat for meditation practice before ordaining as a monk and fully dedicating himself to spiritual solitude.

He intends to sever all contact, including with his wife and daughter, with “the ultimate goal of attaining enlightenment as an arahant,” a term referring to someone who has attained enlightenment.

The total value of the assets to be handed over to the successor is 165 million baht. These include 1.1 hectares of land; an office building and factory with machinery and factory licenses; a Hawell’s Ice Cream & Fast Food shop; and the Hawell’s trademark, according to Thai Examiner.

Other assets include “all the know-how accumulated over 37 years and all ice-cream recipes, both soft-serve and hard ice cream”, Siripong said.

Also included in the sale is a project plan that targets annual sales of 8.8 billion baht, combining revenue from 300 soft-serve shops nationwide, 100 hard ice-cream shops and 5,000 automatic cup dispensers. The plan, however, is contingent on securing enough funding in the first two years.

“Hawell’s is not just a business I built. It has been a part of my life and my family’s life,” he said, thanking customers for their long-standing support.

“Even if I choose to leave worldly life behind … I still want to see Hawell’s move forward.”