The founder of the Thai ice‑cream brand Hawell’s is putting the business up for sale for 165 million baht, saying he is sticking to a long-held goal to enter the monkhood and renounce worldly life.

Siripong Akkarasriyuk, chairman of Hawell’s (Thailand) Co Ltd, made the announcement on Facebook on Friday, saying he is seeking a potential successor to take over the brand, and offering a referral fee of 5 million baht.

Hawell’s was a familiar sight in local shopping malls in the early 2000s before a number of factors caused the business to decline. Only one stand-alone branch remains today.

But Mr Siripong says he has developed a new expansion plan targeting annual sales of nearly 9 billion baht, and wants to find the right person to carry it out.

Mr Siripong, who founded Hawell’s in 1999, said in the post that over the past two years he had tried extensively to negotiate with malls to open branches, but was repeatedly told there was no space — even though vacant spots existed 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 heavy investment. That left franchising as an option, but after careful consideration Mr Siripong concluded that could cause more problems and potentially do irreparable damage to the brand.

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

Mr Siripong, who has had a passion for ice-cream since childhood and began his career as an ice-cream peddler, became a fixture on talk shows featuring Thai entrepreneurs. Hawell’s became known for its quality servings with lower prices and was the Thai ice‑cream brand of the Y2K era.

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

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

The standalone Hawell’s branch on 345 Road in tambon Lumpo of Bang Bua Thong district, Nonthaburi is still open.

The struggle to expand the business, however, is only one of the reasons Mr Siripong cites when explaining his decision to put Hawell’s on the block.

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

Mr Siripong is also the author of Success Derived from the Buddha, published in 2016, and has been giving talks on Buddhism for several years. 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”.

Because two years will not be enough time to execute the expansion plan — nationwide and worldwide — that he has drawn up, finding someone with passion and capability to continue the brand is a better option.

The total value of the assets to be handed over to the successor is 165 million baht. These include seven rai of land in Bang Bua Thong; an office building and factory with machinery and factory licences; a Hawell’s Ice Cream & Fast Food shop; and the Hawell’s trademark.

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

Under his expansion plan, if funding is secured within the first two years, annual sales could reach 8.8 billion baht — combining revenue from 300 soft‑serve shops nationwide, 100 hard ice‑cream shops, and 5,000 automatic cup dispensers.

Full details are contained in a “project plan” that Mr Siripong will also hand over to the successor.

“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.”

Hawell’s founder Siripong Akkarasriyuk on the Su Laew Ruay (Fight on and be rich) talk show more than 10 years ago.