TINY COFFEE is not so tiny any more. The Phuket-born brand opened at the new Shell gas station along Chaofa West Road on January 27, bringing the total of combined Tiny Mart and Tiny Coffee outlets to seven around the island.

The Tiny brand was founded by Thanaphum Hongsyok in 2002, with the first Tiny Coffee opening at the Shell station on Phangnga Road in Phuket City.

With the first cafe, Khun Thanaphum says, "I converted the customer-waiting room, in a Shell Gas Station, to be a Tiny Coffee place. The main idea in starting the business was to have a decent place for Shell's customers to wait."

The shops now employ about 40 staff and earn 10 million baht a year in revenue, he says.

"Tiny" also happens to be Khun Thanaphum's nickname. He takes some time from his busy schedule to meet Phuketwan at his new cafe. It's about half full in mid-morning, with a steady flow of shoppers at the connected convenience store.

Many living on Phuket will certainly recognise the name Hongsyok, descendants of a Chinese family that rose to prominence during Phuket's tin mining era.

Over the past 80 years, Hongsyok family business interests have expanded into many key sectors in Phuket's economy including property development, a golf course, auto dealerships and petrol stations.

Khun Thanaphum's father, Khun Phummisak, has served as one of 74 appointed senators of Thailand since last year. He was the founding president of the Phuket Real Estate Club and is honorary consul for Austria (southern Thailand).

Khun Phummisak was previously mayor of Phuket City, serving for 13 years.

Hongsyok family businesses, including the Tiny brand, operate under the Anuphas Group of companies.

Khun Thanaphum is officially Assistant Managing Director (Finance) of Anuphas Group, but this title perhaps does not fully impart his significance within the group. He is the only child of his parents and the eldest son of his generation in the extended family.

As well as running Tiny, Khun Thanaphum is in charge of Anuphas Trading Phuket (Mazda), Anuphas Vividhkarn (Honda), Anuphas Shell Gas Stations and Anuphas AutoPlus.

He's serious and careful with his words, a demeanor one would expect from a man who has known since a young age that all eyes are on him in carrying the family business into the future.

He's been working in the family business for 12 years since returning from master's degree studies in the US in his early 20s. He's married with one child and another on the way.

The new cafe and Shell station are on the family's Chao-Fah City project on 1500 rai of former tin-mine land, which also has a Honda showroom and Phuket Software Park.

With several big-brand companies to help run with his family, Khun Thanaphum certainly has enough business interests to keep him occupied, yet he is also determined to carve out his own name.

"Tiny is the business I want to do and Anuphas's business is the business I have to do for the best," he says.

Tiny operates as part of the family's expanding business, offering complementary services and products.

All Tiny cafes and marts are linked to an Anuphas company, with outlets in the family's four Shell stations, the Anuphas headquarters in Phuket City, the Mazda dealership and the Honda showroom near the new Tiny Coffee and Shell station.

In its opening weeks, the new cafe is doing better than forecast, particularly during the lunch hour.

Khun Thanaphum says it is the first Tiny outlet to have both features that he sees are critical for success: a large size and a roadside location connected to a gas station.

All of the other outlets have either one or the other feature, but not both, he says.

All of the Tiny brand features, from the logo to the website to the printing of the cups, sugar packs and drinking water bottles all stamped with the Tiny logo, were designed by Khun Thanaphum, who holds both an MBA and a master's of science in computer applications.

The Tiny brand of drinking water is also sold at Phuket Country Club, another business run by his family.

Khun Thanaphum says when considering starting a cafe and minimart, he had no interest in using an established brand name franchise. "I have had experience about using existing brands," he says.

"They did not do what they promised and I didn't want to use them anymore. It has been tougher than I thought but Tiny Coffee has passed the hard time."

The focus will remain on Phuket residents, so there are unlikely to be any Tiny branches in the tourist areas of Phuket or in other provinces.

There are also no plans to take on Starbucks and operate in department stores. A Tiny Coffee that opened in a superstore was subsequently shut down.

"It was not a good experience," says Khun Thanaphum, noting that renting the space was an issue that hurt his ability to serve customers.

Another Tiny Coffee is set to open at the Anuphas Body Repair shop in Kathu in March.

Further expansion is being negotiated at the remaining six of 10 Shell petrol stations in Phuket, which are not operated by Anuphas Group. Khun Thanaphum says he hopes to open shops in at least two of these by the end of this year.

Khun Thanaphum is also working to strengthen marketing links between all Anuphas companies with a digital member card offering discounts and other benefits to Anuphas customers.

To attract return business to the coffee shop, Khun Thanaphum says, "For every quarter, we do a new menu list so customers will have a variety of food and drink. We also ask for feedback about the service and menu so that we can improve our service."

To battle the economic downturn, cost-cutting and control measures are in place, he says.

"For this economic crisis, we are concerned about our fixed expenses since our revenues are down about 5-8 percent. We expect a decline in our profit but we have the plan to cut our expenses such as advertising," he says.

He is closely monitoring revenues and expenses on a weekly basis.

Overall, he says, Phuket development is "70 percent right.

"But it should be two times faster."