The whole company was so excited: we had finally gone international; the prospects in all the restaurants were very good, even the well-known difficult French gourmets had welcomed our food. And Christmas parties scheduled for the next fortnight. A lot of work ahead, but everything very rewarding, not a single cloud in the sky…

Then, what one always believes happens to the others, happened to us.

Within a few minutes nature had reminded us how strong it can be, and changed our hopes for the coming New Year into sorrow.

Pumthaifoodchain has been directly affected: the restaurant in Phi Phi was destroyed, the team was shaken. The Tsunami had hit the company at its birthplace. But still, we could not complain: we had to suffer no casualty, the Phi Phi team miraculously was in Phuket when the wave submerged the island, and, even though our Thai restaurants would suffer losses for some time, the future of the company was not put at risk.

We were so lucky, and Pum felt this from the first day. During the first six months of 2005 she worked solely to raise funds, help and listen to the victims.

Smile with Pum was created; there it was, the foundation we had planned to start when we are old and wise, arriving much earlier than we had thought.