Restaurants and No Alcohol - What is the Logic (If Any)

[soi3eddie]

This week I visited Baan Khun Por in Hua Hin twice. It's a huge open air food court with every type of food from Pizza to Ribs to Sushi to Indian to Thai food). Once to do take-away and second time for Moo Ka Ta dine in. Tables were spaced well at 50% of previous number. No live band blasting out loud music as usual, in fact no music at all just friendly converstation. The best part? Oh yes, the refreshment stands (sponsored by Chang beer) were serving. Now Chang is not my favourite but at 55 Baht for a large bottle it's OK. Served into a paper cup was fine. Very pleasant evening and no garrulous drunks to be seen or heard. Only Thai families, solo expats and couples. Now if only that place could be as pleasant as this always...

Edited May 16, 2020 by soi3eddie

[JensenZ]

5 hours ago, garygooner said:

I agree. What's the problem with an adult having just one or two alcoholic drinks with their meal?

It's not too difficult to come up with some reasons. Whether you agree with them or not is another matter:

 

1. They may have more than one or two alcoholic drinks. 

2. They will stay longer if they are drinking, taking up tables when tables are restricted thereby slowing down customer turnover.

3. They could go home drunk, meaning they are less likely to act responsibly i.e. wear masks, social distancing, curfew observance.

4. With public drinking having been banned for 6 weeks, a lot of people might take the opportunity to overdo it. Baby steps.

 

Sure, it disturbs the 1 or 2 drink responsible crowd, but restricting it entirely is easier than policing it because there are a lot of Thai people about that are half your age with no functional brain to speak of.

 

 

 

 

 

[JWRC]

5 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

If you can't have one meal without booze, there's a thread out there for you:

 

 

Well said, my thoughts exactly.

[JensenZ]

 

5 hours ago, Thomas J said:

The jump to envision that serving alcohol somehow encourages large gatherings in no more factual than banning Tom Yum soup because serving it encourages people to gather in large numbers. 

You don't believe alcohol encourages larger numbers than Tom Yum soup?

 

Take 2 bars. One bar serves only Tom Yum soup. The other bar serves only alcohol. Which bar do you think will be more crowded?

 

 

[Ron jeremy]

21 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

 

You don't believe alcohol encourages larger numbers than Tom Yum soup?

 

Take 2 bars. One bar serves only Tom Yum soup. The other bar serves only alcohol. Which bar do you think will be more crowded?

 

 

If they served booze the place would turn into a <deleted>show, period.

there are very few responsible drinkers there and it simply can't be done.

[elliss]

5 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

You have the right to drink within the laws of the country you choose to live in. 

 

Many expats  have no choice,  No plan B .

 Burned your bridges, no way back ?,  then suffer the consequences of your decision .

Keep on smiling  if you can , Thai style ..

 

Edited May 16, 2020 by elliss

[Bluespunk]

9 minutes ago, elliss said:

 

Many expats  have no choice,  No plan B .

 Burned your bridges, no way back ?,  then suffer the consequences of your decision .

Keep on smiling  if you can , Thai style ..

 

Choices made have to be lived with. However the fact is, there is no “right” to be served alcohol in a restaurant. 

[JensenZ]

37 minutes ago, Ron jeremy said:

If they served booze the place would turn into a <deleted>show, period.

there are very few responsible drinkers there and it simply can't be done.

Right, and most of the population of Pattaya is young, and even less responsible than your average expat drinker.

 

Last I heard, money is scarce among the young ex-working population too. Would it not be better to spend limited resources on essential commodities, such as food?

[elliss]

22 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

Choices made have to be lived with. However the fact is, there is no “right” to be served alcohol in a restaurant. 

 

     Restaurants that will not allow customers to enjoy drinks, with their meal ,

     will be avoided on principle , customers choice ..

 

Edited May 16, 2020 by elliss
spelling

[JensenZ]

5 minutes ago, elliss said:

 

     Restaurants that will not allow customers to enjoy drinks, with their meal ,

     will be avoided on principle , customers choice ..

 

Yes, take a stand! Let the restaurants that aren't allowed to serve alcohol by Government decree, and are already suffering financially, suffer some more without you.

 

Personally I believe we should all support local businesses, with or without alcohol.

[Russell17au]

14 minutes ago, elliss said:

 

     Restaurants that will not allow customers to enjoy drinks, with their meal ,

     will be avoided on principle , customers choice ..

 

Then that means that I will go to that restaurant and be assured that I will be able to enjoy my meal with my wife without some drunken idiot stumbling and falling all over the place including our table and chairs and slobbering and spitting all over us and our food. Keep the no alcohol at restaurants so people can enjoy their food, if you want alcohol then go to a bar

[Bluespunk]

50 minutes ago, elliss said:

 

     Restaurants that will not allow customers to enjoy drinks, with their meal ,

     will be avoided on principle , customers choice ..

 

That is a choice that can be made. 
 

Fair enough if that’s how someone feels. 
 

Still does not make alcohol being served in restaurants a “rights” issue. 

[jacko45k]

15 hours ago, Baht Simpson said:

I guess the rationale is that people are less likely to congregate in larger groups if there is no alcohol.  Whether that's true or not is hard to determine.

Of course, the same as allowing people onto the beach. They prefer the simple blanket ban to prevent drinking congregation, than more complicated rules requiring micro management and policing. The Thais love to congregate around a mat or table with a dozen bottles and half a dozen plates of food. 

[JensenZ]

20 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Of course, the same as allowing people onto the beach. They prefer the simple blanket ban to prevent drinking congregation, than more complicated rules requiring micro management and policing. The Thais love to congregate around a mat or table with a dozen bottles and half a dozen plates of food. 

To be fair, a strict ban on beach use and swimming was implemented in many countries. It was probably a case of 'monkey see - monkey do' for Thailand.

 

Thais are used to alcohol bans and are probably not whining as loudly as many expats do.  

Edited May 16, 2020 by JensenZ

[stephenterry]

17 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Of course, the same as allowing people onto the beach. They prefer the simple blanket ban to prevent drinking congregation, than more complicated rules requiring micro management and policing. The Thais love to congregate around a mat or table with a dozen bottles and half a dozen plates of food. 

Exactly - this alcohol ban is centred on keeping the Thais from infecting themselves in drunken addictive numbers, and not aimed at foreigners, whose similar meal habits are restricted to the occasional celebration events, not everyday habits.

 

That is the logic. I ate out yesterday for the first time in weeks with a good friend, drinking fruit-based sodas, and then we returned back to my place for an after lunch digestive, no problem.  

[Peterw42]

My wife was waitressing in a restaurant when they first shut down only the bars, it was an absolute disaster. By default, anyone who sat in a bar drinking all day, just came and sat in the restaurant drinking all day. 3-4 guys would turn up, buy a plate of chips, then be drinking for hours.

Its not hard to see the logic behind not selling alcohol, its because a large percentage of the population will abuse it and turn a restaurant into a bar.

[BobBKK]

6 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

My wife was waitressing in a restaurant when they first shut down only the bars, it was an absolute disaster. By default, anyone who sat in a bar drinking all day, just came and sat in the restaurant drinking all day. 3-4 guys would turn up, buy a plate of chips, then be drinking for hours.

Its not hard to see the logic behind not selling alcohol, its because a large percentage of the population will abuse it and turn a restaurant into a bar.

As your wife is a waitress and not an owner it's irrelevant. I bet the owner would prefer to be in business SELLING something - food or drink. Everyone in the catering trade knows that drinks go with meals and on a high mark-up.

Edited May 17, 2020 by BobBKK

[PatOngo]

How's this for a weird thought, is it remotely possible that SOME people may go to a restaurant to savour THE FOOD?

[BobBKK]

1 minute ago, PatOngo said:

How's this for a weird thought, is it remotely possible that SOME people may go to a restaurant to savour THE FOOD?

An Italian Pizza without red wine is like a gorgeous naked girl without sex... they go together.

[Peterw42]

23 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

As your wife is a waitress and not an owner it's irrelevant. I bet the owner would prefer to be in business SELLING something - food or drink. Everyone in the catering trade knows that drinks go with meals and on a high mark-up.

Of course the owner would like to be selling food and alcohol and making the high margin. 

The question is why wont the government allow it, and the answer is, it will be abused by many.

Yes it would be great to have a drink with a meal etc but many Thais and expats will see it as an opportunity to turn the local restaurant into a bar/pub. That is the logic behind the no alcohol.

 

[DLock]

It's clear from the outrage over the alcohol bans and the continual threads and crying like a kid on the first day of school, that Thai Visa has a pretty serious alcohol problem.

 

Go out, eat your meal and go home and have a few drinks...and stop whining.

[Thomas J]

23 hours ago, 2long said:

If booze is sold in restaurants, people will order a snack or small meal and have a session of booze, at least and especially until pubs open.

2long

And which study did you pull this from?  I swear the older i get the more I recognize that every one is born into this world ignorant but some appear to do an unbelievable job of remaining so for the rest of their lives. 

There certainly was no incidence of people ordering small meals and getting drunk on booze before the coronavirus.  Even if that was true, how does having a few drinks pose any greater risk for the other patrons than someone who orders a small meal and has a dozen soft drinks.  

Additionally the average Thai does not have the money to sit inside a restaurant order a meal and buy large amounts of alcohol at restaurant prices.   It is a good thing that for the most part, people are punished when they break the rules, not because of some wild hair notion that THEY MIGHT break the rules. 

 

[Thomas J]

6 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Of course the owner would like to be selling food and alcohol and making the high margin. 

The question is why wont the government allow it, and the answer is, it will be abused by many.

Peterw42  

Please provide your EVIDENCE that this was ever a problem even before the coronavirus.  I guess we should not sell gas because SOME MIGHT SPEED and abuse the privilege.  We should not sell knives because SOME MIGHT use the knife to harm someone else.  We shoul;d not sell matches because SOME ONE MIGHT abuse them and set buildings on fire. 

The far fetched MIGHT HAPPEN group of people just amaze me.  Here are facts.  In Thailand an average of 55 people are killed by traffic fatalities each and every day and this has happened for decades.  Yet let 56 people many of whom have comorbidities die from cornovirus and suddenly the government has to protect everyone from WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN

[Peterw42]

12 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

Peterw42  

Please provide your EVIDENCE that this was ever a problem even before the coronavirus.  I guess we should not sell gas because SOME MIGHT SPEED and abuse the privilege.  We should not sell knives because SOME MIGHT use the knife to harm someone else.  We shoul;d not sell matches because SOME ONE MIGHT abuse them and set buildings on fire. 

The far fetched MIGHT HAPPEN group of people just amaze me.  Here are facts.  In Thailand an average of 55 people are killed by traffic fatalities each and every day and this has happened for decades.  Yet let 56 people many of whom have comorbidities die from cornovirus and suddenly the government has to protect everyone from WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN

There wasnt a problem before the virus, people who wanted to congregate and drink all day , did so in bars. As I posted above, my wife was working in a restaurant just after the initial shut down of bars and it did become a problem. Guys that would normally hang in a bar all day, started to hang in the restaurant all day. They would buy a meal at 10am and still be there drinking at 10pm, with 4-5 mates.

The police came and shut it down once with just warnings and said if they came back and found people drinking without a meal they would be fining. 

Not sure what traffic accidents has to do with anything, you cant catch a traffic accident as they are not contagious, and the rate of traffic accidents doesn't increase exponentially.

[jacko45k]

29 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

ordering small meals and getting drunk on booze before the coronavirus.

There most certainly was evidence of people using restaurants like bars in the early days of Chinese Covid. 

 

30 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

Additionally the average Thai does not have the money to sit inside a restaurant order a meal and buy large amounts of alcohol at restaurant prices.

Many of the places I use the large bottles of Leo beer are very reasonable, 60 baht to 70 baht. I often see groups of Thais drinking in them. 

 

28 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

Here are facts.  In Thailand an average of 55 people are killed by traffic fatalities each and every day and this has happened for decades.

Yeah most of them because of driving drunk after having a session in a restaurant. 

You seem to live in a different world.

[elliss]

22 hours ago, JensenZ said:

Yes, take a stand! Let the restaurants that aren't allowed to serve alcohol by Government decree, and are already suffering financially, suffer some more without you.

 

Personally I believe we should all support local businesses, with or without alcohol.

 

 Let them fail , collapse , and they will , sooner than expected .

    They  deserve failure .  i will not support , muppets  

   Army rules OK .

 Enjoy your Soda water , with ice ..

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by elliss

[Mulambana]

On 5/16/2020 at 1:59 AM, Thomas J said:

I know rational thinking and governments are oxymorons but what possibly reason could be presented for allowing a restaurant to serve you a meal, and a beverage but not a beverage that contains alcohol. 

THe same rational thinking coupled with people's know-it-all attitude and their arrogancies have caused detah and destruction of the West filled with a filthy desease. What Thailand is doinfg 1,000 times better than the West and we should all bow to them for keeping Thailand safe. Many deseased carrying flithy people like to sit all day in the restuarants and drink and spread the virus just like they did in the Western countries and brought a filthy atmospehere ripe for spreading desease. 

Edited May 17, 2020 by Mulambana

[2 is 1]

It's same than jack off whitout hands!

Edited May 17, 2020 by 2 is 1

[digbeth]

If restaurants can serve alcohol with foods, how soon do you think the bars will start offering the 'token' food dish, what constitutes food anyway, is a dish of peanuts okay? maybe a dish of pad Thai still in box shared between 4 tables will suffice when the police inspect

[Aussiepeter]

Many on this forum may not be aware that these alcohol rules started during the reign of a certain allegedly corrupt Telecom king, who now lives in exile. I used to take the wife out for lunch at a Suki restaurant in C Mai at least two or three times a week. We'd relax, cook and eat at the table and I'd enjoy a large beer with my lunch. I am not an alcoholic (though some who remember me may beg to differ). Then came some stupid inane change in law, whereby you could only buy alcohol between 1100 - 1400, then it could not be sold till after 1700. Supposedly, the law was changed to prevent schoolchildren accessing alcohol before or after school, (when parental supervision was minimal). It made no difference whatsoever, other than to destroy the jobs of thousands of Thais who worked in the alcohol industry. As many on here who live in LOS are aware, if you want a drink then every mum and pop shop in the country will sell you one, whatever the hour. Money is the only thing Thais understand universally. Age of the customer seldom even comes into the equation. Sometimes we'd go to Big C after I finished work, at about 1600. The missus would shop and I would enjoy a cold draught beer or two, served by 'pretties' promoting the various brands. It hurt nobody. Instantly stopped by a stroke of the pen and all these folks lost their jobs. As for the Suki place - same deal - I wanted to have a beer with my meal (and still be safe to drive) but now could not. They lost my custom and that of hundreds of other customers. The place used to be packed from 1200 - 1500 and sometimes no table was available. Now it's almost empty all the time. Don't even start me on why I now had to plan on being at Makro at a certain time on payday to get my drink supplies for the house. I miss many things about LOS, but not their stupid alcohol sales rules/hours - or the current people running the place.