Coronavirus curbs shutter thousands of Bangkok restaurants

[poskat]

people like to go to restaurants to eat and talk together, not be sat at different tables and shout to each other.

 

considering the still very low number of deaths here, the cure is exponentially worse than the disease.

 

every week in MBK and paragon I see larger and larger sections just as a wall with some advertising on it.

 

all of it is due to the dedication that government officials have to their own personal and regal profit by maintaining the current vaccine monopolies.

 

if only they were profiting from the number of vaccinations performed rather than doses paid for  upfront.

[fleccer]

https://tg-news.com/covid-19/belarusian-president-lukashenko-states-that-imf-offered-a-billion-usd-to-impose-lockdown/

 What's strange, he refused the money  to make the lockdown , and a mass protested has been started. 

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by fleccer

[zaZa9]

6 hours ago, thailand49 said:

While it was all expected there was and never any real help from the government since they ALL seem to feel and act entitled the people do all the suffering while the top continue to live like fat selfish hogs.????

TWO ,  yes TWO , relief food packages have arrived at my gfs house , in 18 months  . 

Im each approximately 250 bt worth of food.

Theres big talk of a third soon !

 

Its a pity people cant eat promises , they'd be obese around here....

[rott]

3 hours ago, HandsomeTallFarang said:

I’ve been saying it since the beginning — the damage done by these ineffective lockdowns causes more damage than a virus that has a greater than 99% survival rate.

 

“Deaths of despair” is the phenomenon associated with these over zealous government reactions, across the world. Increases in suicide, drug and alcohol abuse and overdoses, murders are directly caused by the lockdowns.  The long term effects on mental health are just now coming to light as we see an increase in practically all crime across the world, in part due to economic devastation and in part dwindling mental health and well-being.
 

These figures will never be tallied though since they’re acceptable losses to the elites in power who aren’t and never will be affected by poverty and losing your only means to make a living, or crippling despair, and mind numbing boredom.  
 

The virus isn’t going away and you can’t hide from it sitting in a room all day. We should learn to live with it the sane way — the most vulnerable population self-isolates, limits exposure to others until they can get a vaccine, and takes extra precautions. Sensible hygienic practices and common sense for the rest of the population who aren’t as vulnerable and would probably make a full recovery if they caught it. Putting everyone’s lives on hold multiple times with no end in sight and with no aid from the government is not the right way to do it. If you insist on having lockdowns, generous aid from the government has to also come with it.
 

 

I think that possibly their concern is that hospitals gov't or private could not cope with the numbers, which as we've seen from the rest of the world all happen at once. 

[metisdead]

A post with a link to a foreign language site has been removed.  English is the only acceptable language anywhere on ThaiVisa including Classifieds, except within the Thai language forum, where of course using Thai is allowed. Short Thai translation of technical terms is permitted in specialty forums.

[KhaoYai]

5 hours ago, Madeline Thompson said:

This is ludicrous - Thailand as a tourist destination is rapidly disappearing because there will be no infrastructure for tourism left.

When you don't have to worry about votes to stay in power, you can do whatever you want.  If Thailand had true democracy where those in power could be held to account, things would be very different.  A total lack of planning and a failure to get a meaningful vaccine programme underway 15 months after the first outbreak illustrates just how much the current government cares about the people.

 

Many years ago I heard a phrase about Thailand - Money No.1, how very true.  That's been the case with vaccines - instead of getting on with it and ordering early, they have waited until the domestically produced Astra Zeneca product is available - Money No.1.  The resultant damage to the economy seems to have escaped them.  From what I glean from those I talk to in Thailand, I believe the economy is in far worse shape than is being reported.

 

This is what you get when you have a soldier in charge of a country. A soldier who's win in the so called 'election' returning the country to 'democracy' was guaranteed. A soldier who listens to no one - especially those who do have experience in running a country. A soldier who locks up anyone who opposes him or what he stands for.

 

Thailand's elite (including the 'Supreme Leader') won't be suffering though, they'll lose a few billion baht but they know they are guaranteed to make it back via contrived future infrastructure projects.

[thasoss]

2 hours ago, fleccer said:

Really? So explain to me, why didn't Russia, Belarus, Sweden have a lockdown day? And despite this they have had fewer cases than those who have made the lockdown. What is this'? Does the virus hate Russians and Swedes? Or is it because these countries have not obeyed certain world hierarchies that have imposed the lockdown? Please explain it

you are misunderstanding my reply.I'll try again.It was because of the virus that they locked down.I'm not for locking down economies,if you'd read any of my posts you would know that.My point is they locked down because of the virus,people are losing their business,jobs because of the lockdowN,IF there had been no virus there would n'T be any lockdown....can i BE ANY CLEARER.

[Skeptic7]

Not only Bangkok...KINGDOM WIDE! This place is toast. Buh-bye now! 

[Andrew65]

8 hours ago, DPKANKAN said:

Because that is probably only based on those who pay tax!! I would guess 60%+ live hand to hand day by day and not on the register!!????????????????????????????????

In Western countries it's said that 5% is the lowest that unemployment is likely to be. Thailand's 1 or 2% is unbelievable.

[smudger1951]

8 hours ago, WineOh said:

'Close your businesses and we ain't gonna help you!'

That is the attitude from this disgrace of a government.

 

To add insult to injury they dangle a sweet carrot in front of desperate workers.

The 4,000 baht that never arrives (or only arrives after months of waiting and faffing about trying to get it).

 

The writing has been on the wall for years now.

This military junta disguised as elected officials DOES NOT care about the average man & woman in the street.

They only serve upwards, everyone else is collateral damage to be brushed under the carpet as quickly and as quietly as possible.

 

All I see in Thailands immediate future is desperation and hardship.

And that is exactly how those in charge want it to be.

 

So sad to see the country I once loved wholeheartedly deteriorate into this.

 

 

 

[thweshfoyo]

All this $hit because some people cannot accept that when we are old and/or obese, it's time to die...

This world is so sad.

 

[jeanrem]

14 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Need top stop all this lunacy very, very soon.

 

70-80 million people got added to the world population last year during this pandemic.

 

If the same happens this year , then we are looking like adding 150,000,000 people to the world in 2 years - even allowing for covid deaths.

 

The amount of people losing jobs, businesses, dying from lost hospital appointments, losing housing, lifestyles just disappearing makes no sense any more.

 

The world and world leaders are destroying the planet more than the disease.

 

 

 

 

Some good senses here ????

 

[kiwikeith]

On 6/3/2021 at 8:36 PM, ukrules said:

The time to close everything was October 2020, anyone who closed after that point was just wasting money.

 

It might have been a bit later in the non tourist areas but in tourist areas the minute we knew COVID was coming back for the winter season in Europe at around the end of September / first half of October that was the time to act.

 

It was kind of obvious at that point that there was not going to be a high season during the winter.

 

People might say this is easy to say now with hindsight but I acted on this at the time and closed down a business in October last year for this very reason, I was correct to do so.

 

I noticed some places closed down at the first 'lockdown', and did not reopen at all, they sold the location (land + building) and retired, etc.

 

That would have saved even more money but I guess I'm an optimist and waited until I was sure nothing would change over the winter season.

 

I also noticed that a whole bunch of other new places have opened up for the first time during the second half of last year. Good luck with that. I guess their plan will allow for a couple of lean years when starting up so that may work out ok if they're reasonably well funded.

When I left for a trip home 2020 to Nz, January 28 it was time to lock down. 

Planes flew into Italy from WUHAN 20000 A Day, Los failed to lockdown until late march. 

Some European countries did not lock down. 

Virus manufacturing went mad and so did the rest of the world. 

[Freigeist365]

If the medicine kills the patient, then it's not a good 

16 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Need top stop all this lunacy very, very soon.

 

70-80 million people got added to the world population last year during this pandemic.

 

If the same happens this year , then we are looking like adding 150,000,000 people to the world in 2 years - even allowing for covid deaths.

 

The amount of people losing jobs, businesses, dying from lost hospital appointments, losing housing, lifestyles just disappearing makes no sense any more.

 

The world and world leaders are destroying the planet more than the disease.

 

 

 

 

Correct, and so much more to be taken into account, such as the skyrocketing numbers of suicides, domestic violence - especially against children,  depression, etc.  If the medicine kills the patient, then it definitely isn't any good.

[spidermike007]

8 hours ago, moe666 said:

As soon as the tourist can come back watch the restaruants spring up on every conor and the tourist companies open up. Many here are just to negative. The people who went under more than likely under funded.

You mean the 60,000 tourists who show up in 2022?

[natway09]

The writer must have had a quiet day.

3,000 words of what we all knew already

[fondue zoo]

9 hours ago, The Cipher said:

 

Single biggest mass overreaction in the history of mankind.

 

I feel bad for everyone who lost their job/business because of our collective cowardice and inability to understand problems at scale. Hope they will be able to land on their feet.

 

If this is going to be the planet's reaction to future viruses, and there will be more it's nature, we're boned!

 

[Stargeezr]

This world wide pandemic has make it necessary for lock downs all over.  The adults all over the world would not

have changed their ways and life styles, if the governments did not force lock downs to prevent the COVID 19 virus

from spreading.    When I see the whiners who claim that a lock down was not necessary anywhere, I shake my head.

  I have lost enough relatives and friends, to COVID, and I have many friends who have caught COVID and are

still suffering the effects, to know that I want nothing to do with this virus, even though I have already had 1 shot of

Pfizer.     Canada is starting to open back up in some of the provinces after our 3rd wave, but we have to be cautious with 

the present variants being more contagious and still killing people as well as causing some long term effects that

a normal flu does not cause.    We have all had to suffer, staying in place and cooking our own meals and not going

on the regular vacations that we all enjoyed in the past.  I am hopeful that when a lot of people have been fully vaccinated

and that there are some places in the world that may be fairly safe to travel to, the tourism everywhere will slowly

start back up in some form.     We all just have to be patient until enough people have been vaccinated and are safe

to be around again.     I will still avoid protests and most large crowds, as there are still too many red neck, anti maskers and anti vaxxers

where I live that can still spread this COVID pandemic. And that is just in Canada.

Geezer

[kynikoi]

The plan is to break the current economic model and reinstall themselves (the pandemic profiteers, new money) in its stead.

 

At least in western democracies there's still a modicum of checks and balances. This is just neo-serfdom. The people have no control over their lives.

[kynikoi]

23 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

This world wide pandemic has make it necessary for lock downs all over.  The adults all over the world would not

have changed their ways and life styles, if the governments did not force lock downs to prevent the COVID 19 virus

from spreading.    When I see the whiners who claim that a lock down was not necessary anywhere, I shake my head.

  I have lost enough relatives and friends, to COVID, and I have many friends who have caught COVID and are

still suffering the effects, to know that I want nothing to do with this virus, even though I have already had 1 shot of

Pfizer.     Canada is starting to open back up in some of the provinces after our 3rd wave, but we have to be cautious with 

the present variants being more contagious and still killing people as well as causing some long term effects that

a normal flu does not cause.    We have all had to suffer, staying in place and cooking our own meals and not going

on the regular vacations that we all enjoyed in the past.  I am hopeful that when a lot of people have been fully vaccinated

and that there are some places in the world that may be fairly safe to travel to, the tourism everywhere will slowly

start back up in some form.     We all just have to be patient until enough people have been vaccinated and are safe

to be around again.     I will still avoid protests and most large crowds, as there are still too many red neck, anti maskers and anti vaxxers

where I live that can still spread this COVID pandemic. And that is just in Canada.

Geezer

 

Masks are purely a courtesy provided to others. They do not protect the user. Never did (non n95). With all the face touching probably worse.

 

Why are you demanding others stick vaccine especially mRNA into themselves? Get your own vaccine and be happy with it.

[Stargeezr]

Well kynikoi  I am just happy that if you do not get vaccinated, you will not be travelling internationally.

  Where I live in Canada there are still large groups that like to gather in what they call a church, and I call a petri dish,

as that group of people have not ever quit gathering, or spreading the virus, and this is in my country.  I am sure there are groups in Thailand

and other places that are still of the same lax attitude, and since the virus is still spreading and people are still going to the

hospitals sick with COVID, I was just pointing out why governments have had to force lock downs.   There are some Mennonite

colonies that do not want the vaccine, and likely some other groups like that, who seem partly brainwashed about the

various vaccines available to them, and have their doubts that they want it. I have no issues of getting any of the vaccines

except sinovac, but I am not worried about the new brands as well. KN95 masks do give some protection, and I do agree the

the blue and black non medical masks are useless except giving other a bit of protection from the mask wearer, but hey

in Bangkok, there were high pollution days where I did wear a mask even for that reason. I will be packing a KN95 mask in the future 

for pollution days, even when the pandemic is over.

Geezer

[Walker88]

On 6/4/2021 at 12:44 AM, terryofcrete said:

My lady , when I'm in Thailand, got a job in a new restaurant in Bangkok as she lost her job as a hairdresser because of the lack of business .. She finished work exhausted today.. 12hr shift  , it was so busy for takeaway... she said they did 200 takeaway mains and 300 coffees in the day... I know it's a holiday today , but that's still a good day ... especially for a new venture .. Life in the city yet ..be it mostly local.

Lots of orders might provide your friend with gainful employment, but that cannot be equated to profit.

 

The delivery companies charge 30-35% for their service. The restaurant sells 1000 baht of food and receives 700 baht or less from the services. Most places not only do not have that level of margin, many can't even accurately calculate their costs. Add up rent, staff pay, supplier costs, VAT, insurance, social security of staff, electricity, water---even the bags and boxes used to package food for delivery---and very few restaurants are likely to make money when selling delivery food.

 

The services were supposed to lower fees to 25% for June, according to the govt. They did not do that, so it's still 30%+. Oh, and no booze really cuts into margins.

 

I've watched restaurants with robust delivery business finally close down last month, as they were still bleeding money. Competition suffers from the weakest link, that is, a place offering similar food who doesn't really know their cost structure, or is simply willing to lose on every sale just to cover variable costs, ends up hurting less capital-rich or more responsible venues. It's no surprise somewhere on the order of 50,000 restaurants have closed in the last few months.

 

The plus side is that used restaurant equipment has never been cheaper.

[Walker88]

3 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

Lots of orders might provide your friend with gainful employment, but that cannot be equated to profit.

 

The delivery companies charge 30-35% for their service. The restaurant sells 1000 baht of food and receives 700 baht or less from the services. Most places not only do not have that level of margin, many can't even accurately calculate their costs. Add up rent, staff pay, supplier costs, VAT, insurance, social security of staff, electricity, water---even the bags and boxes used to package food for delivery---and very few restaurants are likely to make money when selling delivery food.

 

The services were supposed to lower fees to 25% for June, according to the govt. They did not do that, so it's still 30%+. Oh, and no booze really cuts into margins.

 

I've watched restaurants with robust delivery business finally close down last month, as they were still bleeding money. Competition suffers from the weakest link, that is, a place offering similar food who doesn't really know their cost structure, or is simply willing to lose on every sale just to cover variable costs, ends up hurting less capital-rich or more responsible venues. It's no surprise somewhere on the order of 50,000 restaurants have closed in the last few months.

 

The plus side is that used restaurant equipment has never been cheaper.

A restaurant, particularly one which cannot sell booze, is lucky if it has 15% margin after all costs. Delivery companies charging 30-35%, and which represent maybe 75% of sales nowadays for easy-delivery places like sandwich, pizza shops, burger joints (as many consumers fear being in public) means margins are gone, eaten up by the delivery companies.

[Miss Pickle]

So sad to see all these businesses closing never to reopen .Pattaya is like a ghost town most places have given up Spas bars restaurant very sad.

[Sig]

On 6/3/2021 at 3:36 PM, ukrules said:

The time to close everything was October 2020, anyone who closed after that point was just wasting money.

 

It might have been a bit later in the non tourist areas but in tourist areas the minute we knew COVID was coming back for the winter season in Europe at around the end of September / first half of October that was the time to act.

 

It was kind of obvious at that point that there was not going to be a high season during the winter.

 

People might say this is easy to say now with hindsight but I acted on this at the time and closed down a business in October last year for this very reason, I was correct to do so.

 

I noticed some places closed down at the first 'lockdown', and did not reopen at all, they sold the location (land + building) and retired, etc.

 

That would have saved even more money but I guess I'm an optimist and waited until I was sure nothing would change over the winter season.

 

I also noticed that a whole bunch of other new places have opened up for the first time during the second half of last year. Good luck with that. I guess their plan will allow for a couple of lean years when starting up so that may work out ok if they're reasonably well funded.

There was never a "time to close everything". That was an imbecilic plan from the beginning with no foresight whatsoever. Not to mention that there is ZERO science that supports the idea.

[terryofcrete]

On 6/5/2021 at 3:27 AM, Walker88 said:

Lots of orders might provide your friend with gainful employment, but that cannot be equated to profit.

No argument from me on that one and very well explained . We have the  same problem here in Ireland where people can add up the costs and decide not to bother opening until all restrictions are lifted. 
In the meantime She is busy and paid the normal existence remuneration but seems delighted with bed to work and vice versa never questioning the life she lives .. if life's the word.