Restaurants told by Anutin: Once reopened there's no going back

[webfact]

Picture: Bangkok Business News

 

A leading restaurateur who met health minister and DPM Anutin Charnvirakul recently said they were told that once they were allowed to open again there was no going back to lockdown restrictions.

 

This came from Bunyong Tansakul of Zen Corporation that runs Japanese restaurants all over Thailand. 

 

He said they were completely ready for reopening next week with staff vaccinated and money set aside for ATK testing.

 

He said, however, this is a considerable cost running into millions of baht. Each test is 200-300 baht and the group have 3,000 staff. 

 

He said it may need to be adjusted so that costs were not too onerous. He called the following 60 days a "honeymoon period" for the industry before the hoped for return to further normality in the fourth quarter, reported Bangkok Business News.

 

He said the rules about 50% of tables occupied in air-con restaurants and 75% in non-air were fine as customer traffic was not going to exceed this anyway.

 

Founder of Penguin Eat Shabu Thanaphan Wongchinsri said they were prepared to do anything to open their doors again to customers for dine-in.

 

It would help pay staff costs at the least. He said only some of the chain's restaurants would open and they would continue with promotions and their delivery business model.

 

He spoke of a shortage of staff after many left without pay. 

 

Those staff that were left had been trained and premises had been thoroughly cleaned. 

 

The BBN report spoke of many protocols being in place for customers but did not mention the possibility that people will be checked for vaccine status at all, ASEAN NOW notes. 

 

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[RotBenz8888]

5 minutes ago, webfact said:

He said, however, this is a considerable cost running into millions of baht. Each test is 200-300 baht and the group have 3,000 staff. 

I'm sure there'll be "ways" around that problem... 

 

[Geoffggi]

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

A leading restaurateur who met health minister and DPM Anutin Charnvirakul recently said they were told that once they were allowed to open again there was no going back to lockdown restrictions.

If his lips were moving "Be very afraid" ..........................LOL

 

[fangless]

In other words there will be another lockdown, they will just call it something else like restricted opening.

[Scrotobike]

I think his words follow the new "paradigm" - the word is from the English language press briefing.

The fully opened train has its full steam - no stopping it as now the HiSo are worried about their profits from their large companies. So now we change to "live with covid".

 

I do not have an opinion on what the general is doing - like him I have completely lost the plot....

[jonclark]

What we are seeing here with restaurants is the model that the government will adopt to schools reopening imo. All students (and parents??) will need to be double jabbed and take weekly antigen test with evidence provided to the school. The cost to be borne by the parents.  Just my opinion..but I do think this will happen. I hope I am wrong. Imagine weekly antigen tests for a large Thai school. There will be more testing than learning. 

[Gottfrid]

30 minutes ago, webfact said:

Anutin Charnvirakul recently said they were told that once they were allowed to open again there was no going back to lockdown restrictions.

And that was the smartest comment he could make with the title Health Minister? Sometimes you wish there were more words to in a colorful way describe a certain level of stupidity.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Gottfrid

[Gandtee]

5 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

And that was the smartest comment he could make with the title Health Minister? Sometimes you wish there were more words to in a colorful way describe a certain level of stupidity.

One is enough Twit! with an a.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Gandtee
spelling

[Captain Monday]

Excellent. Remove all economic restrictions lock downs don't work.

 

[lujanit]

How many customers will restaurants get if they demand proof of double vaccination?  Methinks a lot of places will ignore that requirement just to make some money.

[Will B Good]

2 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

Excellent. Remove all economic restrictions lock downs don't work.

 

There is ample evidence to say they "work", depending on your definition of success.

 

Lockdowns do not eradicate the virus, or even reduce the total number of infections. 

 

What they will do is alleviate the pressure on the health care system by spreading out the total number of infections over a longer period of time allowing doctors and nurses to cope.

[HaoleBoy]

16 minutes ago, jonclark said:

What we are seeing here with restaurants is the model that the government will adopt to schools reopening imo. All students (and parents??) will need to be double jabbed and take weekly antigen test with evidence provided to the school. The cost to be borne by the parents.  Just my opinion..but I do think this will happen. I hope I am wrong. Imagine weekly antigen tests for a large Thai school. There will be more testing than learning. 

Yes, more testing.

And, think of the profits made by the company that got the winning bid to import these ATK testing kits ...

[Will B Good]

4 minutes ago, lujanit said:

How many customers will restaurants get if they demand proof of double vaccination?  Methinks a lot of places will ignore that requirement just to make some money.

There is no way this will be applied in practice. 

 

The outcome will be business as usual, with the exception of beer continuing to be served in coke cans.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Will B Good

[John Drake]

3 minutes ago, lujanit said:

Methinks a lot of places will ignore that requirement just to make some money.

The police are enterprising. They will raid the restaurants and "fine" anyone caught without a vaccination certificate.

[HaoleBoy]

I hear the vaccination rate is at 90% in Bangkok now ... but what is the double vaccination rate?  They don't state that much.

 

Will the French be allowed to go into restaurants?  Didn't they get the Johnson&Johnson vaccine (only 1 jab)?  The rules will get sticky going forward ...

[madmen]

6 minutes ago, lujanit said:

How many customers will restaurants get if they demand proof of double vaccination?  Methinks a lot of places will ignore that requirement just to make some money.

At there own peril. Thailand has a nasty habit of slapping establishments with 5 year bans! and fining the customers 40 k baht just like they do with bars. 

 

 

[Will B Good]

4 minutes ago, John Drake said:

The police are enterprising. They will raid the restaurants and "fine" anyone caught without a vaccination certificate.

Mmmm....there could be a fine balancing act between how much they can screw out of a successful restaurant versus one they drive into the ground with continual raids.

 

Not easy being a cop on the rob.

[MrJ2U]

This is going to be a very interesting time.

 

Were going to see which people have the appetite to take the chance to catch the Delta variant or other variants that will be circulating.

 

Another consideration will be people with kids, elderly, and have had only Sinovac.

 

I'm sure it'll be popular for many.people though.

 

Definitely will help a little for the restaurants.

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, madmen said:

At there own peril. Thailand has a nasty habit of slapping establishments with 5 year bans! and fining the customers 40 k baht just like they do with bars. 

 

 

I have found the way round this is to check who owns the bar.

 

We tend to frequent only those owned by policemen.

 

Much more relaxing.

[MrJ2U]

8 minutes ago, HaoleBoy said:

Yes, more testing.

And, think of the profits made by the company that got the winning bid to import these ATK testing kits ...

Great timing!

[Gandtee]

7 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

There is no way this will be applied in practice. 

 

The outcome will be business as usual, with the exception of beer continuing to be served in coke cans.

Coke cans? Grass! You've blown the gaff!????

[Will B Good]

2 minutes ago, Gandtee said:

Coke cans? Grass! You've blown the gaff!????

As regulars we have reached the dizzy heights of real glass wrapped in a serviette .

[johng]

58 minutes ago, webfact said:

Anutin Charnvirakul recently said they were told that once they were allowed to open again there was no going back

They open yet again  spend loads more money  have few customers and go bankrupt..what will those owners be going back to ?

[Will B Good]

Just now, johng said:

They open yet again  spend loads more money  have few customers and go bankrupt..what will those owners be going back to ?

They will have to cheat to survive.

 

It will be business as usual.

 

I have no doubt they will be bustling within a week or two.

[Blumpie]

"One we open we never go back"

Sounds like a punchline from a bigoted asian comedy made in america circa 1970.  Or a show like the hangover part 4.  I pray it hasn't been made.

[johnnybangkok]

48 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

There is ample evidence to say they "work", depending on your definition of success.

 

Lockdowns do not eradicate the virus, or even reduce the total number of infections. 

 

What they will do is alleviate the pressure on the health care system by spreading out the total number of infections over a longer period of time allowing doctors and nurses to cope.

Not disagreeing with your point about health care systems but not sure I agree with your 'Lockdowns do not eradicate the virus, or even reduce the total number of infections.'

There has been plenty of models that have shown that without lockdown, Covid deaths would have been much higher than the current 4.5 million (anything up to 40 million in fact).

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/09/872441984/modelers-suggest-pandemic-lockdowns-saved-millions-from-dying-of-covid-19

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/covid19-model-predicts-40-million-people-could-die-without-interventions-2020-3

[connda]

46 minutes ago, lujanit said:

How many customers will restaurants get if they demand proof of double vaccination?  Methinks a lot of places will ignore that requirement just to make some money.

Open under the regulations that staff must be regularly tested with the business absorbing the cost of the tests at 200-300 THB a pop, as well as to demand the business turn away all but the fully vaccinated?  These business's operating costs will be higher than their revenues.
It's one thing to be allowed to open.
Being allow to make sufficient revenues to pay operation costs, no less make a profit, is an entirely different can of worms given the restriction placed on opening a business.  BTW, these businesses will increase their prices to cover their costs resulting in prices that a significant number of consumers will refuse to pay, i.e., the move will stoke inflation. 

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, johnnybangkok said:

Not disagreeing with your point about health care systems but not sure I agree with your 'Lockdowns do not eradicate the virus, or even reduce the total number of infections.'

There has been plenty of models that have shown that without lockdown, Covid deaths would have been much higher than the current 4.5 million (anything up to 40 million in fact).

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/09/872441984/modelers-suggest-pandemic-lockdowns-saved-millions-from-dying-of-covid-19

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/covid19-model-predicts-40-million-people-could-die-without-interventions-2020-3

Agreed. Point taken.

 

I was trying to avoid whoever I was responding to, from taking umbrage and shooting off on a tangent with other arguments.

[smedly]

1 hour ago, John Drake said:

The police are enterprising. They will raid the restaurants and "fine" anyone caught without a vaccination certificate.

under the threat of a good bagging if they don't pay up 

[smedly]

the tests should be government funded