Thai Food Courts Will Be Asked To Keep Dishes From Getting More Expensive

[IsaanUSA]

So they'll be selling smaller portions

Thai Tapas

[reader]

Seems the 'dictator' government is on it's soapbox again. The oversight of government policies in recent times is the reason why inflation has gone up. You can't have it both ways. The lack of sound leadership and professionalism is the reason why Thailand is becoming less and less competitive. It's about time you start smelling the coffee, and wakeup !

[samran]

So they'll be selling smaller portions

Thai Tapas

Thats called innovation

[IsaanUSA]

So they'll be selling smaller portions

Thai Tapas

Thats called innovation

Start a company and make it happen. You don't even have to pay me for the idea. I'd eat there.

[djlest]

Actually food vendors a couple of years ago were doing just fine selling typical dishes at 20 baht or 25 baht

Then there was a global surge of gas, oil and petrol prices as there was some powerplay big companies, and the sudden hike of 15% prices in Europe and 20% in the UK also affected Thailand

So as a Result THAI food vendors increased typical meals to be 40-45 baht, sometimes even 50 baht!

But then the Gas prices came back down again - but guess what? Thai food vendors never lowered the prices again, despite it suddenly doubling

It took about 6 months for typical food at 20-25 baht to jump up almost twice the amount, and when gas prices dropped back down again they were too happy with the profits and everyone was already used to it.

Now the next strategy is making meals smaller.

In Tesco lotus pattanakarn road i have never seen such small dishes and at 60 baht a plate, its dreadful!
however, at seacon square the food court is fantastic, still 25-30 baht and big plates....

[Thai at Heart]

Do they have a nationwide rate for rents in food courts? Electricity is up, food is up, wages are up.

But cooked food isn't allowed to go up. Fabulous concept.

[kutjebu]

In Cha-am is it still 25-30 baht.Delicious.

[ABCer]

Any minister of any industry in any country can not regulate any prices. It would be like lifting yourself by the hair.

In any free market society - market regulates itself: supply/demand on one hand and free enterprise/competition on another hand.

Interfere with these factors and you get a) mafia type relations; corruption; c) regulatory type societies; d) economical and business stagnation;

The above a), , c) and d) factors tend to be self-perpetuating with the society model turning towards the 'happy com future for all'.

On a more simple level: do we really want to eat lunch for less than a dollar? Eat sh*t - its free!

If the stall owners in Food Court do not make profit - why would they feed us? For Love?

[BrianCR]

The stalls claim to have made the raise because they were affected by the cooking gas price.

???

Is this the same cooking gas that I now pay 320 baht for, that was 300 baht about 10 years ago?

You're paying way too much Only joking.

Price I pay is 300 Baht, up from 285

A bottle of gas lasts us about 6 to 8 weeks cooking for a family of 4. The 15 baht increase when considered in extra cost per meal is insignificant. Blaming a 5 baht increase on the price of a meal because of the increase in cooking gas cost is totally ridiculous.

Exactly.

re. the price - I live in Phuket. 'Nuff said!

The stalls are not talking about cooking with the gas - they're talking about sniffing it!

[KhunMoo]

Doess that mean that we can expect 35 baht dishes at the food court, in Central Chidlom? That would be nice...

[rubl]

It looks like larger companies and/or buildings housing larger companies sponsor the in-house food courts to keep prices a bit down, quantity acceptable and quality good. At least here in Bangkok that is. The more 'publicly accessible' food courts may not benefit from this.

[Jawnie]

Yes, let's have the government telling the poorer people who barely eek out a living and work long, hot hours they can't make more money. In the meantime, let the multinationals like Starbucks, KFC, McDonalds etc. continue to charge US prices but pay the workers Thai wages. The elites are just trying to keep the profits for themselves on this one.

[jalansanitwong]

At the big department stores the vendors in the food courts pay 40% of the gross from the vouchers collected daily to the mall owner.. ( no initial rent).

Whats left after expenses is theirs.

Many of these vendors have no cooking background and are basically speculating on a business deal. Most charge at least 35 to 50 baht otherwise they wont make any money. Overheads for oil,sauces and meats are appalling in bangkok. Dishes or plates will simply get smaller to make the serving look bigger.

Edited May 9, 2013 by jalansanitwong

[Tomtomtom69]

Portion will get smaller, or the food will be terrible. I went last Saturday to Big C next to Central Bangna.... It was the first time at that food court, and I had the worst food ever. It was anything but food. The wife and daughter could not eat, and we moved to Central food court.... It is more expensive but at least we could eat...

I agree. More and more these cheap food courts, which offer the cheapest food in Thailand are offering fairly inedible food mostly consisting of too much overcooked rice and a tiny piece of smelly protein (perhaps fish, chicken or pork), a few vegetables or something like that. It's clear to me that such decisions to try and keep the price of food from rising too much in food courts is clearly aimed at the working class population that can't afford to frequent the likes of Fuji, Yayoi, Black Canyon, McDonald's, Sizzler, Santa Fe Steak, etc. It's these same people who could possibly suddenly go out and riot on the streets if they feel prices are getting out control, even if it's just a 2 Baht rise.

For everyone else, we don't care as we're too busy eating at the places frequented by your newly emerging middle and upper middle classes, even if we're paying 300 Baht per person per meal; that's still a pittance when compared to eating out in many developed countries.