Thai restaurateurs urged to tap overseas demand
Petchanet Pratruangkrai
The Nation
Maldives


Piramol Charoenpao, director-general of the Trade Negotiation Department, right, Thomas Stahl, owner of Sala Thai Restaurant in Male, and Nongluck, a Thai chef, gather at the restaurant.

BANGKOK: -- Thai restaurant enterprises have been urged to set up business in Maldives amid high demand for authentic, quality Thai foods.

Piramol Charoenpao, director-general of the Commerce Ministry's Trade Negotiations Department, said plenty of opportunities were waiting for Thai enterprises in this archipelago.

Many restaurants in Male, the capital of Maldives, claim to serve Thai foods. However, most are not owned by Thais. Some dishes have been modified and lack the original flavour. Most restaurants do not even employ a Thai chef.

"The relevant [Thai] government agencies should promote the establishment of Thai restaurants in many tourists destinations, including Maldives. Many Thai businesses, particularly those involved with hospitality and services, should be encouraged to invest overseas to enhance the country's revenue and fame," Piramol said.

The Department of International Trade Promotion has a certification protocol for quality Thai restaurants worldwide to guarantee quality Thai foods and authentic flavour. However, Thai restaurants in Maldives have not yet been certified.

Piramol said government officials would soon visit Maldives and either cooperate in the training of chefs or send Thai chefs there.

Thomas Stahl, the German owner of Sala Thai Restaurant in Male, claimed that his restaurant was one of the most popular in the country.

He said most restaurants in the islands did not employ a Thai chef or use ingredients from Thailand. Thus the flavour of their food was not authentic.

Stahl said his restaurant employed three Thai chefs. It normally imports ingredients directly from Thailand once a week.

The establishment of direct flights from Thailand has saved time and maintained the quality of ingredients from Thailand. The flight from Bangkok takes about four and a half hours.

However, he said the Maldives government had made it difficult for enterprises in the islands to employ foreign workers. For instance, to employ one foreign worker, the restaurant needs to pay a fee of US$1,000 (Bt30,000) to the government.

The cost of leasing land is also quite high. To establish a 50-seat restaurant, Stahl's initial capital investment was $350,000. He has also invested up to $1 million on decorating the restaurant.

Stahl, who lived in Thailand for more than 10 years, fell in love with Thai food. Its unique flavour and healthy nutrition inspired him to set up a Thai restaurant in Maldives in 2006.


-- The Nation 2013-06-17

I wonder if anyone has consulted the strictly Muslim Maldives about this plan yet?

Not the owner and decision maker is German.

Putting a restaurant overseas to increase revenue and fame.

Now this is a really big issue that the Thai government has to solve.

And how many western food restaurants in Thailand employ a cook from said country? Oh, wait I forgot; it is ILLEGAL for that to happen. Oh wait, according to Thai people, Thais can cook British or American food better than British or Americans....... so no need for foreign cooks

"he said the Maldives government had made it difficult for enterprises in the islands to employ foreign workers. For instance, to employ one foreign worker, the restaurant needs to pay a fee of US$1,000 (Bt30,000) to the government."

Oh, but in Thailand that is not the case huh? Isn't it the case that to employ ONE foreign worker here there must be SEVEN Thai employees? Sounds more expensive than just paying a one time thousand dollar fee

Advice to Thailand: YOUR food and your country is no more special than any other country in the world so don't expect to get special treatment; in addition, don't be a hypocrite if you want anyone in the world to respect you. Having wonderful Thai food cooked by Thais in the Maldives or anywhere else would be great, but look at yourselves in the mirror first

Amazing Thailand

I wonder if anyone has consulted the strictly Muslim Maldives about this plan yet?

I can't see a problem, they'll probably be using locally slaughtered meat.

I am sure the government can come up with a programming to subsidise Thai restaurants all over the world at 1mn baht a square metre for set up costs.

Putting a restaurant overseas to increase revenue and fame.

Now this is a really big issue that the Thai government has to solve.

Image, image!

Talk about a non-problem? Boggle, boggle.... "Many restaurants in Male, the capital of Maldives, claim to serve Thai foods. However, most are not owned by Thais. Some dishes have been modified and lack the original flavour. (Ever eat at a joint in Pattaya that caters to mild tongued farangs?) Most restaurants do not even employ a Thai chef." Love the comments about no western chefs at western style restaurants here in Thailand. There are huge numbers of Thai places in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. All have Thai staff. Still a bit watered down, but okay. Remember asking for Nam Pla, and getting a funny look from Thai waitress like didn't know what I was talking about.... This whole thing seems to be cooked up so more junkets to Maldives can be set up so the pigs can feast from public account. Oh wait, muslim islands (Don't get me started on sharia law they enforce against the locals....).

"Many restaurants in Male, the capital of Maldives, claim to serve Thai foods. However, most are not owned by Thais. Some dishes have been modified and lack the original flavour. Most restaurants do not even employ a Thai chef."

Well that goes for western resturants in Thailand, consequently they F*** description.

A lot Thai food is not good for health, too much oil, sugar, fat! better to eat fusion food. Get the best of both worlds!

I wonder if anyone has consulted the strictly Muslim Maldives about this plan yet?

I can't see a problem, they'll probably be using locally slaughtered meat.

I bet they'd kill for those Thai pork balls.

I wonder if anyone has consulted the strictly Muslim Maldives about this plan yet?

indeed no pig or shellfish will leave a very minimal menu!

I am sure the government can come up with a programming to subsidise Thai restaurants all over the world at 1mn baht a square metre for set up costs.

Shitluck Yingluck has always got her priorities in order.

In other news Thailand's development ministers where seeking to encourage chefs from other nations to make Thailand the hub of non-Thai cuisine as this is what tourists visiting Thailand wish to experience, a self appointed expert speculated.

In the Maldives I will probably seek a native food experience.

I had spaghetti, the premium Italian dish offered at a small restaurant off the tourist map recently. It had quite a lot of carrots in it, probably more than you might expect when dining in Milan for example. I guess the Thai chef had seen a picture of the dish once.

I learnt long long ago when travelling eat what the locals know how to cook.

Cool, lets invest 1 million $ in a Thai resturant in a 3rd world country.

Male???

Maldives???

Do this lot realise how big / small Male is? And they're going to send a delegation to Male to promote and advise on business?

Just checked - Male has a population of 103,000. In England, the town of Hartlepool has a similar size. OMG.

Think someone needs to check an atlas here and get a reality check. (But, after the free trip, of course.)

I wonder if anyone has consulted the strictly Muslim Maldives about this plan yet?

indeed no pig or shellfish will leave a very minimal menu!

Muslims eat shellfish; it's halal (lawful in Islam) Also pork and alcohol available in the island resorts. However their is currently a political debate in the Maldives on whether to ban the import and use of pork and alcohol throughout the Maldives. Until the issue of banning alcohol is finally resolved, probably not a good time to invest in a tourism related business in the Maldives

Many children of prominent Thai politicians set up restaurants overseas. It's a great deal; the government funds the restaurant using the SME Bank, the government promotes the restaurant with some version of 'kitchens of the world' type rerun campaigns, the restaurant gets the business of Thai embassy etc overseas all paying full price, and the only requirement is that you need to be good friends with the "Boss" upfront.

Right now I know of at least one monopoly magnate (one associated with the former magnate from Dubai) looking to do exactly this. One might ask how a monopolist magnate in Thailand who has never worked in hospitality or food would have the expertise to set his children up running world leading Thai restaurants around the world when they have no experience in the area.

The answer is simple. If you can borrow money interest free from a government affiliated bank, enjoy a huge amount of free advertising and turbo processing of visas etc for chefs and staff combined with the guaranteed business of various government affiliated trade missions and embassies, then it's difficult to f&*k it up. And if you do screw the pooch, it's not your money anyhow. Who was the former head of the SME Bank?

Having said all of that, the payoff to keep the various ministries in check are loads of free trips abroad flying business class, to investigate the benefits of setting up OTOP stores in New York, restaurants in Auckland New Zealand, restaurants in the Dubai, etc etc. All of which are already part are parcel of the history of TRT 1 and 2.

Here is a link to SME Bank's 2003 aims when they launched the kitchen of the world scheme using Thai taxpayer money to fund their own personal fun launched by Thaksin ally Chotisak Asapaviriya who later went on to become president of AOT:

http://www.smebank.co.th/eng/business-performance-in-2003.html

You will note the strategy here of food, fashion, tourism - all of these are TRT skim mainstays in the past, that's what SME bank aimed to lend on (if you tried to get a loan either you needed to be a good looking woman, or a TRT ally):

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/SME-Bank-set-to-focus-on-cluster-lending-88356.html

Here's his last gasp fall from grace, actually Chotisak was a very loyal and hardworking chap....didn't help him in the end though as the airport's lousy construction and corner cutting in every respect to skim as much as possible is now the forgotten legacy of our former PM:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6322951.stm

Is not the Maldives sinking below the waves? A whole new meaning to 'bottom of the harbour scheme'.

The Thais, masters at selling fake goods, don't like it up them when somebody does the same!!!

Thai food has to be the best in the world !! yummy

I wonder if anyone has consulted the strictly Muslim Maldives about this plan yet?

indeed no pig or shellfish will leave a very minimal menu!

Muslims eat shellfish; it's halal (lawful in Islam) Also pork and alcohol available in the island resorts. However their is currently a political debate in the Maldives on whether to ban the import and use of pork and alcohol throughout the Maldives. Until the issue of banning alcohol is finally resolved, probably not a good time to invest in a tourism related business in the Maldives

Banning religion would be a much better solution.