Thai Govt to put cheap food stalls inside supermarkets

[wileycoyote]

Could be better for food hygiene ,but will detract from people watching in the streets

[Lupatria]

Am I missing something here? What government are they talking about?

[bigbamboo]

Exactly what people who go to supermarkets are looking for. Street food.

Maybe the schoolkids who would go shopping in supermarkets between 2 and 5 in the afternoon looking for bottles of expensive wine. .

[ratcatcher]

Am I missing something here? What government are they talking about?

Please remember where you are. This is Wonder Land, nothing has really happened after all and Alice is shopping happily in Chiang Mai while the Mad Hatter continues to run things from the desert.

[Benmart]

while vendors who sell extraordinarily expensive goods will be punished AHHH the free market at work

how about the rip-off cost of Cars MANUFACTURED in thialand that cost More than double when bought in thailand than other countrys

Hard drives made in thailand more expensive than the same thai made hard drive bought in singapore

I could go on , but as long as MSG and Aspertaine loaded trash are kept low so the mass of thais can buy them all is good

So many resentments, so little self inventory.

[Benmart]

Go to the subsidized blue flag ones and let the others (who work according a market mechanism) suffer.

Mr. Santichai said the program is meant to ease financial burdens during the economic slow-down, and to assist parents who are bound to face additional expenditures when school semesters start this June.

How about selling them some subsidized rice before it is given to friendly foreign countries (below market price) or rotten?

Ordinary people will not get to the food unless they climb over the Russians...

The bigotry is noted.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

And just how exactly are these Blue Flag food shops going to be providing their goods at a 20% lesser cost than the same items sold in the "open" market places -- especially when they're occupying private retail spaces in Big C and Tesco malls???

For that matter, most if not all large Tesco and Big C stores already have their own versions of food courts, where vendors are renting/leasing those spaces. So the Blue Flag spaces going to compete with those too???

[Benmart]

Blue flag my ass....it's a Red Flag Marxist concept....

The wording leaves me wondering how Marx fits into the equation. Sounds more like Groucho than Karl.

[15Peter20]

Absolutely nothing the government does will please the 80/20* on this forum. Once a person's mind is made up there is no room for the possibility of anything running contrary to their beliefs and posting on TV just becomes an exercise in reinforcing their own views. Surely once they are convinced, nothing can contradict that, right?

The government has doubtless screwed up on some policies - don't they all? - but does that mean it is impossible for them to get the odd thing right now and then? Balance and objectivity are indeed scarce in this forum.

* 80% of posts made by 20% of posters

[lucjoker]

No cigarette smoking in air con areas ,steaming fish and papaya pokpok is no pombem !

If you buy a t-shirt ....it will smell the same as the fish-stable next to it ....mmmmm

The good thing ,the dogs can come in also ......it will freeze them #### off !

Also good for the safety,all those carts with a gas tank ,lol !

[Local Drunk]

Sure to be a big hit at Tops and Villa.

There is no shortage of cheap food in Thailand. There is however an over abundance of cheap people.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Local Drunk

[15Peter20]

Sure to be a big hit at Tops and Villa.

There is no shortage of cheap food in Thailand. There is however an over abundance of cheap people.

And I'm sure all those cheap people (there are millions) love you just as much as you love them.

[belg]

what?

if the food in a stall is too expensive, just EAT AT HOME

[Gsxrnz]

The Shinawats, which rose to power through nepotism, intimidation, and monopolistic practises, are clearly having trouble with the idea of capitalism. It's a newfangled concept which relies on the basic principles of demand and supply to achieve a viable price point, as opposed to communism whereby the government sets the price point and allocates the distribution of product.

Prices are rising directly because of the hyper-inflationary populist policies. I warned them at the time. They should pay better attention to TVF.

Shin economics 101:

Make sure most people need your help in terms of subsidies and handouts to survive. Make them dependent on you.

That's politics 101 as appplied in every country, it's sure not specific to Thailand.

The modus operandi for controlling the general world population by governments and the select wealthy few that control and influence those governments is:

Create the problem, highlight and publicise the problem to the public creating fear and a demand for a solution, provide a perceived solution to the problem, which in turn creates another problem, highlight that problem to the public creating fear and a demand for a solution, provide a perceived solution to the problem....etc, etc, ad infinitum.

It's been done to us all by the controlling few since the caveman days.

[Local Drunk]

Sure to be a big hit at Tops and Villa.

There is no shortage of cheap food in Thailand. There is however an over abundance of cheap people.

And I'm sure all those cheap people (there are millions) love you just as much as you love them.

If they want my love... They gotta pay pay me for it...

[khunken]

I'm sure Big C & Tesco Lotus will just 'love' this. They already have their food sit-down areas and new discount outlets selling what the supermarkets sell - cheaper is hardly going to fly.

This is an item for a slow news day and I doubt very much that it will happen.

[Emster23]

Another bright idea, bring street-food inside !!!

and since government backed, don't have to worry about trivialities such as profit..... and will drive the hard working street food vendors out of business. Brilliant way to help. Just when you think they'd run out of really stupid ideas.....

[Jimmu]

Absolutely nothing the government does will please the 80/20* on this forum. Once a person's mind is made up there is no room for the possibility of anything running contrary to their beliefs and posting on TV just becomes an exercise in reinforcing their own views. Surely once they are convinced, nothing can contradict that, right?

The government has doubtless screwed up on some policies - don't they all? - but does that mean it is impossible for them to get the odd thing right now and then? Balance and objectivity are indeed scarce in this forum.

* 80% of posts made by 20% of posters

You may well be right! However, as an infrequent poster I shall give you some balance and objectivity. This is a truly dumb idea on many levels!

[bangon04]

Okay, how are they going to get the dog turd dust particles in to that food?

and it just won't taste the same unless it is next to a sewer khlong.

Maybe they can use the spaces right next to the toilets in Big C to give an authentic flavour.

[Don Aleman]

I would have to think that renters in the stores selling similar items would stage a huge protest

[ggt]

Brilliant...now they can dump all that stored and unmarketable rotting rice...on an unsuspecting public...

[samtam]

Upon initial reading (of the headline alone), I thought this was a plan to locate food stalls inside and in a designated space, thus freeing up the streets for, well pedestrians. That's a novel idea. As we all know, pavements are for anything other than pedestrians. And what's with the placement of bollards on pavements which are just wide enough for motorcycles, (or food stall carts)....?

Edited May 13, 2014 by samtam

[ggold]

The Shinawats, which rose to power through nepotism, intimidation, and monopolistic practises, are clearly having trouble with the idea of capitalism. It's a newfangled concept which relies on the basic principles of demand and supply to achieve a viable price point, as opposed to communism whereby the government sets the price point and allocates the distribution of product.

Prices are rising directly because of the hyper-inflationary populist policies. I warned them at the time. They should pay better attention to TVF.

I warned them at the time. They should pay better attention to TVF.

OK so who's for PM out of the forum members, The reds can choose their candidate and the yellows theirs, including cabinet members and what policies they would put forward! We could hold the election on the 20th of July, the winning party to take control of the country and carry out their electoral promises!

This acheives two things, it answers sutheps wish to have an unelected PM with reforms to be carried out before new elections,as Thai's would not have the vote on this forum! and It puts to rest the red claim that they would win any future elections as they would have to prove their policies will actually work, unlike the past three years!

[chongtak]

Cheap food = flour, sugar, oil, sodium, monosodium glutamate, and wait a minute! We have no room left for normal ingredients....

[PhilipCook]

Its marketing cooperation between big c and the ministry of commerce. Loss leader brings customers in, whether its a cheap meal, cheap bottle of soda pop, etc., the concept isn't bad at all.The target audience definitely isn't any of us so all the complaints mentioned here are misguided.

[starship]

Wasn't there a thread a few days back where the government wanted food court sellers to reduce their prices by 20%. Now they announce this. Obviously planned it all along and if true will no doubt put many existing food vendors out of business. The ones that already exist can't be making much money as it is with all their costs, versus the price they sell at.

[attrayant]

Loss leaders should really be in the back of the supermarket for maximum effectiveness.

If I were Thai and cared about how my government manages its budget, I'd sure love to know where the money to pay for this will come from. They've got to rent the space from the supermarkets and pay the subsidy. We're probably not talking billions of baht here, but it's still significant.

We can't pay the rice farmers, so let's launch another government program!

[englishoak]

Nothing hard to understand about this.

Big C and Tesco ie the big players will work with the government and have a few of these blue flag food stalls in the usual and already open food courts in their superstores. It wont affect thier business, in fact it will boost it.

The benefit to the stores is those customers may spend in their store on something else whilst there and at the very least its branding awareness if they go to eat all the tim e at big C they are more likely to shop at big C later in life or when they need something.

School kids students or poorer will be able to eat 20% cheaper.and also those who wish to save some money. In a nice aircon environment ? its a no brainer.

Not everyone will use the cheap blue flag option. in fact Thai being all about face etc will not be using the "cheap" option unless they have to ... no way youll see a middle class Thai queing there but you will a student. Thats fine and what its for.

Can't really see any problems about this or the logic behind it. ~Other vendors might not like it but offer something different they will be fine. Big C etc wont care they will get the custom anyway even if the booth is given to the gov on the cheap.

There is a LOT of money to be made at the cheap end of the market, value products etc, if its the same noodle soup for 20% less there are plenty that will appreciate the discount, I have no problem with governments subsidising things to help the wage packet go around, We do it all the time in the west too, it is amusing the ones who talk about subsidies being bad are always those who dont have to worry about their finances so much.

The other food vendors that occupy these food courts btw are nearly all part of massive chains and brands or the stores themselves. It will not affect the street vendors at al imo.

Edited May 13, 2014 by englishoak

[surangw]

good plan, bring more propane bottles into an building.

[JesseFrank]

Don't all the supermarkets already sell these cooked meals, I know Tesco and Big C do in Chiangmai and have been doing so for years.

When I go to the supermarket it is not to buy take away food, it is to purchase fresh ingredients to cook my own.

In that case you should not go to the supermarket in the first place