More than twice as many restaurants set to close in 2017 as Thais eat out less

[webfact]

More than twice as many restaurants set to close in 2017 as Thais eat out less

 

Picture: Daily News

 

BANGKOK: -- The head of a Thai restaurant association painted a grim picture of the future of eating out in small and medium sized restaurants as the slow economy bites and competition is fierce.

 

Ladda Samphaothong of the Restaurant Business Trade Association predicted that 2,300 businesses would fold this year.

 

This compared to just 1,000 in the whole of last year.

 

She said that the slow economy means that Thais were eating out less and she also blamed the labor law that has seen foreign migrant workers return home in droves.

 

Also mentioned as contributing factors were foreign owned franchises squeezing out locals by offering discounts and two for one deals as well as the increasing emergence of online delivery services, reported Daily News.

 

Isaan is the worst place for closures with 700 businesses in the region shut already this year, 300 in the north and 300 elsewhere.

 

This 1,300 total is expected to rise to 2,300 by year end said Ladda.

 

Source: Daily News

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-07-14

[Chang_paarp]

This will mean less flooding due to less drains blocked by fatburgs. Also less maintenance needed, the flow on effect will be dramatic.

[just.a.thought]

The high number of Chinese tourists have very little positive effect on the ordinary citizens economy. Seems to have been better days 10 years ago with less than 20 million western tourists.

[realfunster]

39 minutes ago, webfact said:

Also mentioned as contributing factors were foreign owned franchises squeezing out locals by offering discounts and two for one deals....

Ah yes, of course. The favoured blame target. 

[robblok]

28 minutes ago, realfunster said:

Ah yes, of course. The favoured blame target. 

 

Yes .. not the fact that there are too many restaurants, and that more food is available online.

[maewang99]

yup yup yup....

close.... and their food fare has gone down because they increasingly over time catered to late night crowds...

there used to be many good places to have lunch or dinner.... Sanpatong, believe it or not, comes to my mind especially..... but many in the Mueang and elsewhere as well.... that are closed now....
 

yet in those very ****same**** locales..... by four or five fold... there are plenty of new places that if they were not selling yellow colored alcohol water... plus locale hooch.... they would be totally darkened even in broad daylight... especially in broad daylight. 



 

Edited July 14, 2017 by maewang99

[seajae]

seems they refuse to accept that when the food quality drops so profits increase people stop eating there. We have a restaurant here that used to serve great meals, their ribs were brilliant. Went there a few months ago and got the ribds, they came out coated in a thick sauce and were quite big, went to cut into the meat and there was none, there were simply all bone, they had trimmed all the meat off them apart from the tiny sections between the ribs. When I tried to complain the staff just laughed, maybe if these places maintained the quality they wouldnt suffer as much

[mikebell]

Another reason might be the strong baht.  When I first moved here I got 70+ to each UKP.  The iniquitous UK Gov have frozen my pension for the last 9 years and now I get 42 for each UKP.  I have had to make a number of cuts to my life-style.  These cuts impinge on the local merchants/bar owners and restaurateurs.  Multiply that by the numbers of expats & there is a serious shortfall which cannot be plugged with Chinese big-spenders.

[lazygourmet]

Same as everywhere around the world, fifty percent of restaurants are closing down within three years after their first opening.

And this not due to the global economy...

Restaurant business is not for amateurs!

Edited July 14, 2017 by lazygourmet

[quadperfect]

Its because the migrant workers and the economey. Thailand is in a spiral down since all the crack downing and i am expecting more of the same as the iq at the top seems below par for the coarse.

[Pridilives]

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

Another reason might be the strong baht.  When I first moved here I got 70+ to each UKP.  The iniquitous UK Gov have frozen my pension for the last 9 years and now I get 42 for each UKP.  I have had to make a number of cuts to my life-style.  These cuts impinge on the local merchants/bar owners and restaurateurs.  Multiply that by the numbers of expats & there is a serious shortfall which cannot be plugged with Chinese big-spenders.

Not everyone broke same you. 

Edited July 14, 2017 by Pridilives

[Pridilives]

1 minute ago, robblok said:

Oh yes make it political.. 

 

Its about restaurants. YL will never come back.. she is banned face it.

I forget government don't effect economy and economy don't effect restaurant. How I can be clever like you.

[robblok]

3 minutes ago, Pridilives said:

I forget government don't effect economy and economy don't effect restaurant. How I can be clever like you.

Indeed your not clever now move on lil troll.   Maybe if you were more educated you would know that you can''t beat a global upturn or downturn by more then a few percent points gdp. You would have known that if you studied economy. 

[robblok]

1 hour ago, lazygourmet said:

Same as everywhere around the world, fifty percent of restaurants are closing down within three years after their first opening.

And this not due to the global economy...

Restaurant business is not for amateurs!

Yes but by all means lets make it political.. like some trolls on this forum do. 

[Pridilives]

Just now, robblok said:

Yes but by all means lets make it political.. like some trolls on this forum do. 

Oh so sad for you because cannot say fault of thaksin. If economy good everyone have money in pocket can have too many restaurant if economy bad nobody have money in pocket cannot have too many restaurant. real is the thing Prayuth economy bad. Can see this true because before just lose 1000 restaurant for one year but Prayuth economy lose 2300 restaurant. If not Prayith economy make restaurant close then what do it !!! I think you brain want to say thaksin fault

 

[Pridilives]

9 minutes ago, robblok said:

Indeed your not clever now move on lil troll.   Maybe if you were more educated you would know that you can''t beat a global upturn or downturn by more then a few percent points gdp. You would have known that if you studied economy. 

Why so hard for you say prayuth economy no good and really more no good in issan. Global upturn global downturn global stupidturn. Being blind in the eyes makes empty in the brain

[bamukloy]

I am no economics genius either but i think if they are talking about restaurant closing then it have more to do with household income rather than GDP?

 

And surely this government decisions here must be a factor?

 

Say what you will about Thaksin but from my memory he did not go around messing with the peoples food bowl,
annoying business sectors with so many restrictive rules, crackdown on this and that, trying to regulate and licence everything.

 

In the end it will do no good for the country just sound good for a bunch of greenie farangs who bash on about fisheries, orange juice companies, foriegn labour,people traffiking on and on

 

If restaurants in Thailand is failing than it must be that average household income is way down.

 

Many governments does not much to help.

If you get out and hear Thais talking you will hear them say about government decisions is shutting down business and making it hard for them

[robblok]

6 minutes ago, bamukloy said:

I am no economics genius either but i think if they are talking about restaurant closing then it have more to do with household income rather than GDP?

 

And surely this government decisions here must be a factor?

 

Say what you will about Thaksin but from my memory he did not go around messing with the peoples food bowl,
annoying business sectors with so many restrictive rules, crackdown on this and that, trying to regulate and licence everything.

 

In the end it will do no good for the country just sound good for a bunch of greenie farangs who bash on about fisheries, orange juice companies, foriegn labour,people traffiking on and on

 

If restaurants in Thailand is failing than it must be that average household income is way down.

 

Many governments does not much to help.

If you get out and hear Thais talking you will hear them say about government decisions is shutting down business and making it hard for them

Indeed you are no genius and neither am I.

 

GDP and household income are related its easier to talk about these figures as they are easier to compare and get by.

 

If you look at the graphs i posted you see them all move in similar ways.. that means that they are all depended on something.. that is the world economy. You can only influence it a bit as a goverment. 

 

You don't seem to be getting it.. if Thailand does not regulate its fisheries.. the EU and US will not allow them to export fish.. that would hurt much more then how they are hurting now. Now fishing is getting a (a bit) more sustainable and more checked. 

 

If restaurants in Thailand are failing then it COULD be because household income is down.. it could be there are too many restaurants.. it could be new competition (take away by internet). There can be many explanations. 

[lazygourmet]

1 hour ago, robblok said:

Yes but by all means lets make it political.. like some trolls on this forum do. 

I am not anymore a ThaiVisa aficionado, Rob... I just put my 2 satangs, from time to time, without hopefully reading the rest. 

[LazySlipper]

How can they possibly know the statistics about how many are open and how many will close?

 

The small food vendors and most small food stalls don't pay taxes and I am sure that when they fold they don't apply for welfare.

 

Once again numbers and statistics that can't be verified or trusted...

[robblok]

8 minutes ago, LazySlipper said:

How can they possibly know the statistics about how many are open and how many will close?

 

The small food vendors and most small food stalls don't pay taxes and I am sure that when they fold they don't apply for welfare.

 

Once again numbers and statistics that can't be verified or trusted...

Here in Thailand its a real hard thing to know if its good or not. But if you don't change the method with how you collect the data you can have a reasonable estimate (certainly not exact figures)

[blackcab]

"Also mentioned as contributing factors were foreign owned franchises squeezing out locals..."

 

I thought nearly every business in Thailand must be owned at least 51% by Thai people.

 

I would be interested if anyone can name any large franchise in Thailand that is majority owned by a non-Thai people.

[bamukloy]

36 minutes ago, robblok said:

Indeed you are no genius and neither am I.

 

GDP and household income are related its easier to talk about these figures as they are easier to compare and get by.

 

If you look at the graphs i posted you see them all move in similar ways.. that means that they are all depended on something.. that is the world economy. You can only influence it a bit as a goverment. 

 

You don't seem to be getting it.. if Thailand does not regulate its fisheries.. the EU and US will not allow them to export fish.. that would hurt much more then how they are hurting now. Now fishing is getting a (a bit) more sustainable and more checked. 

 

If restaurants in Thailand are failing then it COULD be because household income is down.. it could be there are too many restaurants.. it could be new competition (take away by internet). There can be many explanations. 

 

 

Well the headline give a big hint... 

"Thais eating out less"

 

To me its then obvious they are eating at home

and many known to be lazy in this regard so if they are forced to make food at home themself then money must be tight.

 

The fisheries issue is BS in my opinion, all started by farang ideas and governments pushing their values on another country.

Most other countries are run by the rich and get migrant workers to work for half the pay. This then forces normal people to work for pittance so they must compete.

Big Australian banks have also been allowed to exploit slave labour as they make employ a call centre in India instead of emoying their own.

But all that is perfectly allright and not labelled slavery.

 

Really its clear about  those Burmese fisherman they choose to be there because its better than what option they have at home that is the reality

 

[wayned]

Could it be that they are closing due to the Thai mentality?  If there is a restaurant on the corner of an intersection that is doing good, all of a sudden three others open on the other corners! My wife had a small restaurant in our village.  When she died 2 years ago my niece took over the restaurant and two other restaurants opened in the village, one next door and one across the street.  There are only 21 houses in the village, all farmers.  Now all three are having problems.

[bamukloy]

In my own case actually we stopped eating out because quite simple..the quality has dropped badly.

But then this only proove again inflation, rental prices going up, things all generally harder to make a baht and restaurant have to adjust.

 

I notice that when like this many vendor are scare to raise a basic price because of many competitor.

Instead they will cut stuff, buy poor quality ingredient, add cheap nasty meat and less portions and so on.

 

Is probably come to the point when many people have got a bad dinner and still expensive so they figure they can make better at home 

[robblok]

32 minutes ago, bamukloy said:

 

 

Well the headline give a big hint... 

"Thais eating out less"

 

To me its then obvious they are eating at home

and many known to be lazy in this regard so if they are forced to make food at home themself then money must be tight.

 

The fisheries issue is BS in my opinion, all started by farang ideas and governments pushing their values on another country.

Most other countries are run by the rich and get migrant workers to work for half the pay. This then forces normal people to work for pittance so they must compete.

Big Australian banks have also been allowed to exploit slave labour as they make employ a call centre in India instead of emoying their own.

But all that is perfectly allright and not labelled slavery.

 

Really its clear about  those Burmese fisherman they choose to be there because its better than what option they have at home that is the reality

 

To be honest I am less concerned about the illegal workers then over fishing. But that is my opinion.

 

As for moving a call center is not using slave labor at all.. unless they are paid a lot under the minimum of that country. I can tell you many Indians are well schooled and great at IT.

[robblok]

5 minutes ago, bamukloy said:

In my own case actually we stopped eating out because quite simple..the quality has dropped badly.

But then this only proove again inflation, rental prices going up, things all generally harder to make a baht and restaurant have to adjust.

 

I notice that when like this many vendor are scare to raise a basic price because of many competitor.

Instead they will cut stuff, buy poor quality ingredient, add cheap nasty meat and less portions and so on.

 

Is probably come to the point when many people have got a bad dinner and still expensive so they figure they can make better at home 

I eat out more because they opened a nice big mall near to us. Good quality. But I do see sometimes that quality drops and then I am gone. There is a salad bar that i use a lot and they have varying quality i used to be able to keep the stuff for 3-4 days.. now 2 days is pushing it. Its happens a lot that when a restaurant is established (has enough clients) they start cutting costs and quality. 

[maewang99]

government doesn't directly effect economics... except in narrow areas perhaps sometimes. 

 

but it has a huge impact on demographics..... and it provides money for basic research.

 

Edited July 14, 2017 by maewang99

[observer90210]

The article should have mentioned the % of restaurants closed down by area in Thailand.

 

My reaction may be a bit simplistic, but if your food is fresh, good taste, at reasonable prices that do not rip off farangs, with friendly staff...such restaurants will always maintain business.

 

I recall during a trip at a well known sea side resort town, a few hours from Bangkok, going to a restaurant catering italian cuisine for around US$ 10,-- a dish!! Reasonable for the west, but outrageously a cheating price for Thailand. And it was not a hotel restaurant. I thus would have no pity in seeing such establishments close down.

 

 

 

 

[bamukloy]

17 minutes ago, robblok said:

Yes every country was booming then.. look it up.

 

My graphs show it.. governments can only influence economy that much. Sure some are better at economics than others but your not going to reverse a global downtrend.

 

But if you look closely you see that Prayut in the end is following the same pattern as all the other countries going slightly up. I don't credit him for a good economy neither do I credit him for a bad one (unless you see bad economic policiy) If anything alll the money poured into construction should have had effect. 

Thats true, the graph dont lie. What i find is strange about it is how Thai economy is of course linked to world economics but yet not hit so bad from the western bank crisises

Do you remember the tom yum goong crises? Quite seperate from the west.

 

Anyway, two things you also mention in your posts is education and building investment.

But i assume its the rich and educated that are building these condos everywhere and shopping centres on every corner when already there is to many of em doing it hard.

If/when money really does dry up here and huge amounts are tyed up in empty condos and shopping centres there will be a huge problem i think.

The leaders here should really educate people on the concept what a oversaturated market means but then again im just but another farang mug who dont know much!