The Association of Thai Restaurants is against a measure, proposed by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), banning customers from dining in restaurants and food shops, claiming that this will further damage the business and force more redundancies.
The association’s president, Thaneewan Kulmonkol, said today (Saturday) that they are sending an open letter to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, urging him to reconsider the ban, which she claims could cause about 100 billion baht in damage to the restaurant sector and related businesses, such as farming.
The measure calls for takeaway services only by restaurants and food shops.
In the letter, the association say that many employees, who were laid off last year when the same measure was imposed, have been reemployed and they will be made jobless again if the measure is reintroduced.
Moreover, it said that many fresh food and vegetable suppliers would also be hard hit, which will be reflected in reduced tax collection.
The association says that the staff at most large and medium-sized restaurants have been trained in safety measures for customers and additional safety measures have been imposed, in the wake of the new wave of COVID-19 infections, including temperature screening of all customers, cleaning of restaurant floors every 2-3 hours, cleaning of restrooms with disinfectant every two hours and the requirement for all staff to wear rubber gloves and face masks at all times.
