Jantra Acmich weathered the AIDS epidemic, five military coups, world recessions, the Asian economic crisis, 9/11, a tsunami, and SARS, but her long-time beer bar and coffee shops couldn’t overcome the coronavirus pandemic.
After finally throwing in the towel on her bar after years of declining business, Jantra has found new life running a cook-to-order Thai food shop in central Pattaya. It’s not glamourous, but it earns her enough for her and her family to live on, she said.
“Never give up,” is the advice Jantra has for those struggling through Pattaya’s virus-related shutdown. Do what you can to survive, even if it’s not what you want she said.
That’s the philosophy she takes to work at Krua Jantra every day, popping out 50-baht plates of fried pork and holy basil pork or fried rice.
Back in the 70s, 80s and 90s, she said, making money in Pattaya was easy. There were plenty of foreigners with large spending power and the willingness to use it. But the 2010s have been cruel and her beer bar and coffee shop had declined each of the past five years, she said.
Some of Jantra’s old customers have followed her to Soi Arunothai but she’s also building a new clientele. She’s done well enough that she can periodically offer free food to Pattaya’s many unemployed.
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