BANGKOK – Sales at restaurants drop by 80% because they were ordered to limit the numbers of customers amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) pandemic, according to the Thai Restaurant Association.
TRA president Thaniwan Kulmongkol said that although the government allowed restaurants to reopen on May 3, they must follow disease control measures including social distancing and the limitation of customer numbers at the premises.
“This limits the numbers of customers eating at restaurants. Groups of family members and friends choose food delivery services instead of sitting separately at restaurants. This causes sales at restaurants to drop by as much as 80%,” she said.
Restaurateurs must continue to pay rents and many of them halved the salaries of employees and had them work on every other day, Ms Thaniwan said.
She said she hoped the government would allow each restaurant to welcome more customers in its subsequent stages of easing business lockdowns. (TNA)