158 cheap PTT eateries to open
The Commerce Ministry will open 158 low-cost food outlets at PTT petrol stations next week under the government’s Noonid scheme.
Director-General of the internal trade department, Nuntawan Sakuntanaga, said that the first 158 shops will be opened on April 7, in time to serve commuters travelling during the Songkran holidays.
The target is to open the shops at 600 PTT petrol stations this year.
The outlets, formerly known as Blue Flag food shops, will sell Thai dishes such as rice and curry and some other popular street food items at no more than 35 baht a dish.
Currently, there are 12,000 Noonid food shops operating across the country, some in the form of mobile food trucks.
The department is now working on plans to beef up the standards of these shops by seeking advice and methods from experts to evaluate their services and grade them. The A, B and C grades will be issued for shops, depending on cleanliness, taste, quality raw materials and prices.
By the end of April, the first batch of A-grade or Star Noonid shops will be announced to encourage shop owners to improve their standards. She said that revisions will be made every two months in order to ensure that quality standards are maintained.
Apart from the low-cost eateries, the Commerce Ministry has also partnered with local manufacturers to offer 15-20% lower prices on select products under the Thong Fah or Blue Flag Pracha Rat scheme.
Initially, five leading manufacturers and suppliers have reached agreements with the government to make and supply 48 consumer items at low costs, which will be available at 5,500 small retail outlets nationwide.
The five suppliers are Sahapattanapibul Plc, Unilever Thai Trading Ltd, Colgate-Palmolive Thailand, Proctor & Gamble Trading Thailand, and Berli Jucker Plc.
This Blue Flag Pracha Rat scheme aims to cover 20,000 outlets over the next six months.