“The government said we should adapt. They said if our cash flow was low, we should take out a loan with a bank. But no banks in the universe would lend money to businesses that can’t operate normally,” Bard Passapong, founder of Suan Phlu’s Junker and Bar, wrote on Facebook last weekend.
Over the past year, increasingly frustrated restaurant and bar owners like Bard have spoken out against high fees charged by delivery apps, stock left to spoil, and a glaring lack of government support as jobs and wages have been lost amid months-long forced closures.
They argue that little or none of a THB1 trillion relief loan granted to the government last year went to their businesses.
But with a recently approved THB500 billion loan on the table, a group of nightlife leaders believes it isn’t too late to make up for what Thailand’s lauded food and beverage…
