Renumas Gulasirima
Suan Dusit Rajabhat University
Premruetai Yambunjong
Panyapiwat Institute of Management
The Thai food business has tended to expand as the government has promoting Thai food to the global and ASEAN markets under its ‘Kitchen of the World’ campaign. This research is a part of the research project “Thai Food Business Model in ASEAN Markets: A Case Study of Thailand, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Cambodia”. This paper focuses on the opinions of tourists toward the image of Thai food and Thai restaurants in Laos and Cambodia.
The findings show that the overall image of Thai food and Thai restaurants in term of hygiene and sanitation in the ASEAN market was quite good. The first three items for the image of Thai food revealed positive images for good taste and flavor, fresh and good quality raw materials, and fine fruit and vegetable carving with beautiful and colorful dish presentation. The first three items for the image of Thai restaurants showed good images were for personal hygiene of servers, clean guest toilets and the smell of the soap, and spotless glassware and linen. Restaurant entrepreneurs should concentrate on food safety and personal hygiene. Thai food restaurants in the ASEAN market should be promoted in the “Thai image”, harmonizing Thai food and Thai culture.
(Presented in the 2012 Asian Food Heritage Forum: Harmonizing Culture , Technology and Industry, 20-21 August 2012, Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Institute of Asian Studies, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Chinese Dietary Culture Institute, Zhejiang Gongshang University, and Ministry of Culture, Thailand)