Page 77 - FoodFocusThailand No.180 March 2021

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Opinion/Suggestion in which people are preoccupied with the viral spread and overwhelming
There are opportunities to grow for many potential F&B products and economic downturn. This phenomenon may eventually produce adverse
services, such as food delivery, instant meals, and healthy foods, as effects on the natural birth rate as well as the demographic and workforce
well as home equipment, such as kitchen utensils, exercise equipment, structures.
electrical appliances, and solar cells.
Opinion/Suggestion
Permanent Work from Home (WFH) as a New The principle of economies of scale is hardly applicable to single-person
2Norm The river has no return; this maxim reflects the reality that households; nevertheless, the business sector needs to adapt its
the world is forever entering the digital economy, which helps facilitate strategies to accommodate these customers who tend to buy less but
WFH processes that enable skilled individuals to do their jobs from with more frequency. For instance, dining venues may offer set menus
remote provinces or countries around the world without the need to with delivery service or set packages that include ingredients, condiments,
gather in one place. The pandemic has accelerated the expansion and recipes for take-away customers. The manufacturing industry needs
rate of WFH since it is crucial for organizations to maintain supply to break away from the past by adjusting production lines to satisfy the
chain dynamics. The tide of change is particularly strong in certain consumption demand of single-person households rather than multi-
sectors such as content production, computer graphics, academy, member families. For SMEs, family businesses may require delivery
education, call centers, and back office. It is highly probable that service of more diverse products for inventory stocking and ingredient
several sectors as tutoring schools will permanently go online in the or seasoning supplying (as one person cannot take charge of every single
post-COVID era. Google, along with many other giant corporations, task). In addition, they may look for customized online-store applications
has announced that most employees can work from home in 2021, to expand customer base. Applications that come with bundled services
and Twitter has asked its employees to permanently work from home such as delivery, product database, and payment gateway are more
from now on. In Thailand, it is likely that people will spend more time likely to be chosen by these family-based SMEs.
at home, and some will go WFH mode more frequently to minimize
crowding in both public areas and workplaces. Many organizations Fear of Density as a New Standard Clients extremely
adopt overlapped working hours in combination with the WFH option 4dislike crowded spaces. Several shopping malls even open “express”
to reduce overcrowding in workspaces and on public transport. payment stations where customers can scan their purchased items and
WFH has a wide range of benefits such as reduction of commute swipe credit cards by themselves to reduce bottlenecks at payment lines.
time and traffic congestion, increased productivity at work as less time Drive-thru services are also offered in businesses such as restaurants,
is wasted on the road, and tighter family bond. Physical presence at seafood outlets, grocery stores, and pet grooming centers. To compensate
work can be limited to necessary occasions such as important the loss of business, dine-in venues may need to diversify their lines by
meetings. WFH can also lower corporate expenses in these offering, for example, food delivery service and grocery corners to clients
economically uncertain times as WFH employees do not have to pay who want to avoid crowded spaces in supermarkets.
higher rentals just to live in the city and opt for staying in their
hometowns instead, thus reducing the corporate costs for additional Opinion/Suggestion
perks, welfares, or benefits. The longer this pandemic lasts, the more This is a golden opportunity for delivery business and bundled services
common WFH will become, especially in the sectors with higher or products.
compensation and wages as the workforce can be physically assigned
to work in the areas with lower cost of living. Localized Supply Chains The more international supply
5chains manufacturers have, the more damage they will suffer from
Opinion/Suggestion the epidemic. This is evident in many European countries, USA, Japan,
This phenomenon will generate positive effects on restaurants, and Taiwan where manufacturers have been moving their production
retailers, and other WFH-related businesses such as food delivery in bases from China back to their respective or neighboring countries
suburbs and rural areas. The expansion is eminent as home-based following the outbreak of “Wuhan” virus that caused disruptions in the
employees can work in their hometowns and avoid crowded cities. logistics network.
Wealth and prosperity distribution to more remote areas and secondary
towns will also benefit the government. Moreover, WFH is also Opinion/Suggestion
compatible with the enterprises that need to partner with overseas Regional economic partnerships such as RCEP (the world’s biggest trade
countries within the regional supply chains, and this is especially true agreement) will become the key to economic recovery. The connections
when it comes to overlapped working hours between partner countries. between trade, investment, and online commerce with neighboring
WFH also boosts up the demand for home entertainment: Netflix, for countries, especially those within the same trade agreements, are
example, has seen a giant leap in its subscription thanks to this essential to circumscribe the adverse effects of the disrupted logistics
phenomenon. It is imperative that Thailand promote online-movie chains.
industry following the steps taken by South Korea in order to create
and export cultural products.
Single-person Households as Main Clients The
3coronavirus flare-ups will likely lead to the rise of single-person
households in several countries, including Thailand. According to the
data from Thai Health Promotion Foundation, during 1996 – 2017 the
number of Thai household members was headed toward the lower
spectrum, thus reflecting the shrunken size of Thai families. Single-
person and two-person households have significantly spiked up, while
those with three or more members are headed toward the opposite
direction. This can be observed from the 2.3-fold increase in Thai
single-person households from 8.8% to 20.5%. Meanwhile, two-person
households went up by 1.7 time from 15.9% to 27.3%. Bigger families
with three or more members have seen a drop from 75.3% to 52.2%.
“Social Distancing” measures will either slow down or prevent
interactions between two persons and marriage during these times

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