Restaurant businesses in Thailand grow 28% in 2023 with 314bn baht revenue

The food shop and restaurant businesses in Thailand expanded significantly in 2023, generating around 314 billion baht in revenue and 9.559 billion baht in profits, the Department of Business Development (DBD) announced on Monday.

DBD Director-General Oramon Sapthaveetham said the revenue of restaurant businesses in Thailand rose by 28.41% compared to 244.577 billion baht in 2022. Profit also surged by 182.25% compared to 3.386 billion baht in 2022.

She added that revenue and profit figures for 2024 have not yet been compiled, as restaurants and food shops are still in the process of filing their business data with the DBD.

As of 31 March this year, there were 24,555 legal entities operating restaurant businesses in Thailand. The majority, or 97.44%, are small businesses.

The types of businesses are divided as follows:

• 89.1% (21,879) are limited companies
• 10.86% (2,667) are limited partnerships
• 0.04% (9) are public companies

Oramon said the top five provinces with the highest number of restaurants are:

• Bangkok: 9,710 (39.54%)
• Chonburi: 2,693 (10.97%)
• Phuket: 1,936 (7.88%)
• Chiang Mai: 1,504 (6.13%)
• Surat Thani: 1,411 (5.75%)

In the first quarter of this year, 973 new restaurant businesses were registered, with 339 in Bangkok, 119 in Chonburi, 77 in Chiang Mai, 62 in Phuket, and 43 in Surat Thani.

Oramon said the figures indicated that food shop businesses were continuing to expand steadily.

She added that the government placed great importance on food shop businesses, viewing food as a key element of the country's soft power.

Operators of food shops and restaurants have also adapted to changing consumer behaviours, such as offering food delivery services and allowing customers to pre-order dishes before dining in.

Oramon said the DBD would continue to promote and support Thai restaurants that have earned the Thai Selection certification mark from the department.