Italian fast food, pizza, is making inroad in the deep South
The first and only Pizza Hut outlet in the three southernmost border provinces looks out of place in a region where western culture and food are strangers if not unwelcome. Yet, the outlet has managed to survive for more than a year and is attracting more and more customers of different religious faiths.
The outlet is located at Coliseum department store, the biggest in Yala’s Muang district. Mr Thongchai Khai-ngern, the Thai manager of the outlets, said that Coliseum was chosen because it is ideally located and is regularly frequented by many shoppers. Although the outlet has not made much profits after more than a year in operations, the response from customers is satisfactory, he said.
To attract customers, Mr Thongchai said the outlet did not resort to publicity but relied on words of mouths of the customers themselves and the friendly services provided by the staff who are mostly local Muslims.
He disclosed that several customers who are Buddhists questioned why the pizzas available in the outlet were different from those shown on the advertisements. This was because many of the customers were Muslims and, therefore, the outlet had to make some adjustments to the ingredients used in making pizzas, for instance, all the raw materials used in food preparations must be stamped with the Halal food symbol.
Mr Thongchai said that Muslim customers would normally ask first whether they could eat the pizzas and whether the pizzas contained any ingredients which were prohibited for Muslims. He cited one case involving a Muslim religious teacher who asked to see the Halal certificates to make sure that all the ingredients were all right.
However, he noted that the most important thing which has contributed to the outlet’s acceptance among the Muslim customers was the services provided to them by the staff.
The pizzas provided by the outlet were freshly made and were not made in advance. “Therefore, customers have to wait but they will be told they can expect their food in how many minutes,” said the outlet’s manager.
Asked about the unrest situation in the region and why he chose to work there, Mr Thongchai admitted that, firstly, he was afraid for his life. But after having worked for a while, it was business as usual for him, he said, adding that he was often asked by his colleagues whenever he went to the head office in Bangkok about life in the restive region.
“People who live outside the region will not understand it. They don’t know that one violent incident which took place at one place does not mean that there is violence in the other places. They simply assumed that the entire province is unsafe,” he explained.
About his future, Mr Thongchai admitted that, one day, he would have to leave and, hence, it was important that he had to train some of his staff to take over from him. Regarding the required qualifications for the managerial position like hjm, he said the person must be able to withstand the pressure, must be able to communicate well with his Muslim staff and, most importantly, must be able to fix the equipments in the outlet because there are no mechanics who are willing to take the risk come to make repairs.
“The shop opens seven days a week and the staff have to take turns for holidays but there are overtime pay and allowances as incentive which have made the staff happy. I often told them that we have to work harder and become more tired on certain days when there are many customers,” said Thongchai.
As for the possibility of another pizza outlet to be opened in Pattani or Narathiwat, he said he personally thought that the chance was slim “but, anyway, the decision will rest with the top management in Bangkok”.
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Captions :
1 Pizza Hut outlet in Yala
2 Mr. Thongchai and his staff