Think about this for a moment. Whichever place you go, there is almost always a Thai restaurant in the area. And this is despite the Thai population being relatively small around the world. In the US, there are over 5,400 Thai restaurants and about 300,000 Thai-Americans. In comparison, there are 54,000 Mexican restaurants for around 36,000,000 Mexican-Americans.
Where did all the Thai restaurants begin?
Thai restaurants have been popping up all over the world, and it’s not just because Thai food is delicious. For the past 20 years, the Thai government has been running a Global Thai program with the goal of expanding the number of Thai restaurants around the world, and they have been very successful at it. Originally planning to boost the number of Thai restaurants to 8,000 by 2003, the program has exceeded that target, and there are now more than 15,000 Thai restaurants globally. There are over 3,000 Thai restaurants in Australia too.
The Thai Ministry of Commerce offers people keen to open a restaurant plans for three different “master restaurant” types, and two Thai banks offer loans of up to $3 million US dollars to Thai nationals wanting to open a restaurant abroad, which helps with the setup and building costs to get started. Thai diplomats around the world also have roles to support Thai restaurants with logistics, strategy, marketing, and supply chain management.
Why does the Thai government support Thai restaurants?
The Thai government feels that Thai restaurants have such good business potential that they can be developed to deliver international recognition and awareness of Thai food. This, in turn, will increase tourism to Thailand and its export revenue. It’s a form of gastrodiplomacy, or culinary diplomacy. Other countries have followed Thailand’s lead, including North Korea, South Korea, and Japan.
These countries have launched their own culinary diplomacy programs, promoting their local cuisine around the world to increase tourism and generate economic growth. South Korea, for example, launched their own program in 2009, called the Korean Cuisine to the World campaign, with the aim of quadrupling the number of Korean restaurants abroad and lifting Korean food into the “top five ranks of world cuisines.”
The Thai government’s Global Thai program is a successful form of culinary diplomacy, promoting Thai cuisine and increasing tourism and revenue for Thailand. The government’s investment in Thai restaurants abroad is a unique way of building up a good image of Thailand through its restaurants worldwide.
If you want to learn more about why there are so many Thai restaurants, check out our recent episode of The Dive!