Eaters-out are eating in, and the trade is loving it

Minor Food and McDonald's fill fewer tables, especially in shopping malls, but send out more orders.

The Pizza Company, operated by Minor Food, is taking 5 per cent more from deliveries than from serving, and sees that 45 per cent rising to over half in four years.

It is putting Bt100 million into 25 new branches this year, 80 per cent of them delivery only.

Yum Restaurants International (Thailand), which operates KFC and Pizza Hut, has also seen a slight decrease in sit-down customers, though it insists it is still on target, thanks to advertising, but delivery sales at KFC are up 12 per cent.

So belt-tightening has its positive side: people who begrudge spending good money travelling to restaurants still yearn for restaurant food.

During Euro 2008 in June, football fans were glued to their TV sets. Mc Thai, the local master franchisee of McDonald's, switched to 24-hour service at the 36 of its 101 branches that deliver, and has kept it up since.

Yum held down delivery charges, which McDonald's had raised from Bt20 to Bt25.

Dunkin Donut and Mister Donut have introduced deliveries.

Dunkin Donut Thailand, with 165 branches throughout Thailand, has a deal with Food by Phone, which has been delivering from 87 fine restaurants across Bangkok for over a decade.

It is giving away 10 "value packs" a day in Bangkok for 30 days from July 16 through Food by Phone and promoting five variety 12-packs of its 10 best-selling products, aimed at expats and office workers.

Central Restaurants, the local franchisee of the Mister Donut chain, is testing its new home delivery and catering services at its Victory Monument and Silom Road stores.

Yum foresees good business in deliveries for at least six months.

Marketing campaigns are springing up all over. It is now a question of who can deliver the freshest, tastiest, healthiest fare the quickest.