Restaurant laws that business owners should know and should not overlook!

Opening a restaurant requires a permit or are there any regulations that business operators must comply with? This article has the answers because we have gathered together laws, regulations, and rules related to opening a restaurant to share, all of which are important. If you don't do it correctly from the beginning, there are legal penalties, including imprisonment and fines.

 According to the Public Health Act of 1992, restaurants are considered places where food is sold. Under the supervision of local government agencies Including Bangkok, municipalities, sanitary districts, provincial administrative organizations, sub-district administrative organizations and Pattaya City. Therefore, those who operate restaurants must comply with the Public Health Act. As follows

Restaurant operators with a shop area of ​​more than 200 square meters must Request permission to operate a business from local officials. Once a license is obtained, the business can be opened. The license is valid for one year and an application for renewal must be submitted before the license expires.

Restaurants with a shop area not exceeding 200 square meters When starting a business, you must Notify the local official to request a certificate of notification. And when intending to cease business or transfer the business to another person, you must also notify the local authorities.

Applications for licenses, license renewals, and notification certificates can be submitted to the following government agencies:

✔️Bangkok District Office (for restaurants located in Bangkok)

✔️Municipal Office (for restaurants located in the municipality)

✔️ Subdistrict Administrative Organization Office (for restaurants located in the Subdistrict Administrative Organization area)

✔️Pattaya City Office (for restaurants located in Pattaya City)

✔️Restaurant operators must comply with the terms and conditions set by local governments.

✔️Operators of restaurants without a license are subject to imprisonment not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding ten thousand baht.

✔️Restaurant operators who do not have a notification certificate are subject to imprisonment not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding five thousand baht.

✔️Restaurant operators must display their license or certificate of notification openly and clearly in the restaurant area. Violators are subject to a fine not exceeding five hundred baht.

Ministry of Public Health Regulations on the Hygiene of Food Sales Places B.E. 2018

Or often called food hygiene principles, it is another regulation that every restaurant must strictly follow. If anyone neglects, what are the penalties? Let's see.

Category 1: Hygiene of food sales premises

Section 1 Food sales locations, such as areas used for food preparation, must be clean, strong, not damaged, have adequate ventilation, have appropriate lighting, have a place to wash hands or appropriate hand-cleaning equipment. Tables used for food preparation must be at least 60 centimeters above the floor and in good condition.

Section 2: In the area of ​​food sales, there must be management of toilets that are in good condition, ready to use, and sufficient in number, clean, with good drainage, and separate. Doors must not open directly to the food preparation area, unless the toilets are kept clean at all times, have appropriate partitions, the toilet doors must be closed at all times, and there must be sanitary and sufficient sinks.

Point 3: There is good waste management.

Section 4 Wastewater must be managed, drained cleanly, free of food scraps, separated from food scraps, separated from fat before draining into the drainage system, in accordance with the law on promotion and maintenance of environmental quality.

Section 5: There must be measures to prevent animals, disease-carrying insects, and pets.

Section 6 Fire protection equipment must be provided.

Category 2 Food sales locations

Section 7: Fresh food that is prepared must be of good quality, clean, safe, stored at an appropriate temperature, in proportion, covered, and not placed on the floor or in a place that may contaminate the food.

Section 8: Dry food must not be contaminated and must be in a tightly closed container. Seasonings must be up to standard.

Section 9: Ready-to-eat food must be stored in a clean container, placed at least 60 centimeters above the floor.

Section 10 Drinking water and beverages that are sealed must be placed at least 15 centimeters above the floor. The outside of the container must be cleaned before serving. If the beverage is not in a sealed container, it must be placed at least 60 centimeters above the floor.

Section 11. Water quality must be used no lower than the standards set by the Department of Health.

Item 12 Ice must be handled in a clean way, such as keeping it clean, stored in a clean container with a lid, placed at least 15 centimeters above the floor, with the rim of the container at least 60 centimeters above the floor. Do not drain water from the container onto the area where the container is placed. Use clean tongs or ice scoops with handles. Do not put food or objects in the container together with ice for consumption.

Section 13: Regarding water used, it must be tap water. If not available, use water of equivalent quality.

Section 14 Chemicals, cleaning agents, and toxic substances must be clearly labeled with warnings and separated from areas where food is prepared or sold. Food containers must not be used to contain chemicals.

Section 15: Do not use cooking gas as fuel for cooking, preparing or eating food on the table or in food sales locations.

Section 16. Do not use methanol or methyl alcohol as a fuel in making, cooking, or reheating food, except in the form of solid alcohol.

Section 3: Regarding containers and equipment in food sales locations

Section 17: Use safe materials in good condition, store at least 60 centimeters above the floor, cover to prevent contamination, have a serving spoon, refrigerator, freezer, oven, microwave must be in good condition, not damaged.

Item 18. Store equipment that can prevent animals and insects from carrying disease. Disinfect containers after cleaning.

Can learn Professional storage techniques for ingredients in a free online course ! Which will teach you the correct way to store each type of ingredient and keep the quality of the ingredients fresh at all times.

Section 19 Must be in good health, not have a contagious disease or be a carrier of a contagious disease or disgusting skin disease, must have undergone training according to the criteria that the Minister, upon the advice of the committee, announces in the Government Gazette. Food handlers must wear clean clothing and protective equipment to prevent contamination of food, must wash their hands, and must not do anything that will contaminate the food or cause disease.

Section 20 Food selling locations that received a license or certificate prior to the effective date of this Ministerial Regulation must make corrections within 180 days from the effective date of this Ministerial Regulation, except if the location has an area not exceeding 200 square meters, corrections must be made within 1 year. As for the implementation of Section 21 regarding training according to the criteria, it must be carried out within 2 years.

For the penalty in case the restaurant does not comply with this ministerial regulation, it does not specify the penalty, but can rely on the power of the Public Health Act B.E. 2535 (1992), amended in B.E. 2560 (2017) to punish, that is, be careful to fine 50,000 baht.

Labor law, don't overlook this issue.

Another law that restaurant operators must pay attention to because if they make a mistake, they may be both imprisoned and fined, which is the labor law.

One of the issues that entrepreneurs often unknowingly violate labor laws is: “General Labor Category” According to the Labor Protection Act, the use of labor, holidays, and leave are things that business owners must know and must be careful about doing things that are against the law because they may be punished by the law by the employees. Let's present the details of the specific legal contents that business owners often do wrong, as follows:

General work does not exceed 8 hours/day or as agreed upon between the employer and employee, and does not exceed 48 hours/week.

During normal working hours: not less than 1 hour/day after the employee has worked for no more than 5 consecutive hours or may agree to take breaks in intervals but the total must not be less than 1 hour/day. Work in a food shop or beverage shop that is open for sale or service on non-consecutive days may take a break for more than 2 hours/day.

The employer may not arrange a break time in cases where the nature or condition of the work requires continuous work with the consent of the employee or it is an emergency work.

Before overtime work: In the case where employees are required to work overtime after normal working hours for no less than 2 hours, employees must be allowed to rest for no less than 20 minutes before starting overtime work.

Weekly holidays: not less than 1 day/week, with a gap of no more than 6 days. For hotel work, transport work, forest work, work in remote areas, or other work as specified in ministerial regulations, an agreement may be made to accumulate and postpone weekly holidays to any time within a period of 4 consecutive weeks.

Traditional holidays: not less than 13 days/year, including National Labor Day, taking into account annual government holidays, religious holidays or local customs. If a traditional holiday falls on a weekly holiday, a compensatory traditional holiday day is taken on the following working day. For work in hotels, entertainment venues, restaurants, beverage shops, etc., an agreement may be made to take another day off to compensate for the traditional holiday or pay for work on a holiday.

Annual leave: Not less than 6 working days/year for employees who have worked continuously for 1 year. They may agree in advance to accumulate and postpone annual leave to be included in the following years.

Sick leave: Employees can take sick leave for real, with pay, for no more than 30 days. If taking leave for 3 consecutive days or more, a medical certificate is required.

Sick leave: Employees may take leave for necessary business reasons for no less than 3 days per year, with the right to receive normal wages for no more than 3 days per year.

Military leave: Employees can take leave for the same number of days as the military requires and receive wages for the entire period of leave, but not exceeding 60 days per year.

Maternity leave: A pregnant female employee is entitled to maternity leave for no more than 98 days per pregnancy, including leave for pre-natal check-ups, for which the employer must pay wages for no more than 45 days.

Training leave: Leave without pay on that day.

In addition to the labor laws that restaurant operators should know, Employee Management in the Restaurant Business It is also important that if we manage people well, our business will be good as well. Click to learn in this free online course.

And you can read articles related to business license applications, business registrations. Requesting permission to sell alcoholic beverages As for other issues such as music copyright laws and live sports broadcasting, we will discuss them again in the future.