Partying on a pandal can work up an appetite. Pandal organisers usually employ subcontracters to put together lunch boxes for pandal ticketholders.

WHILE most of us are preparing for a holiday during Thingyan, catering services are getting ready for the busiest time of their year.

Companies, both small and large, will use every medium they can – pamphlets, newspaper classifieds, even the internet – to get a contract with pandal organisers for the four-day festival.

The competition between the catering companies has increased significantly in the past two years, spurring them to use more aggressive advertising, says 35-year-old Ma Su.

“The lunch box business is really tough but we can make a lot of money at this time, for just four days work. I’ve really noticed in the last few years an increase in the number of people trying to get the lunch box contract with the pandals,” says Ma Su, who has catered for Inya Road pandals during Thingyan for the past five years.

“Because of the competition, we can’t increase the price too much. We make an agreement with the pandal organisers for a price and then put together the lunch box based on that agreement,” Ma Su says. “Last year, we had two prices, K1200 for the normal lunch box and K1500 for the special one. But this year I’ve just got one type, K1500 for one lunch box for one day.”

“I’ve already got the contract with two pandals for this year and I plan to organise a different type of food for each of the four days, maybe fried rice, fried noodles – it depends on what the pandal organisers request.”

Contractors try to reduce costs where possible, like using one type of meat for the four days of the festival, but Ma Su says customer satisfaction is important.

“I want the customer to have a good lunch – if it’s not good, we won’t get the contract next year. So we try our best and add a few extra things, like fried egg, sauce and so on.”

Hledan resident Ko Min Min San hopes to organise lunch boxes again this year – his third time – but is still waiting for a contract.

“We have to ensure the quality’s good, even if it means we make less profit. Developing the long-term relationship with the pandal organisers is more important than short-term profit,” he says.

“We have to make sure the lunch boxes arrive at the pandal on time, the time when the pandal organiser says, usually about 11:30am. This can be challenging, in previous years I’ve done a minimum of 200 lunch boxes, maximum of 350 lunch boxes a day.”

He says the price per lunch box is negotiable and usually varies between K1300 and K1500 per day.

While he doesn’t want to admit exactly how much profit contractors make, Ko Min Min San says it is about one-third.

Some restaurants, like E Ze Coffee & Snack Shop in Latha township, also offer Thingyan catering services to pandal organisers. This is often cheaper than part-time contractors.

“We can organise the lunch box for K1000 but if the order is for more than 200 lunchboxes we can do it for just K800,” says E Ze Coffee & Snack Shop manager Ko Myint Zaw. “The quality is the same but if we make a large number of lunch boxes, we can make more profit, so we reduce the price for large orders.”

Pandal organiser Ko Naung says getting a catering contractor, while more expensive, is definitely worth it.

“We can save a lot of time and effort. Before, two years ago, we used to organise the lunch boxes ourselves, hire the staff to cook the food,” Ko Naung says. “But now there are so many contractors and it’s much more convenient to employ them.”

There are plenty of contractors out there for pandal organisers who want to make life easier for themselves during water festival. The following were included in this article.

Ma Su – Tel: 240 400 (ext. 1267)
Ko Min Min San and Ma Thet Su – Tel: 09 502 1645
E Ze Coffee & Snack – Tel: 250 974