Customers who visit the bakery section of a Big C store may smell the buttery scent of freshly baked bread.
Mr Totsapol bakes several top-selling items each day for Big C’s Sukhothai branch. He is one of the 305 people with disabilities working at 114 Big C Supercenters across the country. The number is26% higher than the legally required ratio.
Some cannot resist the sweet temptation to pick up mouth-watering crispy golden croissants, the signature product.
But how many consumers know that this delicious French bread is often made by disabled people?
As many as 100,000 croissants are baked every day in the kitchens of 114 Big C stores nationwide.
Of the number, 26 stores have the bread made by disabled persons including Totsapol Hophan, a movement-impaired person who bakes several top-selling items each day for the branch in Sukhothai province.
Mr Totsapol, 24, who lost one leg in a car accident, trained as a baker, while other disabled persons are employed in jobs such as data entry, stock keeping, customer service and filling shelves.
There are 305 people with disabilities working at 114 Big C Supercenters across the country, which is 26% higher than the legally required ratio.
The company is among several private firms that offer job opportunities for handicapped people to enable them to earn a living and take care of their families.
The government enacted the Quality of Life Promotion Act for Disabled Persons in 2007 to require private and public organisations to employ one disabled person per every 100 employees. Those companies that are unable to do so must contribute money to the Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.
Of the 1.2 million disabled people in Thailand, about 70,000 want to work. However, only 18,000 have been employed so far.
Hiring these people can be an excellent statement of corporate social responsibility.
"Big C is committed to support the reintegration of disabled persons into the workforce and society. We have been continuously offering employment opportunities to them for eight years," said Kudatara Nagaviroj, director of corporate affairs of Big C Supercenter Plc.
The company said it is the first retailer in Thailand to meet the legally required disabled employment ratio of 100:1.
"In the near future, we aim to achieve a 50:1 ratio and we are working to expand disabled employment to all our store formats," the executive said.
Tesco Lotus, KFC, Central Retail Corporation, Loxley, Toyota, Krungthai Axa, Pranda Jewellery and Betimes Solutions are also offering help to the disabled.
The companies last week discussed their employment policies for disabled people with the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
Tesco Lotus will next month open a 120-square-metre zone outside its Pathum Thani branch to provide kiosks for disabled people to sell handmade products and freshly cut flowers or offer Thai massage and fortune telling.
Tesco will open such zones in five more stores in the Northeast, North, South and Central regions.
It also plans to offer space for disabled people to sell government lottery tickets in front of Tesco Express and Talad Lotus outlets nationwide.
Tesco Lotus has 212 disabled people among its 45,842 employees.
Central Retail Corporation has spent 10 million baht to set up working units including an electronic appliances repair centre, customer call centre and a T-shirt print-screening factory for disabled persons.
Leading jewellery producer and exporter Pranda Jewellery employs 31 disabled staff to make jewellery.
And visitors to KFC restaurants get the chance to meet hearing-impaired staff at some outlets in Bangkok.
These companies may employ more disabled persons despite some obstacles.
Sometime it is very difficult to find and employ a disabled person in addition to providing a proper working environment for them, said an executive of Betimes Solutions
He suggests the government focus more on training disabled people to be specialists in fields such as software programming and other sought-after skills to increase their chances of employment.