Many consumers in Asian cities consider cafes and fast food chains like McDonalds as a working area or a place to hang out.

But McDonald’s in Thailand is set to curb the habit, implementing a one-hour seating limit. The fast food chain has also decided to prevent customers from charging their laptops and other gadgets inside its stores for more than 30 minutes.

The new policy comes after the complains by customers unable to find seats during peak lunch and dinner times.

McThai, the franchisee of the fast food chain in the country, says the move is aimed at ensuring equal rights for all customers.

“In extreme peak-time cases, we may ask for customers’ kind cooperation not to stay unreasonably long after finishing their beverages and snacks, and not to ‘reserve seats’ while away from the café, out of respect for other customers who would also like the seats to enjoy their purchases,” said McThai marketing and communications director Sumonpin Jotikabukkana.

McDonald’s, which has 178 outlets in Thailand, said it polled customers before implementing the new role – and most respondents agreed with the plan.

Earlier this year, US coffee giant Starbucks introduced a similar policy in Thailand after finding groups of students taking up tables for hours at a time.