NiwPix

Thanks for sharing

The post above this one is prime example for the advice I can give you...

If you do western food, you will be judged by just about every Westerner on the food. Keep in mind "Westerner" covers A LOT of countries. Example is bacon for breakfast. Various countries prepare their bacon different and have different preferences. Streaky Bacon smoked? Streaky unsmoked? Back Bacon thick cut? Back Bacon thin? Crispy? not Crispy? Whichever you choose, some will love you for it and others will shrug it off and say "it's not like home".

Make sure you cater to the majority of the population...Thais. Do the food you like / can identify yourself with and have the menu in Thai and English. Thais do like venturing out and trying western food, but many can't read or speak english.

There are other hurdles to overcome as well, but if you have prior restaurant experience ( very important here for starting one up ), you have an idea of what to expect "behind the scenes".

A few pointers:

- Signage: Make sure that if your sign has a Western name ( or whatever else is written on that sign ), has to also be in Thai Script. If you look closely at for example 7/11 or McDonalds, you'll see the Thai name / Script written small in a corner.

- The monthly staff report with salary etc that gets handed in to the Revenue Department has to be done by the 7th of every month. Every day past the 7th will be fined. I don't remember the exact number but I think it was 50 Baht per day. So your January report has to be handed in between February 1st and 7th

- Liquor License....I believe a liquor license also covers Beer and Wine. I am not sure how they calculate the yearly fee, but it is VERY low ( but haven't had anyone come in to check on that )

- I not once had the health Department or Fire Department visit the restaurant to check on current "code". However, you have to register your business with the health department and also pay a yearly fee ( which is a bit higher than the liquor license )

- Safety Requirements:

I think common sense is your best bet. For example when I first took over my business, there was not a single Fire Extinguisher in the building. Nobody ever came to check if I had one nor got a fine or anything like that, but just for some peace of mind, I bought a couple.

- Regarding registering your Business / VAT ( i know, you didn't need any info on that, but you're getting it anyways ). If you set up a company, yes, you are correct. If you are married and / orclosely related to trustable Thai, you can do a Sole Proprietorship. Then you wouldn't need to register VAT, unless your business generates more than 1.8 million per calendar year...which I would assume it never will....officially

Good luck

Those are also available at makro. At least here in ubon

Reminds me a bit of this....

I just checked the apples I have. They're Granny Smith and have a sticker saying "Le Crunch". Any idea where they're from? I tried google and couldn't find an answer. I bought them at Makro if that helps too.

This is apparently what's happening at Huai Wang Nong Reservoir. I haven't been by there since it was drained last year. Are they working on something like this?

image-45D7_54B622D9.jpg

I haven't been there in about 2 months, but remember seeing a bunch of poles set in there. It seemed a bit "confusing", but looking at the picture, it kind of makes sense now.

Sorry to see so many negative posts / comments here about a legitimate question / request for info. Now, unfortunately I can not give you any advice on your plannings, but I wish you best of luck. Cudos for keeping your cool in this thread

Also, it seems like your English is pretty good. I don't think you have to be a native speaker to teach ( though I'm sure it will land you a job easier ).

Here is a recent Thread also with the new location ( See post #4 )

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/785194-thai-passport-office-ubon/

Good to hear more routes coming to Ubon....but to/from Don Muang again?! Would be nice to get a bigger variety. Even to Suvanarbhumi Airport would've been better than Don Muang. Oh well, nothing is official yet, so lets just wait and see.

Do you know how far in they are with planning the Ubon Tower? In your attachment is the number 1 the fixed location..and what do those numbers 2's mean?

Ronaldo IS the best footballer in the world right now and that is what they were voting for...simple really.....everybody has there opinion but Ronaldo's form and scoring record is astonishing.

Well done and i congratulate him...well deserved.

Before I ask my question I want to say that Ronaldo is a great footballer and as much as I don't like him, he ( and a few others ) did deserve to win.

To my question,

please explain how he is better than Neuer?

If he was German or played in the German league would you be asking this question?

Short answer: Yes

Quite honestly I don't really care where he plays or his nationality. I am just curious how it was determined that a field player / forward is better than a goalie. Overall I think goalies and even more, defenders, get a lot less credit than midfielders / forwards.

Basically it's comparing apples to oranges.

Ronaldo IS the best footballer in the world right now and that is what they were voting for...simple really.....everybody has there opinion but Ronaldo's form and scoring record is astonishing.

Well done and i congratulate him...well deserved.

Before I ask my question I want to say that Ronaldo is a great footballer and as much as I don't like him, he ( and a few others ) did deserve to win.

To my question,

please explain how he is better than Neuer?

The marriage visa requires less than retirement visa...don't remember if it was 600k or 400k in the bank for at least 2-3 months. Also, that won't matter since he won't be staying a year.

To your question

Food / beverages ( assuming you will eat mostly thai food ) ~ 250 baht / day

Rent in ubon for a small house in or near the city can range from 5k - 15k.

It depends on a few factors...is it furnished? Does it have an air condition ( which I would highly recommend for the summers here ). Is the landlord fair or will he see a farang and double the rent? Take a look at www.ubonhomes.com the guy, John, who runs that website is as far as I know the only western real estate agent in ubon

Electricity: I would say roughly 2-5k per month...mostly depending on if you use an air condition or not.

Water: around 150 baht per month.

Not sure if you need a rental car or bike...I think you can get monthly rentals beginning at 3000 ( again, not too sure about the figure, maybe somebody else can give a more accurate number )

All said and done, I would say 25k to live comfortably. A big part where you save money where other don't / can't is western food.

Prince Poldi went to Inter Milan on loan until the end of the season ( Not Juve ). Inters next game is against Juve and he may already be in the lineup for that game. Hopefully he gets more playing time there. He has been put under pressure by the German National Coach, Löw, saying that his future in the German Jersey is questionable because he is lacking playing time.

And if all else fails, there is a small shop on Suriyat Road ( west of Chayangkun Rd. ) that should be able to do it as well. He doesn't speak english though. But it sounds like the first two options are already good enough. If not, let me know and I'll give you the exact location.

There was a Thread recently regarding the insurance your talking about:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/780396-health-card-for-foreigners/

World of Bacon

I'm pretty sure The Outside Inn in Ubon has bicycle rentals as well. I just don't know if it's reserved for guests who stay there or for anybody.

In Ubon they only stock(ed) them during the holidays ( Thanksgiving / Christmas ). So, if you haven't looked for them recently, maybe give it a try again

I'm quite happy to have a burger on toasted bread and have nice iceberg lettuce here in Big C Chaiyaphum but unable to source beetroot :-( an absolute must for an Aussie burger

The Makro here in Ubon just recently started carrying Beetroots. Maybe check your local Makro again.

Makro in Ubon has whole Butterball Turkeys for ~179B / kg. No card needed. Maybe Makro in Mukdahan have the same deal/price ( assuming there is a Makro in Mukdahan ).

Business owners who're trying to get guests/customers to help them pay their staff what they, the owner, should be paying them in the 1st place, will insist that substantial tipping is some kind of moral duty

Is this a big problem in Thailand? I've never been anywhere where the owner has tried to get me to pay a tip.

Lol. What? You haven't seen the signs they put up in their places of business threatening violence to those not tipping enough?! And they don't come up to you with a gun to your head? Gosh!

Relax. This is about underpaying workers, not physical confrontation.

Let your fingers do the walking. Plenty of posting on TV from BOs declaring their qualifications to comment on this and then stating their opinion. The idea is that some kind of "social pressure", and sour worker attitudes fueled by it I guess, will result in the "wage gap" being filled by hapless, guilt-ridden customers. Obviously, BOs aren't going to directly confront their customers.

In the end, the customer pays the food and beverages he consumed. With that, the customer indirectly pays the staff, the a/c, the rent, the water, China / silverware, the business owner himself, the liquor license fees etc.

Now, off you say the business owner should pay the staff more, who do you think will end up paying for it...indirectly?

I like the system where the staff get minimum wage and based on their skills ( which the customer decides ), get extra "salary" for work well done.

If we pay them a higher salary and don't brutally force the customer to tip, service will be a hit or miss. And finding qualified / good / motivated servers IS near impossible.

Fine, if you want/expect/depend on tipping, then DON'T charge a service charge. But I refuse to pay for the same thing twice. If you can't secure a competitive market-driven wage to your workers, your business plan is fundamentally flawed and you shouldn't be in business. It's YOUR problem, and just plain bad business trying to make it the customer's problem. He can always go elsewhere.

I agree 100%. Service charge should not be added to the bill. It should be up to the customer to decide if their server did a good job or not. Adding a service charge is basically directly having the customer pay the staff salary. It won't motivate the staff to do a good job.

Business owners who're trying to get guests/customers to help them pay their staff what they, the owner, should be paying them in the 1st place, will insist that substantial tipping is some kind of moral duty

Is this a big problem in Thailand? I've never been anywhere where the owner has tried to get me to pay a tip.

Lol. What? You haven't seen the signs they put up in their places of business threatening violence to those not tipping enough?! And they don't come up to you with a gun to your head? Gosh!

Relax. This is about underpaying workers, not physical confrontation.

Let your fingers do the walking. Plenty of posting on TV from BOs declaring their qualifications to comment on this and then stating their opinion. The idea is that some kind of "social pressure", and sour worker attitudes fueled by it I guess, will result in the "wage gap" being filled by hapless, guilt-ridden customers. Obviously, BOs aren't going to directly confront their customers.

In the end, the customer pays the food and beverages he consumed. With that, the customer indirectly pays the staff, the a/c, the rent, the water, China / silverware, the business owner himself, the liquor license fees etc.

Now, off you say the business owner should pay the staff more, who do you think will end up paying for it...indirectly?

I like the system where the staff get minimum wage and based on their skills ( which the customer decides ), get extra "salary" for work well done.

If we pay them a higher salary and don't brutally force the customer to tip, service will be a hit or miss. And finding qualified / good / motivated servers IS near impossible.

Been wondering about that one too. At first I thought they were working on implementing a sewer system ( they have some fairly large pipes laying around there ), since that area is prone to flooding. However, they have also been working on the land as well. Foodland or something like that maybe? Would be nice.

Edit:

Would be nice to get this Thread pinned.