Successful Bar owners

[Chrisdoc]

I see, so the 2 that you spoke to were honest and genuine while all others lie? And one that lost money speaks for everyone else and knows what others make or made [emoji106]

I used to have a shop. Customers would ask how business was? I used to say " My children are starving. I am going to need to live in my car. Would all be better if you bought something " I have never known anyone to say" Yes. Business is great. I'm making millions". People would say to drop my prices because I am greedy.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[BestB]

1 minute ago, Chrisdoc said:

I used to have a shop. Customers would ask how business was? I used to say " My children are starving. I am going to need to live in my car. Would all be better if you bought something " I have never known anyone to say" Yes. Business is great. I'm making millions". People would say to drop my prices because I am greedy.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Why did you have to post something that makes any sense ?

 

Spouting nonsense that one overhead on a bar stool is by far more rational thing to do?

[FritsSikkink]

How do you know they are successful, they might work to pay the huge lease on these premises after handing over a lot of key money to start with. When they are really successful and have a short lease, the owner will either increase the lease or run the bar himself. 

[georgegeorgia]

3 hours ago, BestB said:

Again you are doing nothing more than speculating without much proof or reason , you nod also deflecting from your original comment claiming bar owners are lying and name dropping a few claiming they make money.

 

no one said that each and every bar opened makes money , however need to factor in how many are owned by people who have experience or business sense or both.

 

jusy because some place looks busy it does not mean they are making money. You can have bar full with 100 people drinking 1 bar and a bar with only 20 drinking 10 each.

 

some operate a pure cash flow model ie sell for cost with maybe 1 baht mark up . Bar always full, Monet always flowing , net profit close to zero, but looks great from outside , great books with huge daily totals and bank account deposits.

 

running bar is a very hard business , twice as hard in Thailand . One does not need to have huge tv screens or young pretty girls to make healthy profit. Oz bar on Pattaya tai is a perfect example of that. No AC, on main intersection , dust, smell , hot. Crappy interior, ugly old girls and guy makes money 

Ironically that’s one of the bars I visited, customer seemed more interested in talking to the owner, Danny? than the girls.

 

Not easy sitting in a bar 13 -15 hours a day being nice to people and listening to their stories, said he enjoys it , but there must be times when u just want to be by yourself and u can’t if u have such a bar.

Edited September 10, 2018 by georgegeorgia

[georgegeorgia]

2 hours ago, BestB said:

All depends on business model and it’s target customer base.

 

Triangle bar does not have any girls but sells beer at 7-11 prices.

It’s closing, I don’t know when, I imagine when the Lease runs out,the landlord has sold the building/Land .

it has been purchased by a convenience store chain apparently.

Edited September 10, 2018 by georgegeorgia

[BestB]

3 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

It’s closing, I don’t know when, I imagine when the Lease runs out,the landlord has sold the building/Land .

it has been purchased by a convenience store chain apparently.

It’s changed hands a few times but as I said looks great on the paper with all the sales just no profits at all.

 

I am afraid the sad news of closing may give heartache to a number of expats who now will be forced to drink at 7–11 again ?but then there might be another savvy business operator to open one next door as triangle did to kill barbie bar.

[Ronnie1204]

Guyz i got 2 bars in pattaya and i am an extrovert. My nd my wife tried everything to run it successfully but it never did coz land owners are the one who are making money! High rent key money <deleted> it bad! I put money every month to pay rent from my business in home country at the end today i lost one bar coz last 6 month not even made 1 bhat and payed rent 35000*6 month i couldnt hold it more other one i sold for 300k thb i bought for 850k thb. Dont buy bars you will work hard to run it but land owners will enjoy the money.

[Isaanbiker]

I've yet only met mostly very unsuccessful bar owners in Pattaya, except for one.

 

Here's only one example of an unsuccessful one:  An American had "just bought a bar on a tourist visa," took over the ladies from the former owner who had the place for two months and started hitting on his female employees who didn't want to have sex with their boss. But he didn't get it. Then he drank more alcohol than his few guests did. 

 

  When I came by a week later, he told me that the police had been there and they'd kept his passport, but he's still working behind the bar, selling drinks to customers, drinking with them, cleaning glasses, etc.

 

Another week later, he was gone, and I never saw him again and a big sign that the bar was on sale. 

 

    There's only one successful owner I'd met, who had a bar for many years in Soi 6. He had a good relationship with his female staff, the right girl to do the financial part and his bar was always full. The ladies were pretty and always correct; they had to go to their Aids and other tests every month. 

 

  He was a good listener, even when he was perhaps acting as he would listen to all the exciting stories, people came up with and seemed to have an excellent connection with the nearby coppers, married to a brainy Thai woman.

 

He couldn't have done that alone. I haven't been there for 12 years, or so, no idea if he's still in the business. Times are changing rapidly here.    

Edited April 18, 2019 by Isaanbiker

[gk10002000]

My Dad owned one of the best and busiest bar/lounges in Rhode Island.  He was the penultimate bull shit artist.  Could tell stories, knew when to buy drinks for people, give them somebody to talk to, tell some jokes, etc.  If you ever watch the American TV show Bar Rescue, if you skip over the drama, and staged "reality" parts, you should see that many bar owners or managers know little about the business or about people.  They thought it was easy just to throw money into a place, serve some drinks and all is well.  Ha!  Oh and of course keep in mind you will be dealing with drunk people, many of which are not quiet polite drunks.  So from the get go you are in a business that enables bad behavior often.

 

As for the average Pattaya foreign owned bar, well I have read many more negative stories than positive stories.  Graft, kickback, tea money, brown envelopes, the occasional health inspector issue, bar license issue, staff problems, theft, threats, staff problems, dart license, snooker license nonsense, music license police nonsense, etc.  There are many things they don't teach in business school.   

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎9‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 8:55 AM, BestB said:

How did you arrive at conclusion that they acting or leaking money? 

 

Whatever made you think ones you mentioned are making money ?

 

would really love to know 

Hmmmmm. I spent many holidays in Pattaya, and often spent hours walking from walking Street up past the Dolphin roundabout to the bars in Naklua, but I never, ever saw a farang man behind the bar in a bar beer that I passed.

While they can "own" the bar, I doubt they'd get a work permit to actually work in one. Even handing over a beer to a customer can get them off to the police station quick time.

Perhaps times have changed.

 

Anyone been in Pattaya more than a couple of weeks knows that most bars are money losers. 

One told me that he bought a share in a bar to have "free" sex. Last time I saw him, he was being dragged out of the bar and beaten by the majority partner.

 

To run a successful money making bar, a farang would have to know a lot more about Thailand than most wannabe owners will ever know.

Trink used to write about stuff like that, and he knew more than anyone, but even he got bit on the bum by Thailand.

[user343434]

A good Landlord is entertainer, mediator, psychiatrist, brother and father type and needs a lot of patience to listen to the day by day repeating stories of his frequent customers. 

On the other hand he needs to have the right hand controlling his staff without making them run away or rip him off.

 

I have no problem to be honest here:

I had once a bar and found out I was not able to run a bar, I failed to start the right conversations, I failed to say in the right wording NO when the customers were offering me a beer, I failed to make customers stay for a whole night drinking and I failed to show the father type to my staff, I did never shout at them but also I could not provide the warm father type with the level of respect needed.

 

you are born for it and have it in your blood or stay off. 

Its not only in Thailand this counts worldwide.

 

Edited April 19, 2019 by See Will

[4evermaat]

On 9/10/2018 at 10:15 AM, BestB said:

No I mean unlike bar stool experts not only I have owned one for 8 years in Thailand but have been in business for 22 years.

Can you elaborate on what it takes to run a "successful" [girlie] bar?  Or at least some of the pitfalls to avoid?

[watcharacters]

6 hours ago, Isaanbiker said:

He couldn't have done that alone. I haven't been there for 12 years, or so, no idea if he's still in the business.

 

 

He went out of business 10 years ago.

 

Things happen quickly.

 

 

[watcharacters]

50 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Trink

 

 

Edited April 19, 2019 by watcharacters

[moontang]

It seems to have gotten harder over the years, here, to get a really cold one.  Kind of a disgrace and a business killer.  It's a combination of factors, but nothing like beers in a bucket of ice, a rarity here, but they are busy selling buckets of ice to put in warm beer, making it even less likely you will get a hand stinger on a 40 degree day...

[Spidey]

On ‎4‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 5:26 AM, See Will said:

A good Landlord is entertainer, mediator, psychiatrist, brother and father type and needs a lot of patience to listen to the day by day repeating stories of his frequent customers. 

On the other hand he needs to have the right hand controlling his staff without making them run away or rip him off.

 

I have no problem to be honest here:

I had once a bar and found out I was not able to run a bar, I failed to start the right conversations, I failed to say in the right wording NO when the customers were offering me a beer, I failed to make customers stay for a whole night drinking and I failed to show the father type to my staff, I did never shout at them but also I could not provide the warm father type with the level of respect needed.

 

you are born for it and have it in your blood or stay off. 

Its not only in Thailand this counts worldwide.

 

Good advice for running a bar in the West. Completely the wrong business model for Pattaya.

 

Here, a bar stands or falls on it's female staff. A good bar owner is neither seen nor heard, that's the job of the girls who need to be attractive and good hostesses. Fill the bar with such girls and keep them in line and you will be successful.

 

However, it's not as easy as it sounds. Good bar girls are becoming a rarity. Much easier to employ fuglies with bad attitude now.

[olemartinss]

My dad owns one of the biggest and most known norwegian bars in Pattaya, been going for 13 years now and the question i get the most when im there is when he is coming down

[georgegeorgia]

2 hours ago, olemartinss said:

My dad owns one of the biggest and most known norwegian bars in Pattaya, been going for 13 years now and the question i get the most when im there is when he is coming down

So he’s not working in there ? Good management?

[georgegeorgia]

On 4/20/2019 at 3:15 PM, Spidey said:

Good advice for running a bar in the West. Completely the wrong business model for Pattaya.

 

Here, a bar stands or falls on it's female staff. A good bar owner is neither seen nor heard, that's the job of the girls who need to be attractive and good hostesses. Fill the bar with such girls and keep them in line and you will be successful.

 

However, it's not as easy as it sounds. Good bar girls are becoming a rarity. Much easier to employ fuglies with bad attitude now.

Not always the case, many of these older expats like to go to the bars to talk and gossip with the farang owner.

 

Even a popular Cafe in Soi bukhao is popular when the owner is there every second day

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎4‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 6:49 PM, georgegeorgia said:

Not always the case, many of these older expats like to go to the bars to talk and gossip with the farang owner.

 

Even a popular Cafe in Soi bukhao is popular when the owner is there every second day

My first Thai BG GF worked at Tilac Bar on Cowboy. It was a great place back then before it went all trendy and horrible. Anyway, the owner was there every night playing cards or something with his expat friends. He never got involved with the customers or working side of things, but I'm sure his presence kept the staff on the straight and narrow.