Pattaya's golden times are over: Bar and salon owner packing up as uncertain future looms

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Pattaya's golden times are over

What.

 

Again?

[Muzzique]

8 minutes ago, sungod said:

Tend to agree, will be no shortage of premises available at lower rates in the future.

But sadly no customers for a year or so.

[piewarmer]

I won't be getting on planes of buses for a while ... they are virus incubators.

 

Worldwide tourism is in for bad times with lack of income and fear of crowded places.

[Skallywag]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Thongjan told Thai PBS that she used to rake in 40-50,000 baht a day during her 12 noon -12 midnight opening hours This was more than enough to cover the 100,000 baht monthly rent and salaries for around ten employees

LOL, "used to" was the months of December and January back in 2012 only.

Owners charging these exorbitant rents are the ones really losing out now and in the future.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

for 15 years and ran a hairdressing salon within sight of Walking Street for a dozen years.

For four of those years she also ran a bar out of the same premises

A hair salon and a bar?, interesting concept I have not seen.  Or was it just the hair salon with 10 employees bringing in 40,000 a day. 

[Skallywag]

33 minutes ago, sungod said:

Tend to agree, will be no shortage of premises available at lower rates in the future.

Hopefully some will be torn down.  Too many dilapidated, unsafe buildings on Beach road, WS, and second road

[holy cow cm]

She is kind of cute. But I don't believe she made that sort of money per day. Nice truck though!

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, z42 said:

It was flagging horribly before covid19 struck tbh.

 

It is a vibrant city, but needs tourists from all demographics to thrive. 

Capitalism itself ruined it. Overpriced rents, exorbitant key monies, and a plethora of uniformed persons with very questionable morals slowly chipped away at a good few people's ability to make a good living for themselves.

 

Then you add in a very strong baht to the mix, and people simply can't stay as long as before or can't do multiple trips in a year.

 

And now, those brave enough to stay may soon be reduced to beggars, like many residents already appear to be.

 

Maybe the city is done and dusted til at least the year's end.

A very good post from you, and although I am not in Pattaya, every part of your post could easily apply to Patong, which is where I am, so the stupidity and greed seems to be endemic.

 

The writing was on the wall when tourism started to flag here and the TAT went after the "great unwashed" from China and India, so for me the downward trend was inevitably going to get worse, without the virus.

 

Sad for the small business owners, many of whom were everyday Thais trying to make a living for their families.

[Jai Dee]

A troll post and several replies have been removed.

[HOAX]

3 hours ago, Titan1962 said:

Not a bad little profit 1,300,000 a month less operating expenses.

say 1 million a month profit after expenses. 12 million a year x 4 years + 48 million baht. She should have enough to see her out.

Nothing works like that. Would be awesome if that was the case, but it never is.

 

Here's a more realistic scenario. Lets assume she was telling the truth (and is delusional, so she left out the expenses).

 

10 employees... 50,000 a day... that would make her bar very packed, but let's say it was, that would be 20.000 baht a day in alcohol expenses alone, plus say a grand for the hairdressing stuff and perhaps there were daily food expenses as well. She would also have to pay 10% tax. Then comes the salaries, 20,000? and a couple of thousands for the unforseen expenses per day (broken glasses, plates, chairs and "others").

 

1,550,000 (50,000x31)

-200,000 (salaries)

-620,000 (alcohol)

-100,000 (rent)

-31,000 (hairdressing)

-155,000 (taxes)

-10,000 (electric, phone, internet, water etc)

-62,000 (unforseen expenses)

=372,000

 

Then there's food and drink expenses, probably not more than a couple of thousands a day if only for her and the employees, but lets give her the benefit of the doubt and say she was also selling food, water, coke, soda for whiskey and nuts etc, that could easily be 10,000 a day considering how packed the bar was according to her.

 

372,000

-310,000 (food expenses)

=62,000 (per month after expenses)

 

And like most other bar ladies, they consume alcohol daily, which is money.

 

What seemed so high, rarely plays out that way, it never does. The potential for a decent income in and around Walking Street was very high when tourism was booming, hence the high rent (100k).

 

So that she made 50k a day isn't really that surprising, many do that around hotspots... if you fail to include the expenses that is lol. She did it to sound wealthy, to sound impressive, and by the sound of her delusion, it's likely her living costs are too high for what is reasonable for a ฿62,000 monthly salary, so she lived on a month to month basis, practically making her no more wealthy than the average Thai who makes less than ฿15,000 a month.

Edited April 29, 2020 by HOAX

[Susco]

12 minutes ago, HOAX said:

Nothing works like that. Would be awesome if that was the case, but it never is.

 

Here's a more realistic scenario. Lets assume she was telling the truth (and is delusional, so she left out the expenses).

 

10 employees... 50,000 a day... that would make her bar very packed, but let's say it was, that would be 20.000 baht a day in alcohol expenses alone, plus say a grand for the hairdressing stuff and perhaps there were daily food expenses as well. She would also have to pay 10% tax. Then comes the salaries, 20,000? and a couple of thousands for the unforseen expenses per day (broken glasses, plates, chairs and "others").

 

1,550,000 (50,000x31)

-200,000 (salaries)

-620,000 (alcohol)

-100,000 (rent)

-31,000 (hairdressing)

-155,000 (taxes)

-10,000 (electric, phone, internet, water etc)

-62,000 (unforseen expenses)

=372,000

 

Then there's food and drink expenses, probably not more than a couple of thousands a day if only for her and the employees, but lets give her the benefit of the doubt and say she was also selling food, water, coke, soda for whiskey and nuts etc, that could easily be 10,000 a day considering how packed the bar was according to her.

 

372,000

-310,000 (food expenses)

=62,000 (per month after expenses)

 

And like most other bar ladies, they consume alcohol daily, which is money.

 

What seemed so high, rarely plays out that way, it never does. The potential for a decent income in and around Walking Street was very high when tourism was booming, hence the high rent (100k).

 

So that she made 50k a day isn't really that surprising, many do that around hotspots... if you fail to include the expenses that is lol. She did it to sound wealthy, to sound impressive, and by the sound of her delusion, it's likely her living costs are too high for what is reasonable for a ฿62,000 monthly salary, so she lived on a month to month basis, practically making her no more wealthy than the average Thai who makes less than ฿15,000 a month.

 

I only can hope you're not an accountant.

 

Just one advice from me.....don't give up the day job

[moe666]

3 hours ago, petedk said:

50,000 a day = 1.5 million per month. I assume that is turnover, so say she made a profit of 750,000 a month. 

Surely she saved some money.

 

I think that often the figures are exaggerated.

Whee did it say she was broke, just not sure of what was happening. Why pay rent when there is no customer

[mighty]

3 hours ago, petedk said:

50,000 a day = 1.5 million per month. I assume that is turnover, so say she made a profit of 750,000 a month. 

Surely she saved some money.

 

I think that often the figures are exaggerated.

so you know the details of this particular business do you? how about electric, cost of goods (Beer isn't free) just another bar stool financial expert.

[timendres]

27 minutes ago, HOAX said:

=62,000 (per month after expenses)

Don't forget the brown envelopes! Another not insignificant expense.

[HOAX]

17 minutes ago, Susco said:

 

I only can hope you're not an accountant.

 

Just one advice from me.....don't give up the day job

No I'm not an accountant, but know enough to know she wasn't bringing home a million monthly lol. She's the one claiming she made 50k a day, so I just played out the scenario. I doubt she ever made that, but if she did then the expenses would also have to reflect that, leaving her with far less than a million a month, more likely less than 50k.

Edited April 29, 2020 by HOAX

[baansgr]

3 hours ago, Kerryd said:

Got to love how they interview ONE "bar owner" and then decide that the same thing applies to every other bar owner in the city.

There was another story not long ago, not sure if the same outlet or not, but the same theme. Interview one person and then proclaim that everyone else must be the same as that person.

Note that a lot of businesses on Walking Street were having problems long before the virus and lockdown. For years, TAT has been promoting Chinese and Indians to come here over the "Western" tourists that used to be the mainstay. The result has been, lots of people on the streets, not so many in the bars, restaurants, shops or other businesses. A few places still do OK, but a lot have been hurting for years now.

None of my (bar or restaurant) owner friends have said anything about selling their businesses (which are on the "water" side of Walking Street). I'm sure they probably aren't paying the same rent as they would when everything was open and they've sent all their staff home - probably without salary as well - so I'd suspect they aren't losing money right now, just not making any.
 

Don't think many the same as her.....making 50k a day....divide that by 10 is more like it

[baansgr]

13 minutes ago, mighty said:

so you know the details of this particular business do you? how about electric, cost of goods (Beer isn't free) just another bar stool financial expert.

The owner quoted 100k a month for rent and staff...she's either telling porkies or has a bad gambling habit

[jaiyen]

Now should be a good time for the local council and state officials to go and remove the buildings illegally built over the beach.  Bet it will never happen !

[Bob A Kneale]

4 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

Wonder how much tax she paid on her 1,300,000 baht a month turnover?

Maybe someone from the Thai tax department should investigate.

Why?

[time2093]

40-50k per month. Yea right maybe 20 years ago she was making that kind of money. Those beer bars have been dead for the past 5 years with maybe a handful bars open with that muay thai boxing ring.

[toast1]

This virus has helped educate people to save when times are good and not fritter their money away.

Those who saved are fine.

It is not difficult.

 

I am sure there are some who genuinely need help, but they are few.

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by toast1

[Jimbo2014]

4 hours ago, Susco said:

 

And she still couldn't save a little to overcome a 1 - 2 month lockdown?

I think most Thais dont think beyond the end of the month.  Many people in America seem to be the same.  Crazy hey.

[Deli]

Keep on running the lock down and you will see crowds in the streets

[phantomfiddler]

Four or five Indian customers per day at 10,000 Bht apiece (or so we are told) does not seem like an inordinate number of customers to expect in a day ! Possibly she had Vindaloo on the menu ????

[paulikens]

6 hours ago, Susco said:

 

And she still couldn't save a little to overcome a 1 - 2 month lockdown?

a thai save money.you gotta be joking

[Chivas]

2 hours ago, jaiyen said:

Now should be a good time for the local council and state officials to go and remove the buildings illegally built over the beach.  Bet it will never happen !

Already underway at start of Walking St.....Beer Bars demolished

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, Susco said:

 

And she still couldn't save a little to overcome a 1 - 2 month lockdown?

Live for today... Thai culture.

[adammike]

6 hours ago, JAG said:

She is not saying that she is skint is she? She has decided to close her business. However profitable it may have been, it won't be now, nor for the foreseeable future. So she has closed it.

It's a pic from the bars just before walking Street the ones you walk through to get the beer garden,it's been gutted and according to the owner of the BG Pattaya Pete it's going to be remodeled.She didn't close her business here landlord did.

[Leaver]

2 hours ago, Deli said:

Keep on running the lock down and you will see crowds in the streets

The could end the lock down tomorrow, what good do you think that is going to do?  Do you expect all businesses to open up and run at a loss for the next 12 to 18 months?  

 

Many will remain closed, and some will open up and try to survive, but many of them will fold in a couple of months.  There will be no tourism here for the foreseeable future.  

 

Lock down or mass closures equals the same result for the Pattaya economy, and its Thai inhabitants, and that is no employment, which means no money.  

 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Leaver

[petedk]

3 hours ago, mighty said:

so you know the details of this particular business do you? how about electric, cost of goods (Beer isn't free) just another bar stool financial expert.

Idiotic remark!

I am not a bar stool financial expert and don't claim to be.

 

All I said is that with a turnover of over a million a month, she must have been able to save a lot. Yes, there are many expenses involved. 

 

[Andycoops]

7 hours ago, Susco said:

 

And she still couldn't save a little to overcome a 1 - 2 month lockdown?

Thais save 555, the mantra is live for today, tomorrow never comes.