What does it take to run a diner?

[Ralf001]

16 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

Most of these people want too much for their business 

I don't know this guys particularly case but I bet he wanted several million baht for it 

They overvalue it 

 

5.5m was the asking.

[georgegeorgia]

6 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

5.5m was the asking.

I think the freehold of the building is around 9 ,so an extra 4 and you become the landlord instead 

[Yellowtail]

I would not return to a diner with a TV playing. 

[Ralf001]

50 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

I think the freehold of the building is around 9 ,so an extra 4 and you become the landlord instead 

I do not beleive it has ever been offered free hold.

The 5.5 was the 2023 price, in 2020 it was 1.7.

[worgeordie]

Just stick with your job George , the brush would miss you

 

regards Worgeordie

[jacko45k]

18 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Most of these people want too much for their business 

I don't know this guys particularly case but I bet he wanted several million baht for it 

They overvalue it 

 

I believe he did.....

[kingstonkid]

On 3/16/2025 at 5:24 AM, SAFETY FIRST said:

Nicky's on Soi Buakhou since 2004, is popular, foreign owners. 

 

It'd be heart breaking at times, putting up with the many moaning, miserable foreigners. 

 

 

Lots of hard work, I think you are too lazy.

 

 

How do they get away with foreign ownership?

 

Just wondering.  In Pats there is usually someone around that will reportyou if you have a farang worker.  I amsure Nickey's went throught he same thing.

 

As to 99 baht breakfast it is easy.  They may make a baht or 2 but it brings peopleinto the shop and then they buy other meals.    

[1FinickyOne]

On 3/16/2025 at 5:21 AM, georgegeorgia said:

I couldn't move here to Pattaya and do nothing

you won't do nothing - you will over analyze things in a simplistic manner and then tell everyone of it... if you become a business owner, the customers will annoy the crap out of you... 

[jippytum]

If your intended customers at your diner retire to bed as you do at 7pm there would be no need to open 24 hours. 

[Grumpy one]

My wife ran a cafe for a few years, I was the one everyone whined to.

Examples, 1 sausage was smaller than the other, solution I will shorten the longer one

The breakfast was cheaper 3 kilometers up the beach    go for the walk it will be good for me

These cheap and miserable wretches almost made me sorry for their families back where they came from, mostly Poms with 2 Australians who I was happy to tell to Flock Off

No more selling food for us, just a simple lazy life

[Sydebolle]

From experience; for one successful operation you'll find 100 just surviving and a 1,000 who failed. It is hard work, a delicate balance between professional purchasing and market-conform selling, the staff issue is endless in whole Thailand but particularly critical in Pattaya and, in all fairness, nobody goes to that area for "dining".

Eventually a production kitchen might be the answer. Provide the open beer bars around the area with neutral menu display stands giving a selection of a few pizza options, square, in two slices. Put the sales price onto the display and state "order with our staff here". The bar orders with you, collects the pizza slice/s - say - ten minutes later and pays you the sales price less 20% as their commission. 

No dining tables, cutleries, waiting staff, air conditioned restaurant etc. etc. - just a thought. Everything else is, in most cases, suicidal in the long run, me thinks! 

I got out in time with a professional 4* star restaurant; would never ever do anything the like ever again - in Thailand that is. 

[Cameroni]

1 hour ago, Grumpy one said:

My wife ran a cafe for a few years, I was the one everyone whined to.

Examples, 1 sausage was smaller than the other, solution I will shorten the longer one

The breakfast was cheaper 3 kilometers up the beach    go for the walk it will be good for me

These cheap and miserable wretches almost made me sorry for their families back where they came from, mostly Poms with 2 Australians who I was happy to tell to Flock Off

No more selling food for us, just a simple lazy life

 

Yes, the margins in the restaurant business are very small. You have to pay employees, electricity, food inventory, rent, and to cap it all it is so much work and you have to invest to fit out the place. 

 

It is puzzling anybody opens a restaurant really.

 

 

[Photoguy21]

Imagination and reality are way different. I suggest you stick with the fantasy you have created in your mind.

[georgegeorgia]

1 hour ago, Photoguy21 said:

Imagination and reality are way different. I suggest you stick with the fantasy you have created in your mind.

Well said 

I remember a reporter asking a drug dealer guy outside court what he thought of the verdict 

"Justice has been served " he said,  justice has been served "

"But you found guilty? Said the perplexed reporter

 

[Asquith Production]

You need coffee and someone who knows how to use a commercial coffee machine. You also need reliable staff who can work without constant supervision. A menu suitable for a wide variety  of tastes for both Farangs and Thais. Stamina it can be hard work.

[bkk6060]

On 3/16/2025 at 5:21 AM, georgegeorgia said:

found the diner I went to yesterday a bit expensive but then again I heard their breakfasts are 99 baht ...how would they make a profit on that ?

2 greasy eggs, a piece of thin white bread, and a cheap small hotdog is about 20 b.  Add 10 b for instant coffee.

[georgegeorgia]

2 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

2 greasy eggs, a piece of thin white bread, and a cheap small hotdog is about 20 b.  Add 10 b for instant coffee.

[khunPer]

On 3/15/2025 at 11:28 PM, georgegeorgia said:

Yes your right ,that's why I work a government job , I don't like to work hard , 

Then, you should forget to open a diner in Thailand...

[Grumpy one]

23 hours ago, Cameroni said:

 

Yes, the margins in the restaurant business are very small. You have to pay employees, electricity, food inventory, rent, and to cap it all it is so much work and you have to invest to fit out the place. 

 

It is puzzling anybody opens a restaurant really.

 

 

My wife wanted to follow her mother, alas some folk here want everything except the bill

[Cameroni]

16 minutes ago, Grumpy one said:

My wife wanted to follow her mother, alas some folk here want everything except the bill

 

I mean it is a sexy and glamorous thing to have a restaurant, but the work involved. The small margins.

[Yellowtail]

Trying to sell cheap food to chiselers is small margin, but margins are not always small. A decent restaurant can easily get B200 for something that sells for B80 at a dumpy place, and the food may be better at the dump. A nicer restaurant can get B3-400 for the same dish. 

 

Even the cheap breakfast can make a little if you have the volume. Today at Macro: 

2 Eggs: B7.3

2 Sausage: B7

2 Slices white bread: B4

200g Potatoes: B8

So B26.3 for the basics. 

 

You have to decide if your focus is on repeat business or one offs, and what your target client is. 

 

Generally, if you want to make any money, you either have to have great foot-traffic or plenty of parking. 

 

Anyone looking to open a restaurant should understand that the minimum basic requirements can be studied at any McDonald's. 

 

 

[newnative]

On 3/16/2025 at 5:24 AM, SAFETY FIRST said:

Nicky's on Soi Buakhou since 2004, is popular, foreign owners. 

 

It'd be heart breaking at times, putting up with the many moaning, miserable foreigners. 

 

 

Lots of hard work, I think you are too lazy.

 

 

Nailed it.  Lots of hard work.  High failure rate.  Very little time off.   Not for the faint of heart.  

[superal]

On 3/15/2025 at 10:21 PM, georgegeorgia said:

I was in a restaurant/ diner yesterday in Soi Bukhao 

I looked to see a farang couple running it 

I looked around and imagined I could own this and imagined the sign out the front changing to George's 24 hr Diner 

I often imagined when I was a kid watching that TV comedy show "Alice ' where she was the waitress in Mels Diner and I was Mel the angry owner

 

I couldn't move here to Pattaya and do nothing ,it's morning here I think 5am  now and I was in bed last night at 7pm

Im looking for ideas on what makes a good diner 

I want to run one in Soi Bukhao and make it 24 hours with News TV screens 

 

I found the diner I went to yesterday a bit expensive but then again I heard their breakfasts are 99 baht ...how would they make a profit on that ?

Can anyone tell me ?

Maybe coffee is not included?

 

.

 

My lady runs a restaurant up in Issan . 99 Baht breakfast ? What's that ? cornflakes ? Our English  breakfasts are 150 or 200 baht . We have many 5 star reviews . 

Running a restaurant in Thailand is not easy to make money . Most go bust . A lot of competition around . Employing good reliable honest staff  is a challenge . You have to pay staff , no matter if you have customers or not . So on a bad day you lose money by being open . Electric bills can be high , especially if you have air-con as we have .Not to mention the rent . Buying good quality food is a mine field . Working in a kitchen in Thailand is far too hot for me , especially in the Thai hot months , My ladies business has been going for nearly 20 years and she has some good customers but that did not happen overnight . Are you prepared to lose money in the first year ? cos that is what almost certainly happen . 

[Ralf001]

35 minutes ago, superal said:

My lady runs a restaurant up in Issan . 99 Baht breakfast ? What's that ? cornflakes ? Our English  breakfasts are 150 or 200 baht .

 

This is the 99B breakfast at Nicky's.

 

[Yellowtail]

2 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

This is the 99B breakfast at Nicky's.

 

That looks nice enough. Coffee/tea included?

[Ralf001]

Just now, Yellowtail said:

That looks nice enough. Coffee/tea included?

yes.

[billaaa777]

What are you going to do when you show up at 5AM and one of the cooks and waitresses don't bother to come in and you open at 6AM. Then, your 9 AM deliver is late and you needed to get it prep for lunch that day. And on, and on, and on. The problems never end. 

[Espanol]

 

 

You know he has no intention of opening a restaurant and this is just another one of his countless troll posts, right?
 

 

[superal]

23 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

 

This is the 99B breakfast at Nicky's.

 

I have dined at Nickys and had good food . Is 99 baht todays price cos when I looked it was 2023 . Our breakfast is similar but we have large pork sausages and thick fresh home made thick bread / toast . Most of our customers go for our small b/f cos cannot eat all of the larger one . We have only compliments and no complaints . At such a low price I cannot see Nickys making much profit . It must be a loss leader cos I know they have a varied menu with more realistic prices .

Nickys is my number one eaterie in Pattaya.

[Ralf001]

2 minutes ago, superal said:

I have dined at Nickys and had good food . Is 99 baht todays price cos when I looked it was 2023 .

 

Yes todays price, posted 5hrs ago on their FB page.