Wife Opening Small Restaurant

[Spacer]

My wife is opening a small restaraunt. I don't have any experience in this. So asking for any advice or suggestions. Also, are there any places around pattaya that sells used equipment like stoves, fryers and such?

[thaipete]

I have opened and run several restaurants in Bangkok, firstly only a Farang can run his own Nationality eating house' and only a Thai can run theirs, I do not know where this is being opened but if your wife is a great Thai Chef go for it all the way with her but situation is important too.

[pointofview]

My wife is opening a small restaraunt. I don't have any experience in this. So asking for any advice or suggestions. Also, are there any places around pattaya that sells used equipment like stoves, fryers and such?

Check out the adds section in the pattaya mail - you can go through past additions. There must be a lot of small buisinesses going to the wall each week. Look at the Adds in Carfore or outside Foodland or Friendship Supermarket!

[torrenova]

There are places on 3rd Road and Sukhumvit Road in Pattaya who do 2nd hand. My information is that their prices are too high.

I'd send someone in looking to sell roughly what you want to buy and see what they give. Then you have a price before their mark up.

Try Pattaya Trader and an ad in the Pattaya Mail perhaps ?

[YoungAndRice]

I have opened and run several restaurants in Bangkok, firstly only a Farang can run his own Nationality eating house' and only a Thai can run theirs, I do not know where this is being opened but if your wife is a great Thai Chef go for it all the way with her but situation is important too.

is this correct? Greg from Sunrise is not Mexican.

[Chang_paarp]

I agreee with the others about where to look for equipment, but before you part with one satang look at the cost of the new equipment, get a couple of quotes and see what it would cost new. This will give you a baseline for your prices. There are some second hand places selling very used stuff for more than the cost of new.

For fridges and freezers go to the shops along Sukumvit selling new ones, a 3 door display fridge is about B30K new, 2 door B22K, 1 door B17K. I have a new 3 door after a recent power fluctuation the controller went haywire, I phoned the company I bought from and they had someone there in under 90 minutes and replaced the controller under warantee, you will not get that with a used fridge, or from Tesco and Big C, so think about what is worth buying new and what second hand.

I did my research on where to buy by walking around to see what was out there, this may not suit you and definitely won't suit a Thai, but I found what I was looking for.

For tables and chairs, again look around, it depends what you want. If you want the tinny fold up tables they are available in a lot of places, check size and strenght, I wanted a better quality table, so ended up buying from the bedding/furniture shop on the corner of klang and sukumvit (if you go there the bosses daughter speaks perfect English as she is going to university in New Zealand, the rest of the staff speak good tinglish.). For the plastic chairs the roadside places like the cheapest is Tesco and Carrefor, from about B80, again you have to think about your target market, I went a for little better quality.

[Spacer]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I tend to agree with Chang_Paarp. Not much difference in price between used and new and peace of mind that comes with a warranty makes up the difference.

My wife is a great cook and very industrious so I believe she will be successful. Time will tell...

[klikster]

My wife is opening a small restaraunt. I don't have any experience in this. So asking for any advice or suggestions.

If the place is targeting farang customers, do something (some things) a bit differently even if the food is Thai. Create a few dishes with a farang spin, I think they call it fusion.

Someone mentioned tables and chairs. Get good ones .. maybe build your own. I used to frequent a local pizza place where the owner had built quite rectangular bar-height tables and benches with an appropriate height relationship. I liked that much better than sitting in those "soon to collapse" metal chairs where my chin is barely above the table .. I feel like a little kid.

Find staff with personality. It's so much more pleasant to have interesting, bubbly staff waiting on you even though they may not be "lovely" or sexy. Get adult size water/drink glasses. Use decent flatware, not the tinny, bendy stuff.

"Discourage" dogs from hanging about.

[klikster]

I have opened and run several restaurants in Bangkok, firstly only a Farang can run his own Nationality eating house' and only a Thai can run theirs, I do not know where this is being opened but if your wife is a great Thai Chef go for it all the way with her but situation is important too.

I disagree with you, thaipete. As a good example, look at Sara Janes .. farang woman running very popular Thai restaurants .. even serving excellent Issan food .. in Bangkok

[YoungAndRice]

can someone please confirm that you can only sell food from your country? that sounds very wrong, but i want to make sure...

[Chang_paarp]

can someone please confirm that you can only sell food from your country? that sounds very wrong, but i want to make sure...

That is not the case. I think the poster was sayingthat you have a better understanding of your home cuisine than others and will be able to cater to your intended customers this way, but I have heard of no restriction to this.

[eljeque]

If it is not against forum rules, can you provide the location of your soon to open restaurant?

[blizzard]

go 4 sexy staff over bubbly but not so lovely. sexy staff brings farangs to the table ..

[Chang_paarp]

go 4 sexy staff over bubbly but not so lovely. sexy staff brings farangs to the table ..

Yes but competent, bubbly staff will bring them back. Personally, I would prefer to be served by someone who can communicate successfully will ensure my order is correct. If they also happen to be attractive that is a bonus, good service and good food is what makes a restaurant last.

[chownah]

go 4 sexy staff over bubbly but not so lovely. sexy staff brings farangs to the table ..

Yes but competent, bubbly staff will bring them back. Personally, I would prefer to be served by someone who can communicate successfully will ensure my order is correct. If they also happen to be attractive that is a bonus, good service and good food is what makes a restaurant last.

So, I guess the OP needs to decide if the target customer will be a tourist who will not be a repeat customer or if it will be a local person who will hopefully make a habit of returning.

Chownah

[Spacer]

Just a small local place. Catering mostly to people on the way to and from work. Also deliveries to local neighborhood. As originally posted, this is my wifes restaraunt, not mine. She is Thai and IMO a very good cook so the menu will be thai food.

Good food, smart and freindly staff, comfortable tables and chairs, A place where one is comfortable and will want to come back. All very good recommendations.

Edited January 1, 2008 by Spacer

[blizzard]

i never been to pattaya. is there a shortage of small local restaurants?

[Spacer]

Like anywhere, there is a shortage of good small local restaraunts

[blizzard]

may the reason be, if what you say is true, there aint no money to be made in small local eateries.

[jetzie]

I have opened and run several restaurants in Bangkok, firstly only a Farang can run his own Nationality eating house' and only a Thai can run theirs, I do not know where this is being opened but if your wife is a great Thai Chef go for it all the way with her but situation is important too.

can i ask where u got this infomation from?

so as singapore is a multinational country, which "foods" can i sell?? there aint such thing as a Singapore dish, so if i were to open 1 restaurent, which food can i sell?

[torrenova]

You can sell anything but I would not think many Brazillians are expert in preparing japanese cuisine if you get my drift. Now I wouldn't think about doing Russian food but I;d be reasonably confident with Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese and Thai foods. You also have to think about where in the eating hierarchy you want to place yourself. i Couldn't open the most expensive Japanese restaurant in Japan for instance because I am not Japanese and local traditions would not allow it, even if my food was better.

[tattoodrob]

My wife is opening a small restaraunt. I don't have any experience in this. So asking for any advice or suggestions. Also, are there any places around pattaya that sells used equipment like stoves, fryers and such?

are you doing it to make money???? if not then go ahead.dont mean to be rude!

if you already have the property ie your house/shophouse then may provide a little extra income ...if you are planning to rent a place,furnish,decorate provide kitchen etc then may struggle to make money or to make it worth while for hours/effort put in.it sounds like your catering for local thai people who dont like to pay much for there food and there tends to be plenty of food stalls parked up in areas of where there is a good local traffic of people.

i wish you and your wife all the best but i personally think there is an abundance of small restaurants/food stalls everywhere as thais like to eat very regularly.im sure you can make a profit if you give it time and only expect it will be a small profit.

[blizzard]

maybe im being also too rude. perhaps all these buznit ideas that obviously wont make significant money for a non thai are being opened for non money making reasons. the lady just like to cook! everywhere i go i see thais tending to buznits with no customers, maybe its the national pastime.

Edited January 19, 2008 by blizzard

[mikethevigoman]

My wife is opening a small restaraunt. I don't have any experience in this. So asking for any advice or suggestions. Also, are there any places around pattaya that sells used equipment like stoves, fryers and such?

Check out the adds section in the pattaya mail - you can go through past additions. There must be a lot of small buisinesses going to the wall each week. Look at the Adds in Carfore or outside Foodland or Friendship Supermarket!

A friend of mine did the same thing and profits were a whopping 3k a month at best !..he didnt care ,hes sees it as a hobby and something to keep her amused !

[mikethevigoman]

go 4 sexy staff over bubbly but not so lovely. sexy staff brings farangs to the table ..

Yes but competent, bubbly staff will bring them back. Personally, I would prefer to be served by someone who can communicate successfully will ensure my order is correct. If they also happen to be attractive that is a bonus, good service and good food is what makes a restaurant last.

Topless ! theres a new idea

[mikethevigoman]

I have opened and run several restaurants in Bangkok, firstly only a Farang can run his own Nationality eating house' and only a Thai can run theirs, I do not know where this is being opened but if your wife is a great Thai Chef go for it all the way with her but situation is important too.

is this correct? Greg from Sunrise is not Mexican.

and im sure the guy selling kebabs at jomtien is a thai and not greek !

[Spacer]

It is more of a hobby than moneymaker. Idid think Blizzard was coming on a little too rude but it does seem to be something of a national pastime sitting watching over an empty shop.