Small Shop In Thailand

[haxxej]

Hi there,

I have been reading quite alot on these forums and from your suggestions I can see it is quite difficult to be successful in business in the land of smiles. However most of your negative comments were made to people who were interested in opening a bar.

On the other hand I would like to buy a bar but then convert it to a bakery and a small pizza eatery. What are your comments on this? From my understanding it must be 51% thai owned and the rest can be farang, and farangs are not allowed to work, but with such low wages you would be mad to work your ass off. Of course you would need to keep an eye on things so they won't screw you up.

What are your comments on this people? Troll or not?

[blizzard]

you dont want to work hard for low wages, but that what your enterprise sounds like..................lol.

you ever see the pizza stands located at bts stations, just not much business. sometimes look like slices they have for sale at 4pm was made at 8 am.

i still think if one needs to ask advice on mundane business es one doesnt stand a chance against thais.

[Chang_paarp]

I'll ask some of the standard questions

Where are you from? Yes it matters in what company set-up you can have.

Where do you plan on running this operation? The wilds of Issan will give different needs to down town BKK.

Are you familiar with the baking/pizza industry?

Do you have experience operating a small business?

Have you spent much time in Thailand?

Business plan?

Target market?

Competition?

Business set-up?

Are you familiar with the differences in taste preferences between the Thais and other nationalities?

Do you have enough cash to survive until you break even (12-24 months)?

The idea of converting a bar into something that could make you a profit is not new, I have done the same thing.

There can be more profit in food if you get it right, you can easily sell beer with the food. Just remember the saying, location, location, location.

Basically if you have the correct business model, you should be OK, but be aware if you look like you are succeeding there will be copies, and there can be challenges with landlords and other folk to give you a hard time if you do not have access to good advise.

The 5 P's still apply in Thailand as they do else where.

Proper

Planning

Prevents

P1ss poor

Performance

[haxxej]

Hi again,

I come from Malta (don't worry if you never heard of it before, the majority of Thais didn't have a clue )

I have seen this bar for sale in Chang mai. The asking price was 500,000, which in my opinion is not that much.

I did not ask much questions about it when I was there as I wasn't that much interested, however coming back to my country I started to think about it.

I already have experience how to manage a small business, however it was a completely different thing than this.

Unfortunately I do not have any experience in the pizza business, but I know what a good pizza and bread should taste like

I went three times in Thailand in the past 5 years, 5, 7 and 6 weeks respectively.

I'd say my market target would be farangs and foreign people living in the area. In my opinion the area is quite good for this type of business. I wasn't planning ongetting rich, just live a comfortable life in the land of smiles. With net profits of 500,000 baht yearly I would be happy.

Anyway 'm not giving it much thought lately as the comments on this forum made me think twice before setting up a business in Thailand. From the comments Thailand looks to be very much like Sicily, which I must add is not a good thing.

Cheers

[Chang_paarp]

Hi again,

I come from Malta (don't worry if you never heard of it before, the majority of Thais didn't have a clue )

As an Australian I have a number of Maltese freinds

I have seen this bar for sale in Chang mai. The asking price was 500,000, which in my opinion is not that much.

I suspect if you look arond there will be other places that do not have a "good will" aspect in the purchase, or you can look at the 500K as key money. Beware that the landlord may ask for key money to transfer the lease.

I did not ask much questions about it when I was there as I wasn't that much interested, however coming back to my country I started to think about it.

I already have experience how to manage a small business, however it was a completely different thing than this.

Unfortunately I do not have any experience in the pizza business, but I know what a good pizza and bread should taste like

I went three times in Thailand in the past 5 years, 5, 7 and 6 weeks respectively.

I'd say my market target would be farangs and foreign people living in the area. In my opinion the area is quite good for this type of business. I wasn't planning ongetting rich, just live a comfortable life in the land of smiles. With net profits of 500,000 baht yearly I would be happy.

It would be worth your while to check out the tourist numbers in high season verses low season. There can be such a large difference that you hav to make your money in the 3 months of high season and make a loss for the rest of the year. It ca be done but it is hard work.

Anyway 'm not giving it much thought lately as the comments on this forum made me think twice before setting up a business in Thailand. From the comments Thailand looks to be very much like Sicily, which I must add is not a good thing.

In many ways that is an apt simile.

Cheers

Don't be discouraged by the nay sayers they are often people who would like to but cannot because they don't have the abilities to run a small business.

Just be prepared to invest some time in research prior to spending any money.

[blizzard]

come on now chang.

500,000 purchase price.

you think he gonna make 500,000 a year.

i wonder ehy so much naysayers with these kind of numbers.

[Chang_paarp]

The 500K purchase is something that may be negotiable, or with a different location reduced. If the location is right it could be a bargain.

As to gross profit of 500K per year, well he'll be paying tax on that amount long before he makes it. From memory about 1.5Mil turnover in the food industry should give about 500K "discretionary funds" for the owner. This will not happen in year 1 or 2 but with a well run business it should be achievable. In a minimart you have to turnover 3-4mil for that return.