Opening Bar/restaurant Upcountry

[tomuk76]

Is creative thinking involve coming up with more ideas that wont work. Villagers need a fancy nail shop?. Someone to do their hair? What are your credentials mij24, your ideas are of lesser substance than ops, if thats possible.

You know if you just accept you aint gonna make money off those who dont have it you may have taken the first step to becomming successful in business.

24, i offered the same same as garro btw, look back at my be4 garro entered....lol. Will villagers take to farang leeching off them?

Now if op needs to show incum of 40k to live here then he may decide he cant. If he has to save just to get to the village the village

may not want him.

All this time i thought america was the land of oppurtunity! when it was actually thailand. ARE you for real mr24?

Cynthia

From the sounds of it, it looks like you have been to the village and researched yourself! You have so much confidence in him failing!!

Maybe you should rename your member id from cynthialee to cynical! I think it would be more appropriate for you!

If i was you aswell i would choose my words more carefully, "leeching" a little bit more tactful would be "earn money for a living!"

Have a nice day if you know how to have one!

Edited July 6, 2008 by tomuk76

[cynthialee]

you guys are borderline hilarious.

Ive never been to a village and probably never will. What part of garros posting do you and mij24 not understand.

One need not have matriculated thru ramkamahaeng uni to understand village economics.

I imagine bill gates would have a hard time making it off the villagers!

My day is going ok ,thanks to guys like you and 24, you are like non stop comedians. I cant get enough of you!

[cynthialee]

Now lets take a look at things from the village point of view.

They would say its all good. Farang would need villagers to build bldg. If local needed 15 workers on crew becoz its farang maybe 25 may be needed.....lol. Plaec needs to be furnished with things bought from the local tesco lotus, etc etc etc.

Village gets a shiny new bldg added to tax roll. and maybe ownership when business goes bankrupt.

After frang loses everything he goes to village chief and asks him "but you gave me a blessing to go ahead with my project" the chief replies it was good for the village. Then shoos farang to go on his way.

[tomuk76]

Now lets take a look at things from the village point of view.

They would say its all good. Farang would need villagers to build bldg. If local needed 15 workers on crew becoz its farang maybe 25 may be needed.....lol. Plaec needs to be furnished with things bought from the local tesco lotus, etc etc etc.

Village gets a shiny new bldg added to tax roll. and maybe ownership when business goes bankrupt.

After frang loses everything he goes to village chief and asks him "but you gave me a blessing to go ahead with my project" the chief replies it was good for the village. Then shoos farang to go on his way.

Can you tell me the winning lottery numbers for next week?

[cynthialee]

id stay away from number 24!

[Chaimai]

'cynthialee' post=

After frang loses everything he goes to village chief and asks him "but you gave me a blessing to go ahead with my project" the chief replies it was good for the village. Then shoos farang to go on his way.

Can you tell me the winning lottery numbers for next week?

All we need - A dick with crystal balls !

[Chaimai]

id stay away from number 24!

Is this Bingobongo with a new login ID ?

[keestha]

Hi All. We are currently saving to go back to live in Thailand (upcountry). We plan to bouild a bar/small restaurant on land we already own. I have the following questions:

1. Do we need any sort of planning permission (it's a village, and the land is adjacent to shops etc)

2. Do we need permits/licenses ?

3. Is it better to set up a comany or operate as individuals re tax ?

My wife is a Thai national and I am British. Any advice or useful neggets of information/experience gratefully received

OP,

In case you are still here, I'll simply answer your questions one by one:

1. Technically you would need a building permit from the local orbortor. Let your wife enquire.

2. You need a permit to sell Thai liquor, a permit to sell imported liquor, and a permit to sell cigarettes. Some municipalities also require a permit to sell food, let your wife enquire at the ampher (municipality)

3 . As far as taxes and bookkeeping costs are concerned, it is much cheaper if the business is in your wife's name. But it also has the consequence you might loose your investment if your marriage would break up.

That's it. Oh and aren't you delighted that well meaning people are showering you with advice you didn't ask for?

[Chaimai]

[quote name='keestha' That's it. Oh and aren't you delighted that well meaning people are showering you with advice you didn't ask for?

Could have done with you at about post #3

[garro]

Hi All. We are currently saving to go back to live in Thailand (upcountry). We plan to bouild a bar/small restaurant on land we already own. I have the following questions:

1. Do we need any sort of planning permission (it's a village, and the land is adjacent to shops etc)

2. Do we need permits/licenses ?

3. Is it better to set up a comany or operate as individuals re tax ?

My wife is a Thai national and I am British. Any advice or useful neggets of information/experience gratefully received

OP,

In case you are still here, I'll simply answer your questions one by one:

1. Technically you would need a building permit from the local orbortor. Let your wife enquire.

2. You need a permit to sell Thai liquor, a permit to sell imported liquor, and a permit to sell cigarettes. Some municipalities also require a permit to sell food, let your wife enquire at the ampher (municipality)

3 . As far as taxes and bookkeeping costs are concerned, it is much cheaper if the business is in your wife's name. But it also has the consequence you might loose your investment if your marriage would break up.

That's it. Oh and aren't you delighted that well meaning people are showering you with advice you didn't ask for?

Perhaps in your rush to post you missed the part of the OP which clearly states, Any advice or useful neggets of information/experience gratefully received

[cynthialee]

the most useless info is the legal schmeegel stuff in this case. op needs to know if his idea is viable or not. at least 24 and the other guy understand this.

[fred2007]

If you are serious about making money in a village the only idea I could offer you is to a homestay. You could advertise on the internet and maybe interest adventurous people who want to see a different side of Thailand - it wouldn't be great money, but at least you would be bringing money into the village. I would strongly advise you forget the bar idea.

You are right about not making great money with a homestay I have a homestay since about 1 year now it hardly brings in enough money to pay for the cleaner and the cook let alone any wages for me. I advertise on different websites but the response is very poor I managed just 3 visitors from overseas so far

[cynthialee]

tell us your story fred. why, how it got started, is their a thai lady involved?

one thing i think would be a go is a cosmetic dentist. lots of good looking thais but when the y smile they have a tooth pointing east, one west, one in who knows what direction, etc.

[Cuban]

If by some miracle you managed to make a success of a bar you would make people envious and your business would be ruined. Everyday villagers are forced to leave because there is no money to be made in rural areas. I don't think they will take too kindly to a westerner coming in and trying to profit off them.

In a nut shell - well put.

It's all well and good thinking about the tax issues at this stage - but you really really need to have some Thai legal advice as well as from forums such at this. The bottom line response from the TV masses is 'don't do it' - but you need to understand why before you will believe the words of others. If you are a new Thai company you can legally not make any profit for 3-5 years (depending on company struture) - therefore not be liable to large tax bills. Unless you don't need to earn any money from this venture you need to work such angles as these.

I don't think anyone else mentioned the Work Permit situation, if you are planning on so much as washing an empty glass or refilling a fish sauce bottle you will need to plan for and budget your work permit and the 'increased' staff overhead costs.

Have you spent much time in rural Thailand? Not just the area where your loved one grew up but other similar towns and villages?

I ask this because you do not say that you plan to open a venture in a city or even in a large market town but "..on land...", this implies (in my mind) that the area is semi-rural at least. As most good plots within towns and cities will already have a commerical enterprise in place. In all retail ventures, location is the mantra.

I asked if you had been to other village locations so you can see that there are not many bar/restaurants outside the main roads and already popular locations. If your plot of land is on such a route then continue with the background study. But as Garro said above, will your success cause local issues that are beyond your wife's or her families ability to put down?

Have you sat and watched a mobile street stall seller operate, one person maybe a child to help clear the tables that they set up along the pavement, an ice box of water and a few beers. Their costs are very low, they pay little for the location and the lighting is provided by the local council street lights. If you are involved in the business it is likely that your business will have to pay every local tax and licence where your competition does not.

There are a few successful 'farang' bar/restaurants up country in different towns - but they rely on regular repeat customers and passing trade. Do you know if there are enough farang within your catchment area to support you. If they are friends will they (would you want to..) keep coming and paying your profit margin to sit and eat/drink over a friendly chat?

There is a good profit in food (300% or so when I had an interest in this area) but you make your money when you buy in bulk at wholesale rates from the suppliers, where will you be buying your drinks and more importantly food, in particular farang foods if you plan to market towards expats and tourists?

Have you worked out how much you expect to 'invest' in this venture, how much will you need to make as overall profit after all costs (licences, electricity, water, staff{social security payments and taxes}, work permit and related, transport for supplies, and losses {spoiled food - missing drink}) before you even consider a living wage for you and your wife?

You will have surely seen Thai style evening party at someone's house upcountry, beers or home-brew rice whiskey and a few bags of chicken feet and spicy salad, entertainment provided by a dancing girls VCD and a game of hi-lo. This is informal and cheap - you will not be pulling these customers. Will you compete with places that have a few imported or even more rural young female staff and flashing christmas lights outside? A different ball game entirely with much licence hassles?

I am sorry that the tone of this email is also 'negative' rather that talking up the scheme but I hope you accept my thoughts as they are intended - to stimulate your deeper investigation before you take an expensive leap.

You ask: "Any advice or useful neggets of information/experience gratefully received..." do you or your partner have any experiance in this field? Rural Thailand is not the place to learn the tricks of the trade. It might be wise to learn at another's expense by working somewhere like this first.

I wish you well with your venture should it take shape and open it's doors....

But one thing that will kill it before you open is paying too much for everything from licences and back-handers through to bricks and tables or bamboo huts and benches. If your partner does not have business experiance in this area, who will be running your books?

An interesting read.

Good luck.

Edited July 7, 2008 by Cuban

[cynthialee]

i doubt cubans advisce is the kind op was looking for!