Creepy Landlord Pushes Tenants Out And Takes Over Business

[Ulysses G.]

Many of us know and like Gai the Thai owner of the Bake and Bite shops who works so hard to provide Chiang Mai with good, reasonably priced bake goods. Well the landlord has finally forced her out of her original small shop on soi 1, off of Kotchasan Rd across from the park at the end of Thapae Gate.

Gai originally built the building while paying a fair rent without getting it in writing that her landlord would charge her the same rent for a time in the future. Gai is a good person and expects the best from other people.

The landlord almost immediatly doubled the rent and has been pushing it up steadily ever since, so that Gai can not afford to pay it without raising her prices drastically.

Gai finally had to move out and the landlord immediately made her take all her signs down and would not allow her to leave a new one directing people to her other locations at Chang Klan Rd. (ph#053 820 761) and Nimmanhaemin Rd., Soi 6 (ph#053 400 577).

The landlord has put out what looks to be an assortment of lousy Thai versions of farang baked goods at tourist prices and is acting like it is the same bakery that has been there all all along. It is not even close.

If you want REAL Bake and Bite products, pass this place by and go straight up soi 1 a little ways to Inter Inn and look for "The Garden" which gets deliveries of fresh Bake and Bite baked goods every day and is affiliated with Gai. It is a nice, comfortable little place with the same menu as Bake and Bite and a very helpful owner.

[pauls2979]

nice post , and sounds like a nice lady , good luck to her,

reinforces my thoughts on opening a business here in thailand ,

[BigSnake]

Wrong word my friend, this landlord is GREEDY GREEDY not creepy just sound like a very greedy person to me from what you said here, not to worry if Ms Gai does indeed have great bake goods her customers will follow. Same thing happen to my local Cow Pot Vendor, but me and many of his best customers found him a few Sois over, thank to some helpful neigbhors. he and the Ms are doing quiet well if not better at their place.

[hill16]

Gai finally had to move out and the landlord immediately made her take all her signs down and would not allow her to leave a new one directing people to her other locations at Chang Klan Rd. (ph#053 820 761) and Nimmanhaemin Rd., Soi 6 (ph#053 400 577).

The landlord has put out what looks to be an assortment of lousy Thai versions of farang baked goods at tourist prices and is acting like it is the same bakery that has been there all all along. It is not even close.

If you want REAL Bake and Bite products, pass this place by and go straight up soi 1 a little ways to Inter Inn and look for "The Garden" which gets deliveries of fresh Bake and Bite baked goods every day and is affiliated with Gai. It is a nice, comfortable little place with the same menu as Bake and Bite and a very helpful owner.

When you say that the landlord made her take all her signs down, does that mean that he is not trying to run the business under the name of Bake and Bite? Or is he?

I hope not. That would be absolutely disgusting.

[Ulysses G.]

No, not right now anyway. The woman landlord has not put up any signs other than prices on baked goods and food that is available there. What she is doing is legal, but completely unfair.

[CLASBYCLAN]

Hi Guys

Gai did the catering again today for my kids party for the second year in a row, once again super efficient super yummy food! Muching on leftovers now!

They do the tables and set it all up!

[jackr]

What a biatch. Where can one buy stink bombs in CM?

[Crow Boy]

Very sorry to read this UG - nice lady and great bakery. I had been looking forward to popping in when I get up to CM for the bbq so will make sure I make the effort to got to the other site.

CB

[thailand_tom]

i have always wondered if this happened, when you rent and your business takes off if the landlord, like the next time your lease is up doubles it, to get you out and takes over and i wonder if alot of these business for sale are for sale, for reasons like this. and just what the heck is with this key money, never heard of it till i lived in thailand..is that like a piece of the pie, or people who are trying to sell their business there, really should say rent is 75,000 baht a month, not like 40,000 baht a month , isn't this paid every year or just once, and just how much is it.

[xwteee]

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Edited November 2, 2008 by xwteee

[imaneggspurt]

This is very common in LOS,i know of a business in Pattaya that the lease holder was asked for double the rent ( from 50k a month to 100k ) he refused and left and bought a place elsewhere, those premises have now been empty for 2 years, smart ?,. i dont think so,. also there was a pub/club at the end of bangla road Phuket where the farang owner moved in and after 3 months was doing a very good business, the thai owner was consumed with greed and jealousy and drove the farang out with violence threats,........im not thai bashing here ,however these cases are 100 per cent true and the owners of the properties were both thai and the tenants had leases that were useless,

[bjohn34]

Where is the location on ChangKlan Road?

Edited November 2, 2008 by bjohn34

[Greenside]

Where is the location on ChangKlan Road?

About 10 metres from where they are building the new ATM Station, diagonally opposite Panthip Plaza. On the corner of an alley that leads to a parking lot.

[Loaded]

If you haven't been to Bake and Bite, you should. Bloody excellent Westen bread, cakes, pies and meals. The Thai food options are delicious and high-quality as well.

Next time I 'm near Tha Pae Gate I will enter the old B&B premises to wind up and annoy the new owner. This will destroy their sabai jai but will put an evil grin on my face.

[Fishenough]

Where is the location on ChangKlan Road?

About 10 metres from where they are building the new ATM Station, diagonally opposite Panthip Plaza. On the corner of an alley that leads to a parking lot.

Thank for sharing the new local; just dicovered the discovered it a few weeks back and had thought we'd lost it.

Cheers

[Sathip2008]

I agree with Ulysses here, Gai is a very nice person and what happened is really disgusting. I'm still going regularly to B&B Chang Khlan, and now I also go regularly to The Garden. I really recommend it, same taste as Bake and Bite (though less choice), nice and quiet and the owner is adorable (forgot her name ).

If you go there don't forget to scratch Coco's tummy, she loves it (Coco is the owner's dog ).

[Ulysses G.]

I just had breakfast at The Garden. What a pleasant atmosphere and the prices are cheaper than the original stores due to no air con (plenty of open air and electric fans though). A real find for those of us who enjoy garden locations or pinching a penny or two!

Edited November 2, 2008 by Ulysses G.

[Nienke]

How's parking at The Garden?

[cmsally]

Many of us know and like Gai the Thai owner of the Bake and Bite shops who works so hard to provide Chiang Mai with good, reasonably priced bake goods. Well the landlord has finally forced her out of her original small shop on soi 1, off of Kotchasan Rd across from the park at the end of Thapae Gate.

Gai originally built the building while paying a fair rent without getting it in writing that her landlord would charge her the same rent for a time in the future. Gai is a good person and expects the best from other people.

The landlord almost immediatly doubled the rent and has been pushing it up steadily ever since, so that Gai can not afford to pay it without raising her prices drastically.

Gai finally had to move out and the landlord immediately made her take all her signs down and would not allow her to leave a new one directing people to her other locations at Chang Klan Rd. (ph#053 820 761) and Nimmanhaemin Rd., Soi 6 (ph#053 400 577).

The landlord has put out what looks to be an assortment of lousy Thai versions of farang baked goods at tourist prices and is acting like it is the same bakery that has been there all all along. It is not even close.

If you want REAL Bake and Bite products, pass this place by and go straight up soi 1 a little ways to Inter Inn and look for "The Garden" which gets deliveries of fresh Bake and Bite baked goods every day and is affiliated with Gai. It is a nice, comfortable little place with the same menu as Bake and Bite and a very helpful owner.

I can't believe Gai took the place without a contract. I hope she was a bit more thorough in her paperwork with her other locations! Continuing the topic of paperwork - does her ex employee (or maybe still employee?) at the Garden have some sort of security? Presumably she is subletting from the Japanese guy (or maybe now its a Thai person) who rents from the actual owner. I hope she doesn't find herself in a sticky situation - maybe someone should tactfully ask her.

[waveydavey]

My girlfriend was in a similar situation but in this case there's been a nice twist to the story.

She opened a small cafe in the garden in front of a guesthouse, paying rent to the landlady of the guesthouse. The cafe is doing quite well so the landlady, who is the most abnoxious person you could have the misfortune to meet wants to increase the rent by 50%. After a bit of digging we discovered the landlady is in fact

only renting the entire guesthouse from the real owner who lives away from Chiang Mai. It turns out our landlady is forever behind with the payments to the real owner (probably why she want to increase the girlfriends rent) so now we're negotiating with the real owner to take over the whole guest house, in which case our evil scum of a landlady will be the one out on her ear

[cmsally]

My girlfriend was in a similar situation but in this case there's been a nice twist to the story.

She opened a small cafe in the garden in front of a guesthouse, paying rent to the landlady of the guesthouse. The cafe is doing quite well so the landlady, who is the most abnoxious person you could have the misfortune to meet wants to increase the rent by 50%. After a bit of digging we discovered the landlady is in fact

only renting the entire guesthouse from the real owner who lives away from Chiang Mai. It turns out our landlady is forever behind with the payments to the real owner (probably why she want to increase the girlfriends rent) so now we're negotiating with the real owner to take over the whole guest house, in which case our evil scum of a landlady will be the one out on her ear

I know of many cases where someone is subletting and paying what they assume to be a portion of the rent, but in fact they are paying the total or almost so. So maybe when you rent better to do some detective work first.

[Sathip2008]

How's parking at The Garden?

Nienke, If you go there by bike, no problem. By car it's a bit more difficult, but if you don't mind walking a little, no problem

And as true animal lover, you MUST go there to say hello to Coco

[femi fan]

I haven't really understood the directions for both the garden, and the old bake and bite that gai had to leave. I'd like to go to both, the first to see what's so good, and the second to see what such a greedy person looks like.

Can anyone simplify for me how to get to both?

[t.s]

Wrong word my friend, this landlord is GREEDY GREEDY not creepy just sound like a very greedy person to me from what you said here, not to worry if Ms Gai does indeed have great bake goods her customers will follow. Same thing happen to my local Cow Pot Vendor, but me and many of his best customers found him a few Sois over, thank to some helpful neigbhors. he and the Ms are doing quiet well if not better at their place.

what is "cow pot"?

[uptheos]

Too bad for Gai she's a lovely person and provides a good product.

I think going to have a look at the landlady's wares and turning a nose up is in order.

[mazd2]

This kind of thing happens all the time, and not only in Thailand. Gia didn't have a lease and left her/himself open to this.

That's business baby!

The way around this is to sign a good long lease and get things notarised and signed, etc with lawyers. Costly I know but otherwise you leave yourself open to having someone else ie landlord swoop in a deny you the fruits of your labour - establishing a successful business and then getting turfed out like this. If Gia had any experience/business head she would have done this long ago.

[elektrified]

Looks like the owners of the property that was Bake and Bite are the people that own the guest house right there (just next to Pizza Koh Lanta). I've been in Pizza Koh Lanta twice recently and both times there was not a single customer in the new bakery restaurant. The woman is a miserable old thing with a very grumpy look on her face. When I ordered an espresso at Koh Lanta, the guy said that they only had regular coffe but that he would get an espresso for me from the bakery. He began to walk over there and I firmly said no, do not get it from her! He seemed a little surprised at my demeanor.

Gai is a very nice person.

[Sao Jiang Mai]

No wonder! I went there last week and tried to be polite, as B&B are clients of mine, but had to walk out because there was nothing to buy. I thought it was some odd glitch and that they had sold out or something. Well, they certainly didnt tell me it wasn't B&B because I kept asking them why there were none of my fave products and they just smiled and didn't tell me it wasn't B&B and when I asked if Khun Gai was in they simply said 'no'. Thanks for that post UG, maybe I should read my own magazine a bit more! Cheeky hey?

[Ulysses G.]

It would be great if Miss Pim could put something in her mag to spread the word around!

[Sathip2008]

It would be great if Miss Pim could put something in her mag to spread the word around!

Pim, is too busy taking pictures of herself in different cocktails and other VIP parties...