Start Up A Privte Business

[EgyptianCouple]

Hi, we are an egyptian couple who wants to resident in Tahi and start our own privte buiness thro our own funds. We are thinking to establish an egyptian resturant and cafe in one of the touristic destinations or in the capital city. we want to know from where to start, what is the best type of visa we should apply for. and what is the required paper to start up the business and is there a minimum amount of cash we should possess for such purpose.

Thanks to reply soon as our plan is to start procedures within 30days.

[ubonjoe]

Hi, we are an egyptian couple who wants to resident in Tahi and start our own privte buiness thro our own funds. We are thinking to establish an egyptian resturant and cafe in one of the touristic destinations or in the capital city. we want to know from where to start, what is the best type of visa we should apply for. and what is the required paper to start up the business and is there a minimum amount of cash we should possess for such purpose.

Thanks to reply soon as our plan is to start procedures within 30days.

The ideal visa would be a non immigrant B visa but that requies an invitaion letter and other documents to obtain. You could contact one of law firms that sponser this forum about that and forming a company after you arrive.

Otherwise you can get a tourist visa that would allow you to investigate setting up a company and opening your restaurant. And then obtain the B visa.

See this this webpage on the Cairo embassy website for info on getting a visa.

LinK: http://www.mfa.go.th/web/2495.php

I am moving your topic to the business forum where you will get advise on setting up your company

[satiariyan]

The first step - prior to spending too much money or effort on anything else - would be to do due diligence. How is the demand in Thailand for Egyptian food? Is there any noticeable demand? If, yes - is it big enough to provide the livelihood for two foreign restaurant owners? - Due to the circumstance that I've never - in my 58 year long life - have heard, red or seen anything about Egyptian food I'd suspect you'd depend a lot on a faithful Egyptian client base to provide just for the overhead and thus your best option would be to investigate whether there should be some place with a large number of Egyptian expats residing in the neighborhood (if any such one should exist in Thailand). - I might be an exception, of course - but to do due diligence in this respect would be a must as first step.

[Jingthing]

There are Egyptian restaurants (mostly pan-Arabic places that have Egyptian food among related cuisines) in Bangkok (inner Sukhumwit) and Pattaya. There is a new highly visible Egyptian restaurant that just opened on Pattaya Second Road near Pattaya Tai (a major traffic area). There is obviously demand for such food from Middle Eastern tourists of which there are many in Bangkok and Pattaya.

I have a suggestion for the couple if they go through with it. Make a sincere effort to "cross over" to other nationalities not familiar with Egyptian food. There are always people willing to try something different as long as the price is attractive, it is an adventure. I was looking at the menu at the new Pattaya Egyptian restaurant and while some of the dishes were easy for anyone to understand what they were (they have PICTURES which is very good) there were also a number with only the Egyptian name of the dish and a picture, but to people not familiar with Egyptian dishes, they still would not know what it is and what is in it. I suggest hiring an Anglo type writer person to write DETAILED descriptions in English (and Thai if you are located in a non-tourist area) about what the dishes are. This will help people who are new to Egyptian food feel very welcome and more likely to actually give this food a try.

Edited January 2, 2009 by Jingthing