Opening A Laundry Shop

[BigBadSi]

Hi my wife is currently interested in opening a laundry in Pattaya. Basically I just would like to know the ins and outs of going about this ,Its going to be her business and besides handing the cash over to her its all her concern.

Is it as simple as renting/buying a property and setting up stall or are there legal channels to go down/business tax etc.

My wife seems to think its as simple as renting then getting on with it but coming from a country with rules for everything im sceptical.

Any insights?

[dave2]

big bad si

re ... im sceptical.

you need to be !!!!!!!!!!!

.... as its a non starter ... its a no no

say bye bye to your girl fiend.... save your money and look for a new " friend " : !

dave2

[bkkmick]

I hope you're drunk dave2. That was the most ridiculous and childish response to a genuine question I've read for a long time.

[yeesipha]

big bad si

re ... im sceptical.

you need to be !!!!!!!!!!!

.... as its a non starter ... its a no no

say bye bye to your girl fiend.... save your money and look for a new " friend " : !

dave2

Sounds like someones had their fingers burnt before

[jackdawson]

besides handing the cash over

just say "no"

[Nio]

This topic has been covered before in detail if you do a search

The major consensus was this business will fail and not generate any money at all

Listening to GF instead of having a business plan is a guaranteed recipe for failure

What they want to do and what will make money are two different things

[loong]

From what I have seen, if there are any rules and regulations when starting a business, Thais generally will ignore them. It is a case of just setting up shop and worry about any rules when the City council or police visit

I would suggest that you discuss the business plan and projected turnover and profit margins with your wife. Just looking at the high number of laundry shops already would indicate that this business has limited prospects.

Typical business plan....

Farang husband pays all start-up costs

Farang husband pays the rent every month

Farang husband pays electricity bills

Farang husband pays staff wages

Farang husband pays anything else in the way of expenses

Wife spends all income

My missus has come up with various harebrained schemes that luckily involved little in the way of expenses. Even when she made a profit, she never had the money to restock as she didn't keep the business money separate.

She has a successful business now, but that's because she took over an established and profitable business. We had a lot of discussions before buying this business and I insisted that she used her savings with me making up the difference. That way she had a vested interest. I also stipulated that my investment would be returned to me from the profits.

I have been really impressed with how hard she has worked and yes, my investment has been returned

If your wife has any gold or other assets, see how she feels about selling it to part-finance the business. If she refuses, well, it may give you an indication of how serious she is.

[streetlife]

started to type can't be bothered now, sorry.

I'm going fishing...I suggest you do to and keep you money in your skyrocket.

[Forkinhades]

From what I have seen, if there are any rules and regulations when starting a business, Thais generally will ignore them. It is a case of just setting up shop and worry about any rules when the City council or police visit

My missus has come up with various harebrained schemes that luckily involved little in the way of expenses. Even when she made a profit, she never had the money to restock as she didn't keep the business money separate.

She has a successful business now, but that's because she took over an established and profitable business. We had a lot of discussions before buying this business and I insisted that she used her savings with me making up the difference. That way she had a vested interest. I also stipulated that my investment would be returned to me from the profits.

I have been really impressed with how hard she has worked and yes, my investment has been returned

If your wife has any gold or other assets, see how she feels about selling it to part-finance the business. If she refuses, well, it may give you an indication of how serious she is.

well done

[ESB7]

The only requirments are, washing powder 120 baht, softner 12 baht, 2 large bowls, 100 baht each and a homemade sign 20 baht. The rest is pure elbow grease and marketing. Good luck.

[LennyW]

Go for it, 5000 Laundrys in the same city cant be wrong, can they?

[swissie]

Go for it, 5000 Laundrys in the same city cant be wrong, can they?

Ha Ha. Great sense of humor! But this sums it up nicely. Same goes for all sorts of business in Pattaya. Fierce competition. Survival of the fittest! Darwinism pure. Would I want to be in business in Pattaya and be part of this circus? Not really ! There are more pleasurable ways to loose money. Cheers.

[consnabit]

PLEASE. PLEASE, PLEASE. Listen to these guys who have all been here, done that, and know from where they speak. I, too have done it. You want to do something for your girl, fine, buy her a half baht of gold and forget the whole business thing. better off, throw money in the street a better plan than business in Pattaya or anywhere in Thailand. I have done it in Pattaya and north as well. The only winners are the landlords. All real profit making businesses are owned and controlled by the elite with connections to franchises.

[NALAK]

to much competition, 20 baht a kilo you will never get a return just work out how many kilos you need to do per month. my misses is same, restuarant, beuaty salon, corner shop, even laundary etc. i agree to do business plan, she uses her savings to set it up, then the urge goes. if you are taking over an existing business then you have a regular customer base, starting new means you have to get customers from the competition. the question is why should they change, customer always have to have a reason to buy. existing relationships are hard to breakdown. rent, electric, water divide buy 20 baht plus return on investment, no chance IMHO

[basjke]

The only requirments are, washing powder 120 baht, softner 12 baht, 2 large bowls, 100 baht each and a homemade sign 20 baht. The rest is pure elbow grease and marketing. Good luck.

Scrap the washing powder and softner and replace by a spray bottle filled with perfumed water.At least that is how most of the laundry's around do it.might be also the only way to survive at the cost they charge.

[FarangBuddha]

THere may be room at the higher end of the market...the more professional laundrys in town seem to do a good trade. The likes of Laundry Express (with at least 3 outlets in town) and the new chain with shops on sois Diana and Yumi seem to do very well. But you would have to invest in high-end washing, drying and pressing machines and some decent trained staff to operate them. Could be some money to be made, however.

Edited May 1, 2010 by FarangBuddha

[nam-thip]

Scrap the idea and save you money.

Why should a Thai female work every hour that god or Buddha sends and break her back to make the business a successful one when she knows she has a farang to bankroll the losses.

If you do buy a business for your lady then the first item on her shopping list will be a television.

[dave2]

bkkmick'

yeesaphia

.

after the numerous replies to the ops post .... that this ( or ANY ) venture with a thai dreamer is a no no

how much do you want to invest in the ops venture

5000 thousand baht ... twenty thousand or five hundred thousand baht ?

just interested in your comitment to the idea ... to#sers : )

... dave2

[torrenova]

Si,

I crunched the numbers for this quite a few times and I think posted here but feel free to PM me for a chat.

At the end of the day, the problems really come from just how much money you want or need to make and then trying to make that number work out. As a boss, it is difficult to see how a girl will work 12 hours a day in the laundry herself and for so little money. If running a laundry is the only thing you can do, then it is a whole different ball game and it becomes a eat or die scenario.

If you look at laundries, it is not the simple washing of clothes which makes them successful but rather the various services they offer and how they differentiate themselves from their competitors. Being cheaper is not the answer.

To give you an example. When I lived in my condo block there were 4 laundries. One was much cheaper and crap. One was better than the other two remaining ones. So for years I used this laundry and then their service went down the toilet as they thought they had it made. Now I never washed a thing when I lived there. As soon as I went to live in my house I never sued a laundry again. I never ironed anything but I never used a laundry again. I wouldn't even take it to the laundry on the estate and I had a truck to drive there. I wouldn't even get them to pick it up and drop it off. Why ? because when I was in the condo I had to pass the laundry on the way out (save a few steps) and again on the way back. Dropping it off and picking it up was so easy. As soon as I had to do more, I preferred to wash my own clothes. It was convenience, not money.

Take your stuff to the laundry and they say ready tomorrow and it is not ready because they watched Thai soaps all day and got pissed on the night or just decided not to open the laundry that day - mai pen rai or tough shit. Stupid guy wanting his laundry at his convenience.

Can it work ? yes and well but only in selected areas with barriers to entry and where you can charge a premium and you are prepared to deliver a non Thai service. Get it wrong and you lose money, fast. Get it right and you lose less money. Get it really right and you clean up, relatively. The question is whether you are buying your missus a a job or running a business. Totally different concepts.

As a starter, just someone tell me how you bypass the Thai standard identifier of sewing little bits of coloured thread into the clothes to recognise whose it is and before you ask, the answer is not to use one machine for each person.

[james24]

mmm I literally tonight have found out a thai housing estate wanting to do the same thing.

Gfriend called me and told me about it. Things is I would only do the machines bit, hence no employees and stuff.

To be honest I think its a good idea as there isnt one in the complex and there are like 25 blocks at least.

Only thing that concerns me is the rent and cost of water.

Anyone know how much each wash costs, obviously a rought estimate but Im sure its quite expensive

[Jaso]

From what I have seen, if there are any rules and regulations when starting a business, Thais generally will ignore them. It is a case of just setting up shop and worry about any rules when the City council or police visit

I would suggest that you discuss the business plan and projected turnover and profit margins with your wife. Just looking at the high number of laundry shops already would indicate that this business has limited prospects.

Typical business plan....

Farang husband pays all start-up costs

Farang husband pays the rent every month

Farang husband pays electricity bills

Farang husband pays staff wages

Farang husband pays anything else in the way of expenses

Wife spends all income

My missus has come up with various harebrained schemes that luckily involved little in the way of expenses. Even when she made a profit, she never had the money to restock as she didn't keep the business money separate.

She has a successful business now, but that's because she took over an established and profitable business. We had a lot of discussions before buying this business and I insisted that she used her savings with me making up the difference. That way she had a vested interest. I also stipulated that my investment would be returned to me from the profits.

I have been really impressed with how hard she has worked and yes, my investment has been returned

If your wife has any gold or other assets, see how she feels about selling it to part-finance the business. If she refuses, well, it may give you an indication of how serious she is.

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[Jaso]

From what I have seen, if there are any rules and regulations when starting a business, Thais generally will ignore them. It is a case of just setting up shop and worry about any rules when the City council or police visit

I would suggest that you discuss the business plan and projected turnover and profit margins with your wife. Just looking at the high number of laundry shops already would indicate that this business has limited prospects.

Typical business plan....

Farang husband pays all start-up costs

Farang husband pays the rent every month

Farang husband pays electricity bills

Farang husband pays staff wages

Farang husband pays anything else in the way of expenses

Wife spends all income

My missus has come up with various harebrained schemes that luckily involved little in the way of expenses. Even when she made a profit, she never had the money to restock as she didn't keep the business money separate.

She has a successful business now, but that's because she took over an established and profitable business. We had a lot of discussions before buying this business and I insisted that she used her savings with me making up the difference. That way she had a vested interest. I also stipulated that my investment would be returned to me from the profits.

I have been really impressed with how hard she has worked and yes, my investment has been returned

If your wife has any gold or other assets, see how she feels about selling it to part-finance the business. If she refuses, well, it may give you an indication of how serious she is.

[ciaociao]

From what I have seen, if there are any rules and regulations when starting a business, Thais generally will ignore them. It is a case of just setting up shop and worry about any rules when the City council or police visit

I would suggest that you discuss the business plan and projected turnover and profit margins with your wife. Just looking at the high number of laundry shops already would indicate that this business has limited prospects.

Typical business plan....

Farang husband pays all start-up costs

Farang husband pays the rent every month

Farang husband pays electricity bills

Farang husband pays staff wages

Farang husband pays anything else in the way of expenses

Wife spends all income

My missus has come up with various harebrained schemes that luckily involved little in the way of expenses. Even when she made a profit, she never had the money to restock as she didn't keep the business money separate.

She has a successful business now, but that's because she took over an established and profitable business. We had a lot of discussions before buying this business and I insisted that she used her savings with me making up the difference. That way she had a vested interest. I also stipulated that my investment would be returned to me from the profits.

I have been really impressed with how hard she has worked and yes, my investment has been returned

If your wife has any gold or other assets, see how she feels about selling it to part-finance the business. If she refuses, well, it may give you an indication of how serious she is.

I purchased a 2 bed room condo for my wife and she rents for 35,000 a month. easy and no work.

[gorillagrower]

From what I have seen, if there are any rules and regulations when starting a business, Thais generally will ignore them. It is a case of just setting up shop and worry about any rules when the City council or police visit

I would suggest that you discuss the business plan and projected turnover and profit margins with your wife. Just looking at the high number of laundry shops already would indicate that this business has limited prospects.

Typical business plan....

Farang husband pays all start-up costs

Farang husband pays the rent every month

Farang husband pays electricity bills

Farang husband pays staff wages

Farang husband pays anything else in the way of expenses

Wife spends all income

My missus has come up with various harebrained schemes that luckily involved little in the way of expenses. Even when she made a profit, she never had the money to restock as she didn't keep the business money separate.

She has a successful business now, but that's because she took over an established and profitable business. We had a lot of discussions before buying this business and I insisted that she used her savings with me making up the difference. That way she had a vested interest. I also stipulated that my investment would be returned to me from the profits.

I have been really impressed with how hard she has worked and yes, my investment has been returned

If your wife has any gold or other assets, see how she feels about selling it to part-finance the business. If she refuses, well, it may give you an indication of how serious she is.

I purchased a 2 bed room condo for my wife and she rents for 35,000 a month. easy and no work.

Basicly your just giving her 35k, did she rent it or did an agent, but yeah too right very easy.