I'm wanting to move to Samui but need something to keep my mind occupied, does anyone have any advise on buying bars over there. Are they worth it or too difficult to make money?

Do you have any experience running a bar?

If you have done it before you can survive on it here.

If you only have seen the other side of the bar, I would not recommend it.

Successful spots are of course more expensive.

Do you have a niche or concept in mind?

Do you have any experience running a bar?

If you have done it before you can survive on it here.

If you only have seen the other side of the bar, I would not recommend it.

Successful spots are of course more expensive.

Do you have a niche or concept in mind?

Hi Thanks for the reply

I have renovated and run a bar in the UK but Thailand and UK bars are completely different. I would like somewhere low rent so its not too much pressure on me, I understand that it would prob be out of the way but I have friends in Samui so I can rely on them to begin with?

Don't want to be unkind but this reads like a troll post.

Don't want to be unkind but this reads like a troll post.

I am not a troll

OK. just forget i mentioned it.

But buying a bar in Thailand is usually not the wisest investment to make.

There are a lot of things you can do to keep yourself busy instead of running a bar.

Are they worth it or too difficult to make money?

The only ones I know that make money do good food...just my 2 Satangs worth

I do not know how often you have stayed on Samui, or how recently.

The tourist population of Samui now is vastly different to previous years.

before - many Europeans/Brits and a lot of 'pub culture'

now - more Asians/Russians. Happy to eat out, but more likely to drink at home.

AS always - location, location, location. Also - opening times/backhanders are important.

If I go for a drink in Chaweng, I head home at 11 pm -ish. The bars are empty. Most are just starting to open. To stay open from 11 pm to 6 am (real drinking time) you will be paying tea money to the police.

Some bar owners on Samui make a lot of money - but not many. It is bluddy hard work - long hours to build up the business.

Having some friends drinking in the bar is fine - but they will not be able to support you for long.

JFI - I have never run a bar - but I have drunk in many and I have seen hundreds on Koh Samui come and go in a relative short space of time. I live near Bangrak. This is only my personal view as a customer - not an owner.

Do some hands on (or glasses raised) research first. It will be money well spent.

Good luck whatever you do

As they say only invest as much in Thailand that ya can afford to lose. Ya might want to think about food. Just A sugestion.

I'm sorry but it's the same advice again - because this is the only advice that ever seems to work.

Come here for as long as you can afford to stay each year.

For 4 or 5 years. Talk, talk, talk, talk. Any business you have never been involved in cross off the list right away.

If you've never been involved in any kind of business which is popular/successful here then don't even bother.

The cost of learning how to get it wrong over here will wipe you out in the first year.

If you are coming here with a self-supporting income already then it's a different story.

You can lose money and still get by, whatever you invest in. Till your capital has gone!

From what you write you have a basic income but you're looking for something to keep you occupied? Then go fishing.

Well thank you for being interested in our opinions - but it's a dead question to begin with.

Because you'll come here with money to live on and look around anyway, no matter what we suggest.

And that's the only thing to do. And the best. Cos that way you can only blame yourself (or congrat yourself) for what happens!

Samui=bars/restaurants=everyone's first guess. But there are more bars & restaurants that fail every year than any other business. Far more than ever succeed.

The best business ideas are the ones that you notice by accident when you are here already - like the mobile key-cutting motorbikes that are now regularly appearing at hotels and resorts (resorts on Samui lose an average of 1,000 keys a week overall. Five years ago every one of them all sent staff out each week to have this done. Now they don't need to bother.)

The same with light bulbs.

Or the guy who noticed that stone fireplaces that sold for €5,000 in Europe could be fabricated for €400 here. Or the other guy who realised that wooden flat-pack garden sheds that sold for £800 in the UK could be put-together in Chiang Mai for only £50. Or the French chemist who used to work for Dior who realised he could manufacture 5-star spa products here for one-tenth the cost of the same thing in Europe. And that's just off the top of my head, without struggling for examples.

And here's a great big fat idea for you (someone) for free - and I'm not a businessman. There is no powder coating or chrome plating done anywhere on Samui. It all goes to Surat/BKK, takes months to come back and costs a fortune. I got three more ideas like this . . . but who needs the hassle of trying to lose money!

Like I said, get here and look around.

There is no formula for a business. If you've got business acumen you'll find something. If not then you might as well spent 10,000 baht a month on lottery tickets. You might just win. But this business method will take you the same 2 years to lose all your money as trying to open a bar or restaurant! And be a lot less hard work! And probably more of a chance of winning, too.

Rob

Are they worth it or too difficult to make money?

The only ones I know that make money do good food...just my 2 Satangs worth

Food IS indeed the key and it is exactly this which is dragging me out of retirement for a short while. I have posted about a gap in the market for quite some time but this has not been taken up so I may just as well have it myself with the intent of selling it on in the short term. I have no desire to work for monetary gain nor do I have a need for monetary gain but there is something inside me, some primary reason why I can't leave an easy gap in the market to go untapped.

Still waiting for an answer on the food thread as to whether the skins in Makro are collagen or natural hog.

There is no formula for a business. If you've got business acumen you'll find something.

For sure.