Thailand’s first mobile pizza shop launched by two Italians

[Phra Ek]

OK - I'm in a pedantic mood. As other's have said it's not the first .... and if it sits in an MK car park it's not mobile either .... and if it's run by two foreigners then it's illegal as catering is a restricted business.

So the headline should have read ...

Not the first non-mobile pizza van launched by two illegal workers ..... but as a paid for marketing-through-the-media headline it lacks something.

[wowfactor10]

Kindly update us in 12 months about how profitable this business was and how it all worked out for you guys reagarding work permits and local authorities

[Fullstop]

It won't fly.

[wabothai]

These guys are not wasting their time on LINE !!!

I wish them luck and may be one day I can invite them to my town.

[TheKnave]

Same in Nong Khai, legal or not Farang owned/operated mobile pizza van been around for years.

I remember that guy, a Frenchman named Patric. He had a pizza oven in the back of a pickup with a cover. Made pretty decent pizzas for 100 baht. Parked across the street from the Pantawee, and his wife used to setup a couple of tables on the sidewalk for 'dine-in' customers.

Last time I saw him was in 2006. Always wondered how he stayed clear of the police (the cop shop is just around the corner from there).

No sign of him when we left Nong Khai in 2012. Great guy.

[fitzcaraldo]

am dying for a good pizza now !!!!!!!!!!!

[oki]

ooooops what’s this?

www.facebook.com/pizza.aroy

[ratcatcher]

I think you guys are nuts. There has never been a "mobile pizza shop" anywhere that I know of because I've never heard of "mobile pizza."

So he who knows everything, hasn't heard of it, so it doesn't exist. ?

I'm neversure if he;s joking or not. Must be an American idea?

[NativeSon360]

Halleluja! Finally

[NativeSon360]

I think you guys are nuts. There has never been a "mobile pizza shop" anywhere that I know of because I've never heard of "mobile pizza."

So he who knows everything, hasn't heard of it, so it doesn't exist. ?

I'm neversure if he;s joking or not. Must be an American idea?

Mobile-pizza-truck-2.jpg

Americans are reputed to be great innovators.

[oki]

ooooops what’s this?

www.facebook.com/pizza.aroy

[oki]

ooooops what’s this?

www.facebook.com/pizza.aroy

[brucetefl]

I built this in 2011.

Yep designed and built by me

RUBBISH!! First mobile pizza shop.
There has been mobile pizza shop for over 2 years in Banphai.

Do we get to see a picture of one sir ?

[umbanda]

They can have the first mobile pizza shop....but....not my TV name. Anyway...I doubt will be a better pizza that mine....

Making pizza on a car?.... Making love on a car? The same.. Not a full "meal".... just OK.......like most junk food.

Good pizza is not junk food.

I agree. I think that the OP is Italian, and its was trying to say that REAL pizza making needs a large stone wood fire pit and a large table, to do it from scratch, something cannot be fitted on a car or van. No mobile pizza shops in Italy that I know.

[SiSePuede419]

Whats the point of a mobile anything?

Why not make a STATIONARY pizza joint with a drive-through outside Big C, so you can eat the pizza in your car in line for a parking space???

[Expat Brad]

My take on this is good luck to them & the pizza would probably be better than the the norm (cooked by a Thai). At the end of the day they wont have a problem until they have a problem them it's all over for them. I have seen many farang obviously operating the business here in CM with no probs until someone makes it a prob then bye bye. My Thai wife & I set up a small noodle shop where I was helping a little bit. All was good initially then custom dropped off dramatically. She had people comment that it doesn't matter if business is down "You have farang & you don't need money" & one even said that "You & your farang compete with Thai people". It appeared that they did not want to support a farang owned business, did not want money going into a farang's pocket. We closed soon after. It's sad because Thais are more than happy to have a farang give / lend them money to start a business, but that's different.

[Tomtomtom69]

Same in Nong Khai, legal or not Farang owned/operated mobile pizza van been around for years.

I remember that guy, a Frenchman named Patric. He had a pizza oven in the back of a pickup with a cover. Made pretty decent pizzas for 100 baht. Parked across the street from the Pantawee, and his wife used to setup a couple of tables on the sidewalk for 'dine-in' customers.

Last time I saw him was in 2006. Always wondered how he stayed clear of the police (the cop shop is just around the corner from there).

No sign of him when we left Nong Khai in 2012. Great guy.

Maybe he went across the border to Vientiane, seems a lot easier to operate these sorts of businesses for foreigners than in Thailand. Come to think of it, in every other East Asian country seeing westerners run bars, serve their diners etc. is not unusual nor does it seem to be illegal, only in xenophobic Thailand.

I've been to a bakery in Kunming, China run by a NZ woman. She does everything although she also has her own staff, but no problems for her to bake the bread, take orders, handle money or talk to customers. After all, she's a manager and it's her business!

In Xiamen, China, a Belgian couple run a tiny hole-in-the-wall crepe shop themselves with one Chinese staff member to help them, but usually they are alone. They both speak French, English and Chinese and have no problems running the place by themselves.

Similarly, I've seen westerners working the bar in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, even at Sunrise Tacos, a chain that you also have here in Thailand, but no way a westerner would be allowed to work behind the counter in Thailand like in Cambodia.

In Nha Trang, Vietnam an American owned Texas rib joint serving up some great American food is run by a very nice American guy from Tennessee married to a local Vietnamese lady. He also takes orders when needed, but most of the time he allows his staff to do it if he's busy or just doesn't feel like it.

In Yangon, Myanmar, an American lady runs a bakery in full view of all the customers where she is teaching the locals how to bake and also takes orders and handles cash herself, if needed.

In Vientiane, Laos, the French owner of an excellent French restaurant, reportedly the best in town (well, there's not that many to choose from anyway) cooks and occasionally takes orders, in French. He assumes westerners who go to eat there will speak French and his menu is ONLY in French! I never enquired if he had a Lao or English menu but since French is similar enough to English I didn't need an English or Lao menu (I am fluent in Thai and can also read Lao) when I was there. On a previous visit I was with my mom who speaks fluent French anyway.

In Singapore, a Swiss man runs a cheese shop in the middle of a suburban shopping mall.

And there are plenty of other examples. Only in Thailand is it "illegal" for a westerner to actually do anything other than sit on his sofa, watch TV and fart rather than manage his restaurant or bar business.

[Tomtomtom69]

My take on this is good luck to them & the pizza would probably be better than the the norm (cooked by a Thai). At the end of the day they wont have a problem until they have a problem them it's all over for them. I have seen many farang obviously operating the business here in CM with no probs until someone makes it a prob then bye bye. My Thai wife & I set up a small noodle shop where I was helping a little bit. All was good initially then custom dropped off dramatically. She had people comment that it doesn't matter if business is down "You have farang & you don't need money" & one even said that "You & your farang compete with Thai people". It appeared that they did not want to support a farang owned business, did not want money going into a farang's pocket. We closed soon after. It's sad because Thais are more than happy to have a farang give / lend them money to start a business, but that's different.

How disgusting and racist.

What about if the "farang" doesn't work? Do they have money then? Sitting on our asses and doing nothing makes us poor, we have to work to survive, farang, Thai, whatever.

Maybe we should put a stop to Thai people opening restaurants in our countries and not hiring our people as cooks and servers then? "Sorry but you Thai people compete with us so you need to go out of business". What kind of a double standard is this? Granted, I've been to Thai restaurants in America with Mexican cooks, white or black waiters and waitresses, in fact most of them had non-Thai staff, but in Australia I've never been to a Thai restaurant that didn't have 100% Thai staff. In fact, one Iranian student of my dad's was not hired by a Thai restaurant in Sydney because she's not Thai. I was about to tell her to file a racial discrimination suit but I think she didn't want to bother.

However, I am quite confident your experience above applies more to the locally run small businesses that are relatively easy to open and ubiquitous, as well as other businesses that would normally be considered part of the informal economy. A westerner running something bigger, especially if it's not food and beverage related, selling to average people on the streets wouldn't likely encounter the same kinds of problems.