need advice opening small-ish thai restaurant in pattaya.

[dirtycash]

ive decided to open thai style restaurant in pattaya ive got a great deal on the lease in a very busy popular area with high traffic. its mainly for the gf for a source of income. she has expirience of cashier, her english is great. obviously she is now looking for chefs and staff and doing her own homework so i,ll do mine on here. i need to know where to look for chefs , how much salary i will pay them, one will work nights and one days, free food to staff and there are 2 rooms upstairs that i will do a little renovation on and give free rooms to staff also with tv and basic furniture. where can i find decent second hand kitchen equipment and cookers ovens fridge etc in pattaya area, if there is anywhere in bkk who will deliver i would like to know. the rent is 40k a month fixed for 3+3 i think its a fair deal and landlord seems genuine. ive done some maths and we only need to get 100 customers in there per day to make enough. beer , water,drinks will generate a decent income alone and definatey enough to pay overheads.

[stoneyboy]

Good Luck.

[inzman]

My advice, put the money in the bank.

[Cynical Sailor]

I think that one of the problems you will have is the profit margin. To be competitive you will have to be cheap and consistently good.

To be cheap your profit will have to be minimal. I used to own a pub in Australia and everything was sold at 3 times the purchase price (1x to pay for it, 1.5x for overheads, 0.5 for me). This was possible in Aus but I doubt it's possible here (think of the purchase vs sale price of a beer).

Reliable staff will be another issue. I'd only offer the rooms after a considerable trial period as an incentive and reward.

Does ฿40k/month seem reasonable? I'm not sure.

Best of luck in your quest.

[thaiduncankk]

Best of luck, but getting reliable staff is a nightmare.

Also, be prepared for the staff to just walk away without giving any notice, leaving you in the lurch. It is not the same here as in the West.

[dddave]

Best of luck, but getting reliable staff is a nightmare.

Also, be prepared for the staff to just walk away without giving any notice, leaving you in the lurch. It is not the same here as in the West.

555...Believe me, in the west, they do the same.

You really need to do substantial research before you start hiring. The questions you ask show you haven't done nearly enough. You need to develop your concept...what kind of customers are you targeting, is their a local customer base, western, Thai or both? Menu planning, equipment shopping, local regulations...the list goes on.

Go into it too quickly and you will go out just as quickly and chances are the tensions around it will destroy your relationship as well.

[Evilbaz]

Be aware that most Thai business owners have no concept of gross v. nett nor budgeting.

[KittenKong]

Be aware that most Thai business owners have no concept of gross v. nett nor budgeting.

Most Thais have no concept of arithmetic at all.

[arunsakda]

Rule 3) Do not open a business.

The problem is the worst thing is you actually succeed. Competitors will open something identical nearby. Jealous neighbors will conspire to block nearby parking. Don't forget bent Cops, music license scammers, and corrupt government officials with ever changing hoops for you to jump through like a trained Monkey.

All because a so-called Farang is involved.

[WhizBang]

Be aware that most Thai business owners have no concept of gross v. nett nor budgeting.

Most Thais have no concept of arithmetic at all.

LOL, that is so true. I once gave a cashier 505 baht for a 205 baht putchase. She had no clue what to do with the 5 baht.

[donnybay]

To succeed here you have to be better than than the rest, to be that, you need experience in the hospitality trade for sure, be able to do a menu that is cost effective, attractive and not like every other place

40K rent might not sound much ,but add on around 30K+ for 2 chefs, 15K for waiting staff, your miss's will want a draw out, what? another 20K , so your monthly out goings is looking like 105K before you start

No equipment, well that will be 150K minimum for reasonable catering gear, a lot of fried rice got to be sold before you make that back

Not telling you not to do it, if you have the cash no problem, but don't expect to make any money

[MaeJoMTB]

" .......... she has expirience of cashier,"

in Pattaya .........555!

PS

Great lease deal, you will lose 40k a month for 3 years.

Easier just to give the gf 40k a month to stay at home.

One born every day.

Edited February 1, 2016 by MaeJoMTB

[NickJ]

Its all about overhead. at 40 with two chefs or rather cooks, and two employees you are at 100k per month. Do the math. Throw a finnicky hi/low season into it and think hard........

[MJKT2014]

>ive decided to open thai style restaurant in pattaya ive got a great deal

Now punctuation aside, do you really think this is a great deal? Its hardly the most novel of ideas is it? If you need everything answered for you in this thread you seem to setting off on the wrong footing. It would be wonderful if you could post an update of your success in a few years time to prove us wrong, but so many have fallen going down this road.

[saakura]

His calls himself "dirtycash". Maybe he just wants to launder some of that dirty cash by showing big losses.

[shirtless]

Be prepared to be ripped off all along the way by your dearest.

[samsensam]

one big problem you will face is staff; reliability and, unfortunately, honesty. i have both thai and foreign friends owning restaurants and they all complain about staff turning up late for work or not turning up at all, attitude, and all have had problems with petty theft involving staff. one thai friend closed her restaurant and opened a massage shop due to the amount of time she spent on managing/sorting out staff issues.

one foreign friend who owns a restaurant with his other half is completely tied to the place. he cant trust his other half or any staff to run the place in his, even temporary, absence.

but good luck!

[worgeordie]

Just what Pattaya needs another Thai restaurant,and i assume you have

no experience in running a restaurant,its not going to be easy for you.

I just hope you got the G/F to sign the 3 year lease and did not do it

yourself, Good Luck.

regards Worgeordie

[talayjay]

The OP recently posted that his GF's younger brother had been asking her for cash to cover for his HIV meds recently. In light of this you really are up against it as not only do you have all of the issues to overcome as pointed out by others, you will also have the brother looking for his drawings from the business.

I wish you well but if you put the pros and cons on a spreadsheet I don't think it will look like a good idea.

Your Avatar says it - Put your thinking back into gear...

[Paul944]

My wife works in a thai restaurant in the Netherlands for minimum wage, about 50,000 baht/month. The owner is always complaining he can not find good people. I guess finding good people is the issue everywhere because of these extermely low wages in the restaurant business.

I am not sure you will get ever a profit out of the place but it will definitely be an experience to run your own business. And if you got the place fully furnitured and equipped you can always try to sell it to someone who likes to buy a place to be runned by his gf .

[Gsxrnz]

I love threads about starting a business in Thailand.

I mean nothing wrong with the idea at all.......provided you've operated a business before, know about cash flow and business accounting, understand the labour, tax, and business laws of the country you're doing business in, can speak the language at least to beginners level, can train, motivate, and manage staff, and know what working capital is and have enough of it.

Doing the actual "business" is the least of your worries.

Otherwise, I suggest you just burn the money. It will be less stressful and achieve the same result.

[tolsti]

The OP is a known troll. He just started getting hungry early today but will leave once we stop feeding him.

[blackcab]

ive decided to open thai style restaurant in pattaya

Your idea, or your girlfriends?

[ldiablo]

So your missus has experience as a cashier and you seem to think that qualifies her to be a restaurant owner.

Hell why stop there. Why not just open her a Hedge fund business. Seems she's qualified for that as well.

Good luck with that.

[donnybay]

The OP is a known troll. He just started getting hungry early today but will leave once we stop feeding him.

I looked at his posts before I replied, I just think he is very naive young guy that will be back in Farangland before he knows it

[meatboy]

The OP is a known troll. He just started getting hungry early today but will leave once we stop feeding him.

I looked at his posts before I replied, I just think he is very naive young guy that will be back in Farangland before he knows it

family eat free,freinds eat free,then there's the drink,then along comes the B.I.B. SAME SAME,

if you got money to burn,DO IT less of a headache.yes that will be a BIG ONE.

[Daryle]

Sorry to say don't expect you to last more than 12 - 24 months. But, happy for you, if you prove me wrong.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited February 2, 2016 by Daryle

[novanova]

DELETED is a business advisor with plenty of experience in the food trade.

His office is on Thappraya Rd, just up from the overpass, near Mr Macs hotel and Rome hotel

PM for details

Edited February 3, 2016 by seedy
personal details

[colinneil]

You ask about opening a small restaurant in Pattaya !!dont. !!

Staff are totally unreliable, baby sick/ mother sick/ buffalo sick, to name just a few of the pathetic excuses you get.

[Nomyai]

Good Luck.

The best thing is he goes broke in 2 weeks. These businesses for gf's and wives are full of donkey poop!