Hello,

i've been in thailand for the past 6 months now and i have decided that i want to invest some money on opening a small food cart.

now, i have a thai boyfriend and we are together for aprox a year(Long story, not relevant)

I had this idea-

to give him to run the food cart for 2-3 months(everything on his name ofc)  to see if i see nice revenue from it and after 3-4 months I will register a company(with thai partners) with a work permit for me so i can actually contribute to my business. 

now my question is this:

what do i need to do in order for this to happen? 

i've been looking online for any information regarding business laws regarding Thai citizens.

a lot of Thai food carts around, most of them are working without a licence( I presume ofc) or a registered company  so i guess my boyfriend can do the same? or is there a licence that he can purchase for selling food on the street.

now from what i understand, there is this option which i think is the best.

some of his thai friends told him that he can rent a space on a food market and with the lease he can go to city hall and get a licence for 200 baht.

Im looking for any information that can help me better understand what i need to do (for the beginning) .

Help will be appreciated. 

Food carts are part of the informal economy. Do not try and legalise the situation because you will be running round in circles. Just let him do his thing for say... 3 months and forget the paperwork in the short term.

 

As for registering a company and getting a work permit to help with a food cart... Forget it. Seriously. This is a fantasy that will never become a reality.

 

You will need registered capital of 2 million baht, 4 Thai employees, an accountant and an auditor and VAT registration. For starters. Plus you will need to receive a minimum salary of 50,000 baht a month from the company (if you want an extension of stay based on employment by a Thai company). That is well over 100,000 baht expenditure a month unless you start to cut corners.

 

There is no way on earth a food cart would support a company and a work permit. This is why food carts are either unregulated and untaxed or small fixed food stalls are set up as sole proprietors.

 

I am not being negative here, these are simply the facts. If you let us know what your objectives are you will probably get a couple of helpful comments from other members.

 

Are you looking for gainful employment for your partner? Are you looking for a way to stay in Thailand long term? Let us know and we will see if we can help.

8 hours ago, blackcab said:

Food carts are part if the informal economy. Do not try and legalise the situation because you will be running round in circles. Just let him do his thing for say... 3 months and forget the paperwork in the short term.

 

As for registering a company and getting a work permit to help with a food cart... Forget it. Seriously. This is a fantasy that will never become a reality.

 

You will need registered capital of 2 million baht, 4 Thai employees, an accountant and an auditor and VAT registration. For starters. Plus you need you will need to receive a minimum salary of 50,000 baht a month from the company (if you want an extension of stay based on employment by a Thai company). That is well over 100,000 baht expenditure a month unless you start to cut corners.

 

There is no way on earth a food cart would support a company and a work permit. This is why food carts are either unregulated and untaxed or small fixed food stalls are set up as sole proprietors.

 

I am not being negative here, these are simply the facts. If you let us know what your objectives are you will probably get a couple of helpful comments amongst the less than helpful replies.

 

Are you looking for gainful employment for your partner? Are you looking for a way to stay in Thailand long term? Let us know and we will see if we can help.

Thank you for your reply on the matter.

basically Im looking for a way to stay in Thailand for a longer time without bankrupt myself and my significant other.

I know for a fact that with my idea i could at least make enough money for the both of us to live happily .(the low cost of ingredients and work force) that for say if I truly succeed on selling at least 40 servings a day. I have friends on the island that have a Falafel cart and they are doing pretty well for themselves.

        I would like to get an explanation on this sentence: "Food carts are part of the informal economy. Do not try and legalise the situation because you will be running round in circles. Just let him do his thing for say... 3 months and forget the paperwork in the short term". 

 

I see a lot of "farangs" around the island that actively working at their food carts, selling food like Falafel, shawarma and even hamburgers (Is there a chance they are working somewhat illegali?)

 

as for the company- I got an advice regarding the company:

buying a shelf company. (around 40k baht)

(http://www.panwagroup.com/setup-shelfcompanyforsale.htm)

some people on groups like buy and sale on facebook are selling companies for 20k baht with capital of 2mil and work permit but as for my knowledge even if i have a work permit it is still not legal for me to stand as a cashier and take money from customers. for that i need a thai worker.

 

does all this things i just said make any sense for you? am i right? am i wrong?

maybe i need to meet with a professional and discuss this matters with him?(lawyer perhaps?)

  

On 8/10/2017 at 12:45 AM, Misaki said:

Thank you for your reply on the matter.

basically Im looking for a way to stay in Thailand for a longer time without bankrupt myself and my significant other.

I know for a fact that with my idea i could at least make enough money for the both of us to live happily .(the low cost of ingredients and work force) that for say if I truly succeed on selling at least 40 servings a day. I have friends on the island that have a Falafel cart and they are doing pretty well for themselves.

        I would like to get an explanation on this sentence: "Food carts are part of the informal economy. Do not try and legalise the situation because you will be running round in circles. Just let him do his thing for say... 3 months and forget the paperwork in the short term". 

 

I see a lot of "farangs" around the island that actively working at their food carts, selling food like Falafel, shawarma and even hamburgers (Is there a chance they are working somewhat illegali?)

 

as for the company- I got an advice regarding the company:

buying a shelf company. (around 40k baht)

(http://www.panwagroup.com/setup-shelfcompanyforsale.htm)

some people on groups like buy and sale on facebook are selling companies for 20k baht with capital of 2mil and work permit but as for my knowledge even if i have a work permit it is still not legal for me to stand as a cashier and take money from customers. for that i need a thai worker.

 

does all this things i just said make any sense for you? am i right? am i wrong?

maybe i need to meet with a professional and discuss this matters with him?(lawyer perhaps?)

  

 

I think your idea of a food cart is a good start. 

 

"Food carts are part of the informal economy. Do not try and legalise the situation because you will be running round in circles. Just let him do his thing for say... 3 months and forget the paperwork in the short term."

 

What I meant by this is just get the food cart and let him start selling. He is Thai - there is no problem with this. I wouldn't advise you to stand there helping him, but there are going to be other ways you can help. What about finding a way to prepare cakes that can be prepackaged and sold on the same stall? Or any other type of food you can prepare at home?

 

You mentioned foreigners working on food carts. If they do not have Thai citizenship then the vast majority (pretty much 100 per cent) will be illegally winging it without a work permit.

 

As for the company idea, please listen to me. Your idea is not going to work. Save yourself the expense.

 

Please consider these facts:

 

1. To get a work permit you need to hire 4 Thai people for a minimum salary of 9,300 baht a month and you have to ensure their social fund payments are made.

 

2. Sales is a restricted occupation in Thailand, and is for Thais only.

 

As I said before, I'm not being negative, I'm telling you straight. I think the food cart is a great idea. I think your company/work permit idea needs rethinking.

 

If you go the company route I sincerely promise you that you will wish you didn't. You're doing the right thing though, which is researching and asking questions. Please continue to do this so that you can reach your own conclusions.

 

On a separate note, if you want to find a way to stay here then marry your boyfriend. It's not too difficult for Thai males to assist their foreign wives to get citizenship. Once you have citizenship you can do any job you want. If this idea interests you then ask about citizenship in the visa forum. There are numerous helpful members who are naturalized Thai citizens who would answer any questions you might have. Just be sure to mention you are female as it makes a huge difference to your application for citizenship (it is easier for females by orders of magnitude).

So, what happened to your idea ?

 

On 7/18/2018 at 2:03 PM, goegoe said:

So, what happened to your idea ?

 

 

Dead it seems, or millionaire abroad :-)

 

 

This is for BlackCab. I am an American living in Bangkok with my Thai wife. In sort of the opposite way, I am looking for a small business opportunity for my Thai wife. She has worked as a professional massage therapist and as a factory worker, but she has an interest in setting up her own business - maybe massage - but also she is interested in selling street coffee, or running a small, inexpensive coffee franchise.

 

I also considered the street or market vendor path, for her, where she could sell both food or drink? I wonder if she would do well near the tourists and even sell international dishes, and maybe coffee too - cooked or prepared on the street - is this a profitable idea for her if she were looking to earn on only something 20K to 30K bhat per month?

 

I guess she would need to find a space, or consider paying for a space on the street near the beach, or markets. Set up food stand, go from there, get a small business license if she needs? Just wondering if I could help her set up an inexpensive business that at least profits minimally, without a whole, whole lot of work or maintenance. She is a hard worker and a good enough cook.

@donwcarroll69 I would start off with the cheapest option, which is a coffee cart. The benefit of this approach being the cart can be moved to a new location if needed, whereas with a franchise you are stuck.

 

You also have virtually zero food waste with a coffee cart and very little prep time compared to a food cart.

 

Food means getting up early, going to the market, prepping, cooking, then maybe portioning and packaging aswell. That's a lot of work. I see food stall workers setting up at 3am in some areas of Bangkok to feed the workers going to work at 5am.

 

The problem with coffee is that she might struggle to find the right location, but that's the same as a lot of businesses.

I think that anybody should be able to at least invest in a 200000 thb second hand food truck.

They are the future or any street food/drink and will be more accepted than the usual dirty Thai carts that nobody with a brain wants to see in the streets anymore (look what happened in front of so many condos and malls in BKK).

A food truck is the way to go nowadays.

I found this post

 

and this

 

 

Edited July 30, 20196 yr by plfomylo