Jun
23
If you are interested in buying and owning a bar in Pattaya Thailand you might find some of these tips from Pattaya residents and Pattaya bar owners quite useful. Over the years I have spent in Pattaya I have spent my fair share of time in bars and talking with farang bar owners about the good and bad points of first buying and then owning a bar in Pattaya. There are a number of crucial factors to be aware of before handing over your money and buying a bar in Pattaya or anywhere else in Thailand.
The idea of buying and owning a bar in Pattaya Thailand is a dream many people share after coming to Pattaya for a holiday, whether for the first time or after many trips to Pattaya. No matter how many times you have come to Pattaya for a holiday it is imperative you understand how business is done in Thailand before you buy a bar in Pattaya or in any other area of Thailand. Business in Thailand is done the Thai way, what that means in a nut shell is that doing business in Thailand can be a minefield of pitfalls since the rules are always changing or put even more simply, many rules are just not enforced like they would be back in your home country. If you have trouble with staff, suppliers, patrons, neighbors or anyone else you work with or do business with you do not always have government support to get problems fixed properly like you might in the Western world and this can cause all manner of frustration and unrelenting confusion. This can become such a monumental problem that often farang business owners will just walk away from their businesses in Thailand and all the money that went into the business.
Before buying a bar in Pattaya you need to understand that Pattaya like most other popular tourist areas in Thailand is only busy for about 4 months of the year. Yes, just 4 months and the other 8 months can be anywhere from slow to absolutely no customers at all. If you have only been to Thailand in the high season you need to come to Pattaya during the slow periods of the year and have a look at the bar areas and see just how few customers many of these bars in Pattaya actually get. There are times when entire Soi’s which may be crowded in the high season are almost completely empty for months at a time in the slow season which is most of the time.
If you are interested in owning a bar in Pattaya Thailand you need to consider firstly where will be the location and how much traffic does that location get on a month to month basis. Walking Street is about the busiest part of Pattaya in terms of bar popularity but many bars on Walking Street are close to empty a lot of the time. However, some bars in this area can be quite busy for most of the year. A busy bar usually has something unique to offer that is perhaps different to what all the other bars are offering or it is in an exceptional location. If it is in an exceptional location you can be certain the rent will be exceptionally high. Often the leases on Pattaya bars are a month by month lease and if your business starts to boom your landlord will immediately increase your rent. Your landlord is not the least bit interested in your business or your welfare, only his own. Many Pattaya bar owners have found this out the hard way after spending a lot of time and money building their business and clientele only to be given the boot when the bar starts to boom.
Although it looks like there are thousands of bars around Pattaya, take a close look and you will see many of them are barely operating and many are for sale since it is easy to get into owning a bar in Pattaya but it is much harder to get out.
If you have a long standing relationship with your Thai wife or girlfriend this is a good place to start if you are keen on buying or running a bar in Pattaya since it is a lot of work to do without a Thai person you can trust 100%. If you don’t have complete trust in your Thai partner you could be in for a nightmare or even worse. You need to be in total control of the money, not most of the time but all of the time. You will never be able to leave the bar and go on holidays unless of course you can leave the bar to be run by someone you trust 100%. No matter how nice, friendly or polite the girls you have working for you seem to be, and they probably are good people, you can never trust them, don’t ever be tricked into thinking you can. A friend of mine had the same Thai manager of his business in Pattaya, not a bar, for 6 years who he had grown to trust. After 6 years he decided to leave his manager in charge of the business and the money while he took a 3 week holiday back to his home country and when he returned, the business which had been making about 20,000 baht per day before he left had apparently not earned any money at all from the day he left till the day he got back. The manager had stolen all the money and to cut a long story short, even after going to the police he could not get his money back. When things like this happen they tear a hole in your heart, maybe only a small hole but one that you can never fix. Sadly everyone who has spent any length of time in Pattaya has either had this happen to them or knows a friend who has.
The moment you start owning a bar in Pattaya or anywhere in Thailand, everyone will expect you to fail since almost everyone who does buy a bar in Thailand usually loses their shirt and some may lose a lot more. No one will help you, no one will support you and most people will think you are just plain crazy. If all does fail you need to aware of this from the beginning and have an escape plan if you lose all the money you invest in your bar. If you only have enough money to buy the bar and run it for a while and have no spare money, you should seriously consider your options before you take the plunge by buying a bar in Pattaya. On the other hand, some bar owners do succeed with a good business plan and by keeping a sharp eye on all their money. For this reason you can make it work if you truly believe you have what it takes and are cautious.
There is no definitive right or wrong answer when it comes to buying and owning a bar in Pattaya Thailand since it is a big gamble whenever you start a new business anywhere in the world. Statistically owning and running a bar in Pattaya does fail for most people who try it but not for everyone. If you can afford to lose the money and you like a challenge, successfully owning a bar in Pattaya is quite a challenge indeed.
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