retiring in Thailand

[stogie bear]

Every new idea is suspicious. Or the earth would be until now a plate only...

Words to live by!

OK... Let's get back to this restarurant/bar business...

My friend and his Thai wife opened a restaurant a couple of years ago and worked their asses off and gave up because it wasn't making money.

Well - you may do it differently and make a go of it. And for sure he made a few mistakes and did things that I wouldn't dream of doing whilst trying to increase sales.

The first thing to remember is that if there is a place in Thailand for a restaurant to make money then there is already a restaurant there making money. So with that in mind you wouldn't do this insane business venture to make money, but rather to give the wife something with which to fill her days...

A friend of mine who owned a massive restaurant (back in the UK) said to me once... (I asked him why he owned such a huge place) "I work just as hard with a 10 seater as I do with a 150 seater... The big one makes more money!"

So if you DO decide that a restaurant/bar is the way to go then make it as big as is humanly possible!

All your experience at running a restaurant in Westernvill will not help you to run a place over here. That's like a graduate thinking he's qualified to work! There are so many variables to think about but the first one is that you can NOT trust anyone to do anything correctly or honestly in Thailand.

I went to an expat owned restaurant near where I live... great food... cheap and I thought that being a regular here would be good... The Thai waitress charged me for 3 buckets of ice when I only had two... This was a deliberate 5 Baht scam for absolutely no reason. But this was how she was trained... give them back the money if they complain! I never went back again and the restaurant is no onger open (partly because I spread the word all over the place as fast as I could, I hope.)

Who is gonna count and weigh all your deliveries? It will have to be you because all your suppliers (food and drink) will try to scam you. And even if you train your staff to do this they will be too stupid or lazy or indifferent to do it properly and you'll be the one up at 6 in the morning doing stock takes and inventory.

I could go on all day about what a crappy idea this is but I'll save my breath... If you've got money to invest in a restaurant then stick it in the savings bank and spend the interest...

[stogie bear]

Every time I eat at the hawkers road side cafe or tiny restaurants, I can't stop wonder how much LESS overhead, and how much more traffic they must have.

They (street vendors) pay the cops thousands for rental and if you want to sell food where the most expensive thing on the menu is 40 cents then knock yourself out...

[divertwo]

(deric77 @ Apr. 15 2007,20:54) lol, divertwo, I dont mean to play golf, its to get around instead of a motorbike, so you live longer without losing to many limbs. They drive like kamikaze, 4 wheels safer than 2, kind of thing, if you had been to Thailand or any third world country you would know what I mean.

....you missed my point.........golf carts being driven by people that can't seem to drive normal vehicles depress me. I have traveled in LOS, Japan, Korea, China and when in ChiangMai, I always rent a motorbike for the visit. I ride a motorcycle here in the USA so maybe I'm used to daily "combat" or maybe since I'm white and 6' 1" they give me plenty of space...in BKK I would not rent a motorbike. Good luck with your golf cart idea ..........creeping along at a snail's pace does not seem safe to me

[stogie bear]

I've never seen it and I doubt whether it's even legal... You'd be causing too many problems using a golf cart on a main road. riding a bike is quite safe in Hua Hin... If I can do it then anyone can.

[brocklanders]

Why would someone spend 50,000 to 120,000 baht per month for rent when that is the same price for beautiful places near the beach in California. The whole point of living in Thailand is that is it somewhat cheap for Asia. If I were to pay $4,000 a month for rent, I would be living in a 4 bedroom beach house in San Diego with a live in maid.

[Guest]

(stogie bear @ Apr. 17 2007,13:44)

Every new idea is suspicious. Or the earth would be until now a plate only...

Words to live by!

OK... Let's get back to this restarurant/bar business...

My friend and his Thai wife opened a restaurant a couple of years ago and worked their asses off and gave up because it wasn't making money.

Well - you may do it differently and make a go of it. And for sure he made a few mistakes and did things that I wouldn't dream of doing whilst trying to increase sales.

The first thing to remember is that if there is a place in Thailand for a restaurant to make money then there is already a restaurant there making money. So with that in mind you wouldn't do this insane business venture to make money, but rather to give the wife something with which to fill her days...

A friend of mine who owned a massive restaurant (back in the UK) said to me once... (I asked him why he owned such a huge place) "I work just as hard with a 10 seater as I do with a 150 seater... The big one makes more money!"

So if you DO decide that a restaurant/bar is the way to go then make it as big as is humanly possible!

All your experience at running a restaurant in Westernvill will not help you to run a place over here. That's like a graduate thinking he's qualified to work! There are so many variables to think about but the first one is that you can NOT trust anyone to do anything correctly or honestly in Thailand.

I went to an expat owned restaurant near where I live... great food... cheap and I thought that being a regular here would be good... The Thai waitress charged me for 3 buckets of ice when I only had two... This was a deliberate 5 Baht scam for absolutely no reason. But this was how she was trained... give them back the money if they complain! I never went back again and the restaurant is no onger open (partly because I spread the word all over the place as fast as I could, I hope.)

Who is gonna count and weigh all your deliveries? It will have to be you because all your suppliers (food and drink) will try to scam you. And even if you train your staff to do this they will be too stupid or lazy or indifferent to do it properly and you'll be the one up at 6 in the morning doing stock takes and inventory.

I could go on all day about what a crappy idea this is but I'll save my breath... If you've got money to invest in a restaurant then stick it in the savings bank and spend the interest...

Maybe you are right, again, I admit this was only a whimsical thought. I might never thought about this if nobody start this "retiring in Thailand" thread. It's kind of sad to know restaurant business is universally bad .
All the problems you mentioned are the same here. Employees steal everything from you. Come to think of it, now I work for others, we steal a lot from our employers too, but restaurant is such a business where margin is so tight that you can't afford people taking a little supply home, hanging around doing nothing, etc.
I think the original discussion is about "retirement" though - and it's not about how easy or difficult to do business in Thailand. So if the small business idea is out of question (not really think that 100%, but for the argument sake say we put it aside for a second), getting a job would be any easier. Again, we are talking about retiring "actively". This income should only be a supplement, not something you depend to live on.

[Guest]

I think its easier to make the money in your place of origin, then afterwards retire.
Or retire parttime as in working seasonal jobs. I used to work as waiter/ bartender 7 month a year and travel for 5 months with the money saved in Asia and Africa when I was young. Also I used to import artifacts from Indonesia and India and sell them to friends and aquaintances who had shops in california to supplement my travels. I met people who picked fruit in the summer in Europe and retired to Asia in winter. There are lots of possibilities and if you know how to live cheaply you can retire parttime.
If you want to work in Thailand you are dealing with a whole new game that the locals know a lot better and have the advantage of knowing the language too. Unless you are being sent there by a company or have an original idea like making ladyboy movies its probably too much hassles and stressful

[stogie bear]

If you want to do something to pass the time for a little extra money then teach English at your house or in a school for about 8 hours a week...You can raise 30K a month easily doing this part time...

(I have a special set of rules for this too if someone starts another thread!)

[Guest]

Stogie I do have a few more questions about Hua Hin. I found out from the Thai embassy in order to get the retirement visa I need to get a health certificate from my doctor I guess they wanna make sure one is in good condition no deadly diseases or so, and also a police report to show that one has no criminal record, they also want you to eventually deposit the 800 000.- baht in a bank in Thailand. Do you happen to know a good bank thereabouts with whom to entrust an expats hard earned cash? Also I hear there is now such thing as health insurance in Thailand have you got any insights as to how that works, like how much and what benefits? Also I did not find out if you can with a retirement visa get in and out of Thailand without restrictions, do you know anything about that?
I think I will forget about the golfcart and instead find an old beach buggy kind of vehicle. I did find some non electric golfcarts on google that you can take on the road but perhaps difficult to find in Thailand.
Thanks, Deric

[kaos]

i saw many people using golf cart here in usa but never in Thai, nothing wrong with that and safer than the motor bike.
if you want to invest in Thai i would agree with stogie in not to think anything like restaurant or bar or similar unless you are tied very well with police and local mafia
havin said that the way i invested in thai is buying condos and then rent them up... i dont need to trust none and i just check my bank acount
my fav places are areas near universities not in farangland

[moe666]

Deric, good luck to you. Remember your Dr. cert. and police report cannot be more than 3 months old I believe. The father of a friend who lives in Thailand recently went thru all of this.
Went to the Thai Embassy web site downloaded all of the required forms, got the medical and police cert. for him and the wife also cert. copies from his bank about money and income. Joe filled allof this out and sent it off to the Embassy on Tuesday had his and the wifes 1 year visa with multiply entries returned on Wednesday.
Remember the medical and police reports have to be within 3 months of application, so get everything togethere and then get those two reports.
If you have not been to Thailand for a few years why not come for a short visit and travel around and see were you want to live. Next year I will be retiring, plan on buying a used truck and home base out of Kanchaniburi will rent for the frist year to make sure this is the right area for me and the girl friend.
We will be checking out land to purchase for furture construction of a house but we want to live here during the rainy season so that we donot wake up some morning with a lake under the house.
This is a move I have thought about for 4 years some days it is a go then othere days there are doubts, this is after 9 years of visits to Thailand and 5 years with the same lady. I decided the best bet was to rent out the house for a year are two and see how it goes and then sale if all is good.
Alot to think about the visa is the easiest. Good luck to you and any one planning a long term stay in Thailand.

[moe666]

Just came back from Thailand and spent a few days in Hua Hin with the girl friend and some of her family and as Stogie says it is a great town. We all enjoyed our stay, the night market has some great sea food and other selections. It is a small town and easy to navigate.
The only down side for me is the area around town is very dry at present and not very attractive. Also I tend to find beach areas to be hot unless a good breeze is blowing from the sea. Just my little bitches but overall a nice town.

[moe666]

Sorry guys more info., you can buy a health insurance policy in Thailand at a reasonable price and the coverage is good. If you are interested I can get some contact info from a friend in Bangkok.
I will email her and get some of the cost Info and post on the site.

[kahuna]

(moe666 @ Apr. 21 2007,21:57) Joe filled all of this out and sent it off to the Embassy on Tuesday had his and the wifes 1 year visa with multiply entries returned on Wednesday.
 

Interesting...I spoke with the Thai Consulate in Portland, Oregon (an honorary consulate) yesterday about visa types and then spoke with the Royal Thai Consulate in Los Angeles to confirm...I was told by both that the retirement visa is single entry only...however, you can leave LOS and return during the one-year visa term, but you must apply for a re-entry permit...

I'd be interested what other guys have been told...

kahuna

[kahuna]

(moe666 @ Apr. 21 2007,22:46) Sorry guys more info., you can buy a health insurance policy in Thailand at a reasonable price and the coverage is good. If you are interested I can get some contact info from a friend in Bangkok.
 I will email her and get some of the cost Info and post on the site.

Please do that...I'm sure there are many who are interested...

Thanks,

kahuna