And all the other overheads involved in running a bar.Originally Posted by Moses
And all the other overheads involved in running a bar.
Patanawet (April 25th, 2018)
The "50 customers a day" AsDaRa mentions is also on ambitious side. Many times there aren't 50 customers in the whole of Boyztown.
Then how do they survive if the rent is indeed a couple of 10.000 baht a month? How do all these bars survive? Considering indeed the 8 months low season also. I gave an idea above but that was just a wild guess.
That is the on-going mystery.
But they would surely have to be making a profit, or at least breaking even. If the latter is the case, then maybe the owner is just running it as a hobby.
I recall Neal, (yes, that Neal), telling me during one of his ever-decreasing lucid moments that there was no money to be made running a gogo bar in Pattaya, but at least he wasn't losing money. So for him, it was a hobby just to give him something to do.
Years ago I inherited a business in Japan. Even though I was totally hands-off, at least I knew it was not losing money. If it was, I would have been out of there in an instant. And I certainly woukd not have run it as a hobby. There were many other activities available to keep me interested.
But if people want to do that, good luck to them. At least it keeps the lights on in the soi.
That reminds me....Neal also said to me that he needed only ten customers day to ensure that Happy Place didn't lose money. I was puzzled then and still am but I suppose it goes to show that other customers are a lot more generous than me when in bars!
Well the usual way people end up broke (as Neal did) is in fact to "lose money" - so either he didn't have 10 customers a night or he was just talking out of his posterior as always.
Take your pick.
AsDaRa. Since time immemorial the majority of farang bar owners in Pattaya were there for every reason you can think of apart from to make actual money.
snotface (April 24th, 2018)
I recall sitting behind a couple of farangs on Dongtan beach one day. They were talking about whether or not bar ownership in Pattaya was a good idea. One thought it might work out but the other, nodding in front of him, said, 'I’d rather throw me money in the sea - at least there's a chance the tide would wash some of it back.'
The way it worked was that Johnny Foreigner would give up his life in farangland, move to Pattaya, run the place for a couple of years for an extended working holiday before handing over to the next mid-life crisis bloke and heading home. That all went pear shaped when the money men fucked the world in 08 and since then everyone has been shit scared about everything and the idea of a two year sabbatical in Brothel by the Sea was less appealing. In other words, the western bankers fucked the western wankers.
Halfhansum (April 24th, 2018)
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