Jump to content

The Race to the Bottom is ongoing


john luke

Recommended Posts

5 hours ago, dcfc2007 said:

 

24k baht per month that's a roof over your head and two meals. That's a very good option for brits who are struggling on a measly pension and crap exchange rates.

24,000 Baht divided by current rate on the street of 36 Baht to the £ ...                works out at £666.66 ....... per month or the devil's number.:default_devil:

Useless fact I know ....my coat is ready .... 

  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, galenkia said:

Since the mass influx of Eastern European's many companies now only pay minimum wage as they have saturated the job market.So many people have no choice.

Not even up here mate. Our local shop has 4 Romanians working 84 hours a week they get free room and £100 in the hand. Fucking ridiculous. They are claiming the child benefit and tax credits for kids that's not in the Country.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
On 7/27/2019 at 11:33 AM, tommy dee said:

the cheap places will be the first to die.

a business cant run on a shoe string.  as the cheap places fall, the prices will rise to what they used to be...etc.

This isn't how it usually works.  Downward price pressure from the bars and restaurants will drive down the prices charged by the wholesalers, who in turn will drive down the prices charged by their suppliers.  That downward pressure comes in several ways:  Bars and restaurants failing, buying from wholesalers outside Pattaya, and simply buying less and telling the wholesaler it's because they can't make ends meet at their current pricing.

Customers drive prices.  That includes when prices were skyrocketing.  Just because us long-termers weren't paying astronomical prices for beer in gogo bars, that doesn't mean nobody was. 

Customers can drive prices down too, it happens all the time.  Think of the price of everything from lasik surgery to televisions, these have plummeted due to price competition.

Judging by the pricing in the rest of Thailand, there's plenty of room for prices to fall in Pattaya.  Businesses either adapt or they fail, nothing new under the sun.

Edited by Rompho Ray
  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There were a couple of bars during my recent trip  , one in Soi 7 the other at the Beer Garden complex , that I found selling fake vodka to try and make some extra Baht .... they both tasted wrong immediately and at the second place I know one of the girls there and she confirmed and apologised... it's the owner that buys it ... initially I switched drinks because there was someone I wanted to see , but voted with my feet by not returning to either place 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Rompho Ray said:

This isn't how it usually works.  Downward price pressure from the bars and restaurants will drive down the prices charged by the wholesalers, who in turn will drive down the prices charged by their suppliers.  That downward pressure comes in several ways:  Bars and restaurants failing, buying from wholesalers outside Pattaya, and simply buying less and telling the wholesaler it's because they can't make ends meet at their current pricing.

Customers drive prices.  That includes when prices were skyrocketing.  Just because us long-termers weren't paying astronomical prices for beer in gogo bars, that doesn't mean nobody was. 

Customers can drive prices down too, it happens all the time.  Think of the price of everything from lasik surgery to televisions, these have plummeted due to price competition.

Judging by the pricing in the rest of Thailand, there's plenty of room for prices to fall in Pattaya.  Businesses either adapt or they fail, nothing new under the sun.

anywhere else in the world yes.  here.. not a chance.  and you know that.  rents are going UP in the city.. UP ffs.  but once you lower your prices, thats  the value you put on your service3.. and if u try to raise it again.. all hell will let loose.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Painter said:

The kitchen at retox, soi lengkee, once the home of the 99b fried breakfast,  was being emptied today as I walked past.

I believe the container bar is remaining as a sports bar, but without food.

No food in Retox then?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, tommy dee said:

anywhere else in the world yes.  here.. not a chance.  and you know that.  rents are going UP in the city.. UP ffs.  but once you lower your prices, thats  the value you put on your service3.. and if u try to raise it again.. all hell will let loose.

I don't think condo or shophouse rent is remotely comparable to food or other perishable items mate.  A banana is not something you buy as an investment, then don't care how long it hangs around uneaten.  Also, the vendor is paying expenses to house the banana (e.g. taxes, aircon/fridge, salaries, utilities, etc.) which are much greater as compared to the profit on the banana than the common charge vs. the potential rent on a condo. 

That is, sitting on a rental property loses money relatively slowly.  Sitting on a banana loses money very quickly.  And makes a mess.  😄

You'll have a very hard time convincing me that the laws of economics don't apply to Thailand.  I know that doesn't mean you won't try though.  😉

Edited by Rompho Ray
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Rompho Ray said:

the laws of economics don't apply to Thailand

At small retail level they don't. Thai "logic" applies...

Thai logic vs cheap charlie farangs = problem.

Of course on an international level Thai logic doesn't work too well ! See the rice exports over the recent years as an example.

End of my input.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Thai Spice said:

At small retail level they don't. Thai "logic" applies...

So, for example, a small Thai business can lose money because they raise prices when business is slow, and do that forever?  Or is it that Thais will just pay ever higher and higher prices even when their salaries are not increasing?  They never cut back, never stay home instead of eating in a restaurant, never forego a new pair of jeans so the kids can go to school?  

I'm sure you know that ain't the case.

I don't mean to sound like a wiseguy (this time), but the laws of economics do not exist due to people choosing them, such as by voting for representatives who then pass the laws of economics like traffic ordinances.  Thai "logic" or not, it's simply physically impossible to spend more money than you have, or to lose money forever in business, unless you are very rich, in which case you don't run a ratty little corner shop on the Darkside.  

Customers control prices with their spending.  I will agree that the prices in Pattaya are usually pretty stable, and have increased for the entire time most of us have been going there.  That's because visitors go there with more money than brains, the number of visitors has been increasing, and their demand for goods and services is relatively inelastic due to them being flush with holiday cash.  However, if the tourists abandon Pattaya, and there's a crash in demand for goods and services, prices will fall.  Because they have to.

That's not true because I say so.  I say so because it's true.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, jcolorado said:

Great American Sandwich Company

That's not food.....

Just feed to fill the stomach. 

Surprised health / work out freaks like here would eat that 😂😂😁😁😁

More seriously, money can be made with selling cheap stuff in the street like sandwiches, pizza by the slice, spaghetti bolo, kebabs and this kind of sh**te.

But decent food served at a table, not in the street, will never be bottom cheap.

If it is, better have a serious look at your plate !

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, misteregg said:

Can we finally put to rest the argument that you can make money selling cheap Western food.
Retox Lenkee the pioneers, gone.
Crazy Dave’s.....gone.

Phil,

Let me tell you, you can't make money selling any food to expats in the current climate. We had a unique space in the market and honest truth, we never lost in any month. But, it's too much like hard work, backstabbers everywhere. Cheap Charlie's everywhere. Some nights we did 4k others 12k in a takeaway. Bar restaurant some nights 25 to 40k. But the outlays are massive, Thais absolutely USELESS I every aspect of work.

Here in Scotland an average Chinese can do £1200 to £2000 a week top about £800 to £1200 profit from a hole in the wall operation. Some can do much more. If you use just eat you can take £5000 a week here easy.

Farang food is not worth it. Pattaya is full of sex, drug, alcohol addicted cheapos. Plenty decent folk too but not enough to go around.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, misteregg said:

Can we finally put to rest the argument that you can make money selling cheap Western food.
Retox Lenkee the pioneers, gone.
Crazy Dave’s.....gone.

Always lots more willing to take their place which is good news for their customers.

  • Like 1
  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/2/2019 at 11:18 AM, Painter said:

The kitchen at retox, soi lengkee, once the home of the 99b fried breakfast,  was being emptied today as I walked past.

I believe the container bar is remaining as a sports bar, but without food.

I have just asked Tezza Zacharides who posts the Retox menu on Facebook is the kitchen at Lengkee was closed and his reply was

"for the time being we’re just ironing a few things out"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Phil,
Let me tell you, you can't make money selling any food to expats in the current climate. We had a unique space in the market and honest truth, we never lost in any month. But, it's too much like hard work, backstabbers everywhere. Cheap Charlie's everywhere. Some nights we did 4k others 12k in a takeaway. Bar restaurant some nights 25 to 40k. But the outlays are massive, Thais absolutely USELESS I every aspect of work.
Here in Scotland an average Chinese can do £1200 to £2000 a week top about £800 to £1200 profit from a hole in the wall operation. Some can do much more. If you use just eat you can take £5000 a week here easy.
Farang food is not worth it. Pattaya is full of sex, drug, alcohol addicted cheapos. Plenty decent folk too but not enough to go around.

Agreed. And by the way, miss your food.
  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...