Ya Ya's Bar For Sale?

[Guest fountainhall]

I read on another Board that Ya Ya's bar is for sale. This is really sad news. I thought Ya Ya had a lot of the right ingredients for a successful small bar, plus some pretty good marketing. Is this yet another sign of the slow-down in Pattaya we read about, as I hear a number of other bars are also on the market?

[pennyboy]

I though this was a great bar when it opened but over the last couple of years it had gone downhill IMHO.

[Guest fountainhall]

Hasn't it only been open for less than 3 years?

[Guest thaiworthy]

I though this was a great bar when it opened but over the last couple of years it had gone downhill IMHO.

 

I too thought it was a great little bar. I still think it is. I like Barry and YaYa and the whole gang. How did it go downhill? Were the walls crumbling and the paint flaking? Now, if you were to say the whole area had gone downhill, due to a lack of customers, that I could understand. It might be unfair to single out this bar for those reasons, unless you can please explain what you mean by gone downhill. Please, enlighten us.

[daddydawg]

Hasn't it only been open for less than 3 years?

 

YaYa Bar opened in June 2010.

[Gaybutton]

I thought Ya Ya had a lot of the right ingredients for a successful small bar

 

Considering Daddydawg has not stated the reasons for the bar being offered for sale, why is everyone assuming that business problems have anything to do with it? You might recall Corner Bar was doing just fine when Crabby put it up for sale. He sold it because he needed to return to the USA, not because it was doing poorly.

 

Whether the reasons include doing poorly or not, I am convinced the main reasons why bars seem to be failing right and left these days is very simple. The bar owners are not offering anything substantially different from the same thing every other bar is offering, whether it's a beer bar or go-go bar. To my mind, one go-go bar is pretty much the same as the next, with very few exceptions. The same holds true for most of the beer bars. Sometimes I wouldn't even know which beer bar I happen to be in if it wasn't for the sign above the door.

 

To me, if I was going to go into the bar business in Pattaya, I'd try to figure out what customers want and try to provide it. Much of that can be found right here on the message boards. I'd also try to figure out what the customers don't want and try to avoid it. But no matter what, if someone is going to open a bar and offer nothing substantially different from every other bar, then what's really the attraction? Why would customers flock to your bar as opposed to other bars?

 

Sometimes the attributes that keep me out of bars are very simple. On hot, muggy evenings, if one open-air beer bar is providing fans so the customers don't sit there dying of heat prostration and sweating to death, and the bar next door doesn't have any fans, guess which bar I'm going to. Crabby used to offer double shot drinks at prices lower than most of the competition was offering for single shot drinks and he profited. Maybe a few bars ought to consider doing the same thing.

 

In some bars I see the boys paying a lot of attention to the customers, socializing with them, and trying to make sure they're having an enjoyable time. In other bars I see the boys keeping to themselves, socializing with each other, and paying attention to the customers only when they can be pried away from screwing around with their mobile phones. Again, guess which bar I'm going to.

 

I've been in bars where I bought the "drink for boy" and the boy sat with me for about two minutes and then off he went to chat with his friends or serve drinks to other customers or take care of another customer's bill. WRONG! Sometimes the ice in the boy's drink has melted and I've finished my own drink before the boy gets around to returning to sit with me for a few more minutes before he has to disappear for some reason yet again. WRONG! Guess which bars I quickly leave and won't return to. Sometimes the simplest things can make a huge difference.

 

Some bar owners seem to be under the impression that what worked well years ago still works well now. It doesn't. While Pattaya is still busy, there are not the customer numbers there used to be and those who do come aren't spending money anywhere near as freely as they did when financial times were good, exchange rates were substantially better, and bar prices were much less expensive.

 

When I walk through Sunee Plaza I see some bars that are busy all the time. I also see some bars whose owners are probably trying to remember the last time they even had a customer. So, if you're going to open a bar, or already own a bar and want it to succeed, you better wake up and take a good look at what you're doing to attract customers, along with a good look at why customers don't come to your bar or don't stay very long if they do, and they don't become repeat customers - because if the customers won't come, then to me it's a no-brainer to figure out you're not offering what customers want.

[Guest mgluyas]

Hi guys, how much do these bars sell for?

[Guest fountainhall]

if I was going to go into the bar business in Pattaya, I'd try to figure out what customers want and try to provide it . . . I'd also try to figure out what the customers don't want and try to avoid it

 

The theory is so utterly simple and applies to virtually all businesses, especially in any service sector. But, as has been discussed on several threads on several Boards over the years, many bar and go-go bar owners in both Pattaya and Bangkok seem quite oblivious to these simple essential rules of the trade. What happens to them? Does having lots of Thai boys around every evening gradually warp the mind? Does the socialising and (for some) the inevitable drinking dull the senses so that profit and loss mean zilch? Does boredom and a 'mai pen rai' attitude become a factor?

 

I notice GB mentions The Corner Bar. Not living in Pattaya, I was only there one time. But I seem to recall a post, probably on GB's board, in which the former owner said he'd never come back and own a bar again in Pattaya. If I am wrong, please correct me. If my memory is correct, then surely that points to considerable difficulties, even for successful bars?

 

how much do these bars sell for?

 

nickysgaypattaya site currently shows a number of Pattaya bars for sale, including -

 

YaYa - 600,000

Stardust karaoke - 1 million negotiable

the former Euroboys - 500,000

Krazy Dragon - 1.25 million

one on Pattaya 2nd Road - 1 million

[Gaybutton]

I seem to recall a post, probably on GB's board, in which the former owner said he'd never come back and own a bar again in Pattaya.

If he said that, I wouldn't blame him. Owning a bar is not an easy business. However, the way I recall it is it wasn't because he didn't want to handle the problems and pitfalls again. It was because his partner, Thomas, doesn't want to come back to Thailand and Crabby won't come back other than for a holiday without him. Crabby has said if it wasn't for Thomas wanting to return to the USA and because of his family problems, he'd still be in Pattaya and still be running Corner Bar.

 

I don't believe for one second that everybody reads these boards except bar owners. I don't know why so many seem oblivious to what we say on the boards, but whatever their reasons are, they're on my "I Don't Get It" list.

[daddydawg]

YaYa - 600,000

Stardust karaoke - 1 million negotiable

the former Euroboys - 500,000

Krazy Dragon - 1.25 million

one on Pattaya 2nd Road - 1 million

 

MasterCard -- Priceless

[Guest thaiworthy]

If the bar is owned by a farang, my belief is that some own the bar as a hobby, without much expectation of profit. Then when the going gets tough, or they become bored with the idea, they sell it. It seems to be a never-ending scenario and I am now led to believe some farang simply have money to burn. I cannot believe that anyone is so naive as to expect profits from these places, in these times especially. I wish them luck and patronize them when I can, but I think the hobbyists far outnumber the real entrepreneurs.

[Guest]

I'm all for farang running bars as a hobby, or even to make a token profit, whilst providing them with something to do with their time.

After all, they just increase the competition in the sector, which is always good for us consumers.

So if anyone here wants a hobby, please go right ahead & buy the bar. If it's a host bar, please dress your hosts in Aqux trunks & sleeveless T-shirts.....

[Moses]

Hi guys, how much do these bars sell for?

 

 

nickysgaypattaya site currently shows a number of Pattaya bars for sale, including -

 

YaYa - 600,000

Stardust karaoke - 1 million negotiable

the former Euroboys - 500,000

Krazy Dragon - 1.25 million

one on Pattaya 2nd Road - 1 million

 

Please pay attention: prices are "key money" - that means you buy rights to rent this place from owner of building + you buy "business" and "trademark". You will have to obtain new licenses for alcohol and other stuff for to fulfill Thai Laws. Also you will have to pay monthly rent to owner of building.

[Gaybutton]

Also you will have to pay monthly rent to owner of building.

 

And let us not forget certain members of the local constabulary accepting occasional small gratuities . . .

 

 

[Guest thaiworthy]

And let us not forget certain members of the local constabulary accepting occasional small gratuities . . .

 

Egads! That's quite a wad of hundred dollar bills. No wonder businesses are folding up right and left!

[Guest fountainhall]

You forget, thaiworthy. This is Thailand. They are fake!

[Rogie]

No wonder businesses are folding up right and left!

They are fake!

 

The folding stuff ain't what it used to be

[Guest thaiworthy]

You forget, thaiworthy. This is Thailand. They are fake!

 

If they were fake, I certainly wouldn't be paying off cops with it.

[Gaybutton]

If they were fake, I certainly wouldn't be paying off cops with it.

 

"You know how to get rid of counterfeit money? Put it in the collection plate at church."

- George Carlin

[Guest mgluyas]

Currently staring at retirement in 10years. The idea of getting a bar in Pattaya would appear quite good. $20,000A to spend. I really like the idea. A very nice way to pass the day and add to pension. Any expats done it?

Michael

[Guest thaiworthy]

Currently staring at retirement in 10years. The idea of getting a bar in Pattaya would appear quite good. $20,000A to spend. I really like the idea. A very nice way to pass the day and add to pension. Any expats done it?

Michael

 

Michael, if you are sincere, then congratulations. However, I don't understand why you think the idea of getting a bar in Pattaya is a particularly good one. I don't want to throw cold water on your fervor, but all you need to do is look around you to view a rather dismal state of affairs in the Pattaya bar business. If you do buy a bar, you are gong to have to do something fantastically different than anyone has ever done before to attract business. Do you have any experience running a bar?

 

I wish I had some encouraging words for you, but I don't. All I am going to say is be very careful. I hope you know the waters in which you tread. Right now, there are not too many expats owning bars that are currently adding to their pension. Quite possibly just the opposite. Perhaps you'll be the first, but the odds are against you, especially if you have to ask for such advice on a gay Thailand board. I suggest if you wish to read the advice here, that you do some of your own research as well. If you live here and are familiar with the lay of the land, ask the bar owners themselves.

 

A good start is a PM to the bar owner who's the subject of this thread.*

 

Lotsa luck.

 

*If you do buy YaYa, I want a commission.

[Guest fountainhall]

Thaiworthy may be being realistic under present circumstances, but there have been enough threads and posts on this Board discussing how bars could improve without much additional expense – the latest being Gaybutton’s post (#6 above). Others have included macaroni21’s excellent series of thoughts which can be found in these threads –

 

http://www.gaythaila...ht-bar-bangkok/

Original Twilight Bar in Bangkok

Post #3

 

http://www.gaythaila...bers-seem-down/

How Sunday Numbers Seem Down

Posts #6 and #33

 

These threads tend to deal more with go-go bars, but the basic premise is surely the same: give the customers what they want, keep them happy to ensure they return – regularly.

 

The fact is that very few new bars seem to standout from the crowd. As the song from Gypsy rightly points out – “You Gotta Get a Gimmick!”

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFRSawe33sA