May 30, 2025 • 61 mins
David's journey from IT professional to restaurateur offers a refreshing perspective on expatriate entrepreneurship in Thailand. After first visiting in 1997, he gradually built a life that allowed him to spend more time in the Land of Smiles, eventually purchasing a building in Pattaya as a pension investment. When COVID hit and his tenants departed, David made what he calls "a crazy decision" to open The Flame restaurant in Soi lengkee.
What makes his story compelling is the heartfelt motivation behind the business. Unlike many restaurant owners driven primarily by profit, David created The Flame as a legacy for his son, born when David was 50. This perspective freed him to focus on quality and customer experience rather than maximizing margins. He specifically designed a restaurant with romantic ambiance at reasonable prices – filling a gap he personally experienced when looking for places to take dates in Pattaya.
The conversation reveals fascinating insights into restaurant management challenges, particularly regarding staffing and maintaining consistent quality. David candidly shares his struggles with balancing loyalty to long-term Thai staff against the need for service improvements based on customer feedback. His commitment to ensuring every customer leaves happy sometimes clashes with cultural differences in service expectations – a relatable challenge for many foreign business owners in Thailand.
Beyond business talk, the discussion touches on thought-provoking observations about technology's impact on society, the changing nature of creativity in the AI age, and differences between Thai and Western approaches to family and work. David's thoughtful perspective on how "society has become so instant and available that nothing's really special anymore" resonates deeply in our hyperconnected world.
Whether you're an entrepreneur, a foodie, or simply curious about expatriate life in Thailand, this conversation offers valuable insights delivered with authenticity and heart. Visit The Flame in Soi lengkee to experience David's vision firsthand – quality steaks, popular Sunday roasts, and a welcoming atmosphere where customers often become friends. Share your experiences with restaurants that prioritize quality over cutting corners in the comments below!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome back to my Thai Wife
Podcast.
I'm Mike and sadly I'm stilldoing this without my lovely,
lovely wife, sunari.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hi everyone, nice to see you again.
Welcome back to my Thai WifePodcast.
Who are?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
you.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm Pim.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Oh, so tell them you're Pim.
And we got another specialguest for us.
His name is David.
I've known him for about threemonths almost.
I think.
A very nice guy, very good guy.
I like him.
I spent a lot of time on in hisrestaurant, which is the flame
in soylinki.
Right, yeah, hello, david, howare you doing?
(00:39):
so how?
First I will start by that.
Okay, I known you from somefriends, like mutual friends
that we have, and they told me,oh, you have to try this
restaurant.
They haven't even spoke aboutyou first.
Right, just try that restaurant.
Okay, that's nice and it is avery good restaurant, but I know
, especially in Soi Linky, thereare more than one steakhouse,
(01:01):
right?
Yes, yes.
So before we go to the whole,why you came to Thailand and
everything, this was my firstquestion to you.
I remember that when I askedyou why opening Soy Linky when
there is so much competition.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Okay.
So, first thing, I purchasedthe building 20 years ago as a
pension, okay, and I was happyto rent it out and just leave it
like that.
But then COVID came and thetenants left, so, as a result, I
had to decide to find a newtenant or do something, and I
(01:39):
decided like it was a crazydecision, but I decided to make
a restaurant.
Okay, and I've been learningthe trade over the last two
years since we opened.
And the second thing, thereason I chose a steakhouse was
I decided to do food that I knewthat I liked and felt
comfortable with, becauseobviously I could judge the
(01:59):
level of customer satisfactionwith some confidence With your
own time.
Yeah, okay, yeah.
So like, for instance, I can'teat seafood, so I'm very nervous
when I put seafood on the menu.
Why?
Because of the freshness of it.
No, no, I just actually I'vealways struggled with seafood.
I tried to at 18.
(02:20):
You don't like it yourself, Ijust can't eat it, okay.
So basically, I tried to eat itat 18, but you don't like it
yourself, I just can't eat it,okay.
So basically, I For those andthere's only a couple of seafood
dishes on the menu.
I rely on the chef to get itright.
Basically, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, I get that.
Not many people like Okay, I'llrephrase that okay, some people
do like seafood very much, butin the western world it's less
common.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
it's less common, so I get that and the dog lager in
Pattaya is just like many placesfor seafood.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Many choices, many around Pattaya, it's all seafood
so yeah, but it's almost all ofit it's Asian seafood.
I almost never seen stuff likelike.
I give you example, examplelike a real risotto, you know
what I mean, with the scallopsand everything.
You never see that around.
You see a lot of Asian seafooddishes.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I mean, I've been often in Poldi seafood, but I
also think it's high riskbecause People can get the shits
from it.
I feel safe with steak, thatyou're very unlikely to have any
problems with customer healthand ideas, as long as you trust
your supplier and everything.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that.
So before you said somethingvery interesting to me, you said
you purchased the building 20years ago, right, yes, for your
pension and everything, thismeans you're coming for Thailand
at least for 30 years.
Yeah, I came in 1997 the firsttime.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Okay, so I'm almost right I was off by two years?
Very good guess.
Yeah, and I came here, loved it, but obviously, like most
people who come here, you can'tstay here for long.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Because of the visa situation.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah well, because you have a job.
And then you're here on holidayand I was lucky to have my own
business.
So we said IT business andslowly I managed to kind of
sneak more time over here andthen eventually I had a
different business, which wasdesign.
My customer was in Germany andthey basically said to me,
(04:26):
because I was in England andsending the work remotely to
Germany anyway, they allowed meto come and work here, Okay, and
that's really given me thechance to live here.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
So you closed the IT business or you sold your share.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yeah, Actually we sold it.
Okay, I mean, I was only 10%shareholder, okay.
So the guy who owned it sold itand I got 10%, and then I
started a design business.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Okay, and you're still doing the design thing.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yes, I'm still doing the same job now, but I don't
think it's going to be many more.
It's 20 something years I'vebeen doing it, so I think days
are numbered, because thecompany I work for has a lot of
competition with China now and Iguess with all the AI stuff now
you know, becoming more yeah,you know AI does it's, it's
(05:15):
there, but AI isn't producingstuff of the quality needed for
the work I do, because I do bigscreen stuff for shows etc.
Okay, and and basically if youuse AI you can get really nice
anything on a mobile phone andeven on your computer screen.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
But when it goes big.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
You see all the imperfections and you see like
something's out of focus behind,but when the front is in focus
and then behind that is in focus.
So it can be a good starterpoint, but then you have to
still work on it very hard, yeah, but honestly, the speed that
AI has got to level it is now Idon't think it'd be long before
they can do what I'm doing.
Which is why I'm starting tothink, yeah, maybe I've had that
(06:01):
job kind of it's got a life ofmaybe two years, one year.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
So, yeah, I think, not only in design, I think in
many other occupations soon willgo to the AI.
This is why we still alwayshave to invent ourselves.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
And you know it's sad , okay, I basically grew up
listening to groups that thatthe whole talent of a rock group
was a singer, with nothingreally helping him.
Playing the guitar, playingplaying an instrument yeah, very
boring his soul into that music, right, yeah, putting his soul
into music.
And and you connected with thesinger, you you were thinking
(06:45):
what was he thinking when hesaid that, when he read that
lyric?
When he and I watch ai now onon, you know you get links all
the time, yeah, of course, and II've got this horrible feeling
that the creativity is is dying,basically, and I I kind of pray
would go back.
I wish it could be reversed.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I think at a certain point maybe there will be some
laws that will stop it yes, butinternationally nobody can apply
laws.
It's just now do you remember afew years ago, they took three,
three dead artists I don'tremember the third one, but I
(07:28):
know for sure the first one wasKurt Cobain, the second one was
Jimi Hendrix and I don'tremember the third one and they
gave all the previous songs andeverything to AI and told them
create a song by him.
Do you remember that?
Well, I totally believe it, andit was, by the way, some of
them went to the top of thebillboards, one of their songs.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, because a second problem and a thing that
turned me off in the music sceneis I basically met some people
that were quite happy in themusic scene and they said most
of their music is now writtenfor 15 to 16-year-olds.
Yeah, because they're the onesthat go out and buy and spend
the money.
Yeah, and so everyone's kind ofcompromised and come to a
certain level.
(08:11):
It doesn't need to make a hit,one hit.
It doesn't need to be catchy.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
It needs to be as you said.
The audience needs to be the 15or 16 year old people, and
that's it.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, and at the same time with movies.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
The movie industry is so fucking shit now.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah and I just it would be lovely if you could go
back to the days whereeverything was talent and even
when you listen to singles inthe old days, groups could hold
down, say I'm not going tocommercialize it, I'm going to
write the music I want to write.
I'm gonna do it the way I wantto do it.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
The some of them, yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Well, I'm going back to Pink Floyd and okay, and the
early Queen, before Queen werefamous, but it was.
It was different then.
I think it was different.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
They wanted to do something.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, that that is true to themselves, exactly,
yeah yeah, I get that.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah, but yeah, it's gone.
But I think part of thediscussion is not right and I'll
tell you why.
You could always, at any pointof time, you could go back and
ask people oh, were the old daysbetter?
And they will say, yeah, yeah,yeah, the old days were better,
because we have a sense ofnostalgia, you know, and stuff
(09:23):
like that.
So I get what you are sayingand I know we are at the verge
of a revolution, an AIrevolution, I know that, but
still, I think always we willlook at the old days and say
they were better.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
It's a very good point and as growing up, you
know, now I'm thinking thesethings.
I think my mommy said to me ormy grandma would say the same
things I'm saying, and I alwaysbelieved that with them that the
old days weren't better.
They just it's nostalgic.
But I spend a lot of time, ok,so if I've got work to do in the
condo, I put a movie on in thebackground when I'm working.
(10:00):
And I've found now I'm watchingthe 50s black and white moves
in America and England.
Okay, and I'm watching them,thinking that was a better life.
People were kinder to eachother, there weren't these
constant mobile phones and ifyou did something it was special
(10:20):
.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I do agree with that.
Yeah, I agree that creativityis dead.
Okay, yes, do agree with that.
Yeah, I agree that creativityis dead.
Okay, yes, I agree about that.
But our life, um, like youcouldn't say that our life isn't
better right now.
We are living longer, right,yeah?
yeah, yeah, I mean yes yeah, the, the, especially if you look at
(10:42):
the, the, how they say that allthe medicine stuff and
everything.
It went to a point that you canalmost queue, and this is
almost right.
And look, for example, at HIVpeople that get HIV now no
problem, one tablet a day and noworries.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
I think you're totally right and that's why I
stopped at the 50s, because whenyou go back to further, like
the treatments that they had andwhatever else were I mean I
mean yes lobotomy and stuff likethat for a headache yeah that's
right.
But but so I see it think it'smaking society sick, in the same
(11:26):
way that a child could haveeverything he wanted all the
time.
It's not good for himself, andit's more that healthcare is
brilliant, the fact that here inPattaya you can do anything you
want to do, any time of day,any time of night.
Pattaya, it was like that forthe last 30 years, I think.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, true, true, but it was like that for the last
30 years, I think.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Yeah, true, true, but it's still the case.
You can order Chinese food,indian food.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
You can use all the apps Grab or whatnot and just
order For now.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
yeah, yeah, you can watch MediNighty if you like, or
you can watch Formula 1 at 8.
It's like society has become soinstant and available that
nothing's really that specialbecause you can do it.
And the thing I like in the oldmovies is that they took a day
in the park and they kind oflooked forward to it.
(12:14):
They made a picnic bag, thekids came along and they
actually played sports with aball or something like that.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I would agree that it was simpler.
It was much more simple backthen.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I think it's value is the word that I think is
missing today.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
I get that because I had a discussion with my friend
the other day and he saidsomething that I thought was
very smart that right now,almost let's say 90% of the
people in the world have all theavailable information in the
palm of their hands.
Right Right now.
You just take your phone, youcan find whatever you want, and
(12:52):
people still watch fuckingTikTok and stupid stuff they
don't want to learn, they don'twant.
So even when you get access toso much information, you are
still distracted by the bullshit.
Yes, yes, yes, that's very true.
So, yeah, value is.
You're right, we valued more.
We valued information more.
(13:13):
Every house used to head youmaybe you remember that that
huge wall with the encyclopediasright, yeah, yeah, that's right
the books.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I mean, how long is this?
I read a book Probably 15, 20years.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I don't read books.
I listen to them, but justbecause I have severe ADHD, I
don't like to sit down and read,you know.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, but you see, on the other side, I wouldn't be
here If it wasn't for this.
You know, they say AI is now,but actually things have been
artificially intelligent for along time.
It Things have beenartificially intelligent for a
long time.
It's just now.
There's a big wave.
Now everyone can do that.
It's simpler.
Yeah, that's right, it's moreavailable.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
It's just like I gotta say yeah.
It's like it just depends onpeople how to use it.
I mean like for AI orelectronic new things.
It's just like, yeah, it islike a new generation and they
made it like glow up and whatthe point is from me, I see
she's younger than us, she's 20it's interesting to look at.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
I see from it, it's like they made human have life
easy like easily more doeverything easily with phone, or
, you know, like mobile phoneelectric and applications,
especially for people at yourage or even younger, that was
already born into it.
(14:34):
For them, it's obvious.
You want something?
Oh, I take my huge tablet and Ijust press three buttons and I
will get whatever I need.
But is it?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
whatever, I can't say like it depends on the parent
how they.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, how they raise the children.
Yeah, how they raise thechildren, that's true.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Because I'm yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
I'm a person like never get spoiled from parent.
Okay yeah, so I do everythingby my own and I thought, like
when I get like very phone, thisis very important and I like it
to shoot the good way to use it.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
You value the small yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I use for learn my English language a year, for
looking how to do like dancingpractice, or about travel around
the world, or learning abouthistory from other countries
which is very helpful.
(15:35):
Yeah, that's pretty good rightin in my, in same age, I mean
like same age, me 20.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
They do similar like me, but for some of them, some
of them yeah, but for new, forthe news like um, they are just
use it like a normally like, um,have fun with that and yeah,
and I think the tiktok, not onlythe tiktok, the reels, the
reels and all that stuff.
You know there is stuff calleddoom scrolling.
(16:07):
You heard that phrase before.
So doom scrolling is you cansee that everywhere, when you
see a Thai lady or a Thai man,or even a Farang man just
scrolling their phone videos.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
It's called doom scrolling.
Yeah, yeah, it's good.
It's good, that's a good namefor that and people are stacking
those loops.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
You know, sometimes because the videos, people reach
to the point that when theycreate content for people, they
make it instant with the hooks,something that will hook you
immediately for the next 10seconds.
They don't need more than that.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right, by the way, why?
One of the reasons we are not.
We chose not to do a video withthe podcast because I want
(16:49):
people to be able to focus onwhat we are saying, not how we
look like or whatever.
I don't like, for example, meand you.
We are old, fucks right, butPim, here is a sexy young lady
right and if there was a camerahere, no one would listen to us.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
This is one of the reasons I chose to do it this
way, because I understand thatthere is an overflow of how do I
say that?
Of content, that the onlyreason it exists is to catch you
for 10 seconds, without anymeaning behind it, without any
story behind it.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
That's a straight comment and I think it's easy to
receive a podcast by someonelistening.
You can have it on and do otherthings.
It's good, can I ask?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
about your restaurant .
Have you eaten here before?
I guess I never tried herebefore.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Weren't you our mutual friend here before?
Huh, our mutual friend.
No, you've never gone herebefore.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
No, no, I got a recommend from a guy who had to
come over to Frame and had somesteak.
They had a very nice steak.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Not only steak, by the way.
Yeah, not only steak.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, I see this is about like yeah, I don't know
how look like inside in therestaurant or the menu, so I can
check on phone like Google Mapsor yeah yeah, I always.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
By the way, yeah, I get you.
I always when I look foranother restaurant, a new
restaurant, just Google Maps andI see the picture that people
post.
It's much easier, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
I mean, actually that's a good question, because
for me in a restaurant, Iobviously got my normal job and
then having a new restaurant,the first six months was
learning about the restauranttrade, you know, because
everyone knew a lot more than me, of course.
And the thing that I'veneglected is social media.
I've pretty much, you know,I've got much, you know I've got
(19:06):
a Facebook page, but I reallyhave time to go on and do
something and I basically lookedthe other day.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
You mean the Facebook page for the restaurant.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, and I basically looked in the other day and
there's 99 unread notificationsand the menu on our website
needs updating.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So it's like that side of it.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
I don't think I've got the kind of headspace to do
all of that social media and therestaurant.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, but most of the people that own restaurants
hire people for that right.
Yes, yeah, All the marketingstuff and everything, Especially
, by the way, in Thailand it'sextremely cheap to hire someone
that will do that for you.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
It's 100% true, but one frustrating thing about me
is I'm kind of really attentiveto getting everything right in
detail and I'm not very good atgiving someone a job to do.
Okay, yeah.
I get that, which I should do,but I'll be more scared.
They put something on thatdidn't reflect how I want to be
or how I'd like to be able toperceive the restaurant, and and
(20:09):
I I've got to trust more.
I mean, obviously, the chefs Itrust them, the service ladies
downstairs, I trust.
It's just really that For meit's step by step.
You know, that's true.
And even if someone you knowI've had a lot of kind of guys
come and done videos and thenpost them on YouTube, they're
like the most stressful,worrying moment for me.
(20:30):
When you see someone come inwith a camera in the restaurant,
it's because you're thinkingthat guy can destroy the
restaurant or he can help youyeah.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
But I prefer he just didn't come I understand that
you are not the only one that Iheard it from, because sometimes
it's just a matter of personaltaste.
You know, the food can be great, but he don't like carrots and
for some reason there wascarrots in his salad, and now he
says oh, this restaurant isshit.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Yeah, but that's how it is for me.
You see, that one guy I meanI've been lucky, we've come
through unscathed.
But if he makes the comments,the power of his comment is so
much more than if, like, acustomer comes in, he likes it,
he tells his friends he doesn'tlike it, he doesn't come back.
That's my ideal setup.
(21:19):
That gives me peace of mind.
I get that, yeah, but I've beenbeen, honestly, I've been
really lucky with with theyoutubers, but I've seen all the
ones I know about and maybenice.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
I Think you do go around for some bars and see
people and meet people.
You're also like Showingyourself what, what, what you
are doing there.
You know what I mean.
For example, the first time wesat together and spoke together,
you explained to me the wholetrade in one hour.
It was amazing, right, and manyother people wouldn't do that.
(21:55):
They would say oh yeah, I justown a restaurant.
Come in there.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
No, you're there you are present.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I think it's 50% of your success.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
I have to be totally honest with you.
This is totally candid.
First thing is I'm lucky.
I've got a good job that paysmy income.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yeah of course.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
So the restaurant was never really about making money
.
Obviously I put a lot of moneyin and I want it to be in good
shape for when my son's 18.
So he can have ownership insomething and if he doesn't want
to do something else, he's gota restaurant.
So obviously I don't want tolose money every month.
No one wants to keep puttingmoney in something, but I'm not.
I've seen it much more likealmost like a hobby, but not a
(22:43):
hobby, something moreprofessional, Something where I
kind of want to see can I do itor can I not do it?
Do you know how much pleasureyou get when people eat their
meal and they say that wasexcellent?
Or you know, with a roastdinner we get so many nice
comments back that you just feelbetter about life.
Yeah, I agree, I might be morelike the other restaurant owners
here because I might back that.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
You just feel better about life.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Yeah, and and okay, you know it's my main job.
I agree I might be more likethe other restaurant owners here
because I might rely on thatfor a living.
More, yeah, um so.
So I'm not like a saint oranything, but I just I just
honestly feel that I don't haveto look at it as a business and
and secondly, I'm I'm kind of aloner.
So the restaurant I've met ahundred people that I could say
(23:24):
are friends now and 20 or 30 areclose friends.
So it's been good for my lifeas well, like a home, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
It kind of feels like home.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
If the people I've met come we do sit down almost
like you're in the lounge Icannot count how many times me
and the other guys which Icannot mention came to your
restaurant just came sat with us.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
We talked like Like friends.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Yeah, exactly, we are friends, right.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
But it's giving also the customers the feeling that,
hey, this is not just anotherrestaurant.
This is like I come here tomeet my friend.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Yeah, which is nice, but I think I'm lucky because,
honestly, a lot of restaurantshere they rely on the number of
people who come in for theirincome for that month and
therefore they've got to be moreout there, they've got to be a
bit more pushy and whatever else.
I think for me I probablyworked enough that if I didn't
(24:24):
have an expensive girlfriend.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I could probably live quite well.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I could probably live quite well on my own, but
probably I'll have to keep doingthe work because it's my son.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, I get that and I think, first of all, you
understand that he made thisbusiness in order for his son to
have it later.
You are a good father.
That's amazing.
This business in order for hisson.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
Yeah, to have it later, that's you are a good
father.
Yeah, well, that's amazing.
Okay, but I had my son at 50,right?
So I was 50 years old.
That's your only son.
Yeah, I would say any yearbefore that I was far too
immature.
I'd have been a terrible dad,okay, but but I got to the point
.
I'm mature enough to be a dadat 50.
And we moved to Thailand.
He was born in England.
He's half Thai.
He was born in England.
We moved to Thailand becauseI'm not that good at admin and
(25:08):
all the kind of jobs andcommitments and things.
So Thailand the family are muchbetter for taking care of a
child and helping you than inEngland.
So I would say here, the familyvalues here are absolutely
superb and they've gone in our,I think, in our culture.
(25:28):
We love our parents more thanus.
But everyone lives a bit of aselfish life in England.
I think children don't.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah, but another thing that I heard a few days
ago that was very interesting.
Thailand doesn't have socialsecurity, so their social
security is the children.
Yes, and there's almost like acontract.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
There's almost like I've looked after you, so you
have to look after me, but thenI think you're only talking
money.
See, the kind of thing I see isgirls going back to their home
and telling their mom to liedown and basically give them a
massage, massaging their feet.
They do things that are justlove, love and care, that are
stronger.
I think in your countryprobably it's more similar to
(26:10):
Thailand because of the faithand the yeah, it depends.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
But yeah, In Israel we do have very strong family
values.
Yeah, sometimes You-hmm.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Sometimes you know England.
You could live like a mile awayfrom your parents and go and
see them once every fortnight orwhatever, oh no, no, you're not
flying in Israel.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yeah no, yeah, they will just come knock on your
door.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Come to dinner, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
For Thai it is like before the family.
They were really careful aboutchildren.
You know about me.
I'm 16, 17.
For your country young adultscan go work, can do part-time
(27:03):
job, but in Thailand it's like18.
You can't do part-time.
Before that you're a child Like18, you're a young adult and 20
, you're an adult.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Okay, but I do see in Thailand children help with the
.
If you go to the country, forinstance, maybe they're farming
or something, and I do seechildren at 14 are doing a lot
of the tasks to help the familywith the things.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
I do.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
And, by the way, I think there's nothing wrong with
that, because it's not likeforced labor or something, of
course.
It's nice, they're learning atrade, Learning a trade.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
But one more thing.
Sorry to cut you, but I want toremind you that there is
something that the Thais do thatwill never, ever go easy in
Western countries.
So many of the Thai ladies havea baby, but they want to keep
work what they do they give thebaby to the grandmother.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Right, they don't raise their own children.
That's right, very common, butthat's economic.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
I understand that, but it will never Like when I
was with my wife before and wewanted to have children.
We talked about it.
She said I told her listen, weare not ready financially and I
think we need to wait.
She said no problem, we'll havea child in Israel and we'll
ship it.
This is what he said.
We will ship it to Thailand formy parents to take care of it.
(28:33):
I said no, what are you talkingabout?
No, it's not.
And then she said no, it'snormal.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
No, it's normal.
Yeah, I can say from Thaipeople.
It's just like they are stillfocused on the time they can
have children Like I am.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
it's really like mom had me when I was just 21, 20,
something like that.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
And my family is poor , so what her can do?
Her has to leave home.
Keep working yeah keep working,but her cannot take care of me
because her doesn't have timeenough, so that's why I take the
parent.
But for some it's hard.
Like you said, some people takechildren to grandparents to
(29:26):
take care of them because, theyneed to you know, like do To
provide yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
I get that, but for a restaurant to hear such a
phrase.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Let's ship our child to another country for our.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
It's insanity, you know yeah but okay, child to
another country for our, it'sinsanity, you know.
ok, so this is my own from girlsI met here and talked about
things I would say like in Patea, for instance.
Ok, 7 out of 10 girls that havea child that is staying with
their family desperately want tobe with that child.
But there are the 3 out of 10that love the scene here, love
(30:02):
it all, and they're quite happywith the convenience of not
having to look with that child.
Oh, of course, but there arethe three out of ten that love
the scene, love it all, andthey're quite happy with the
convenience of not having tolook after each other.
Yeah, I agree and that surprisedme, because I think that's
totally against the culture hereand everything.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yeah, but people tend , especially in this city, to
get very selfish very quickly.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Especially the girls that walk the bars or the
go-go's.
They see the money, they knowthe income, they like the party
scenes right.
Some of them are unfortunatelygetting hooked on drugs or
getting addicted to alcohol.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Well, it's hard not to get addicted to alcohol if
you're working there becauseyou're getting paid to drink,
and if you don't drink, I thinkthat eight, nine, ten hours,
wherever you were, it must bevery long.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
it is so you're probably tempted to have more
drinks and then eventually ittakes over I agree, but you can
always put a bit more waterinside the drink and make sure
well, well, I think, I think alot of people do that.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
But yeah, I mean, but you, you don't really drink, do
you so?
Speaker 1 (31:06):
I drink.
Well, when I'm back home inisrael, I almost never drink,
maybe one bit a month, maybe.
Here I drink almost every day,but not too much.
Yeah, you know, I try to drinkmaybe three or four drinks a day
maybe.
Normally I just drink sodawater.
You know that.
I see, yeah, yeah, but we bothwell, the three of us know bar
(31:32):
owners and people that work inthe bars that get really
addicted to alcohol and they gotthe shakes when they don't
drink, yeah, and stuff like that.
But I think the world, some ofthem even were alcoholics before
they just said, oh, I like todrink, I'll open a bottle.
You know, it's part of thatalso.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
You know how I see it .
Are you a drinker, by the way?
No, no, no Okay.
So before I came to Ireland, Inever drank, never, never drank,
no Okay.
I came here and I had problems.
I was a bit broken heartedabout a girl and I found that
when I'm really down, if I wentout and had a few drinks, just
got a bit like slightly drunk,then all the stresses in my life
(32:11):
went and obviously the next dayyou wake up hangover and they
come back.
But I think a lot of the girlsworking here they're very
stressed about their mum sayingI need another 4000 baht for
this.
There's other stresses the roomwhere we and I think there's an
artificial comfort in beingdrunk.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
And it starts with that.
I will mix those two together.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
I can say it from myself I'm not a person who
really likes to drink and yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
But when you walk in the bar, you to drink and yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I have to, but you can see and.
I laughs after that, you know,like the last yeah yesterday,
last night I hang out with him.
This is first around like two.
I left the bar and after I leftand I'm not hanging out at
night.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I'm doesn't drink any alcohol.
You are the exceptions, right?
Most of the people that I know,even on the day off and talking
about ladies also they stilldrink, yeah well yeah, I mean
every girl from Okay I like aserious relationship with ladies
.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
I've had okay I like a serious relationship with
ladies.
I've had four girlfriends sinceI first came here.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Okay, so let's say one every five years.
Yeah, yeah, that's what I'mlike.
Yeah, it is that kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
I mean, the current one is seven years, okay, but
basically the last two theywould go, they'd have a drink,
and if they're having a drinkI'd drink with them.
And then it gets to 11, 12o'clock and I think, well, let's
go back home now.
And then they've got anotherbar to go to and they drink more
.
And then they're at 4 or 5o'clock, coming back and Peace,
(33:52):
completely peace, sleeping, yeah, sleeping.
You have to carry them back tothe room and it's not really the
kind of life that I want fromyou, yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
I understand.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
And I'm kind of you know if you love someone you
don't want to see him in thatsituation and you accept things
that maybe you wouldn't acceptif you knew the first day you
met.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Yeah, but.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
And I've tried the thing of drinking with her just
to see whether that works, but Ijust if I get ill I can't do it
.
So no, just to see whether thatworks, but I just if I get ill
I can't do it.
So now I'm like you.
I basically only drink with afriend.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
In social situations, so like not like many times,
but just for social, for fun.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Yeah, actually for fun, not for in order to feel
better.
Just sometimes grab a beer orwhatever For relax, yeah, so
this is what, what, but it'svery I prefer.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
But yeah, the mosque, I guess it's like not Not only
lady, lady boy also, and manalso Thai people I can't say
like in work people, I mean likework part, they all have money,
right, they have money.
(35:10):
And some people doesn't haveany problem with money in the
family.
Some people have, like me, had,like me, so it's just so I'm
trying to, you know, like spendall night and you know, pay a
(35:31):
lot of money for drink and andrealize like I'm pay for it all
money.
So how about my, what aboutyour family?
yeah, you're spending all yourmoney on your dreams yeah, so
that that is, that is justlearning me, and realize like,
oh, there's this, that is notgood to do, you know, and I'm
(35:53):
I'm curious, like how you guyslike can drink every night.
And well, that's a question forme, right?
Speaker 1 (36:00):
yeah, yeah, like I used to used to wake up in the
early index so, first of all, itdepends some, some guys and I
can speak for myself.
I know my limit, so at acertain point after drinking a
few, I would say okay, that'senough for me, I feel drunk
(36:20):
enough in order that I don'tneed more.
Yes, right, and I don't want tofeel bad, as you said.
I don't want to feel ill andpuking and throwing up or stuff
like that, you know, I just wantto feel tipsy.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
I don't know.
That's the world right.
See, you and me have got thatswitch, and I've got it because
you actually feel worse, so youstop, yeah.
But a lot of the girls say theydon't have that switch.
The guys also.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Come on, I've seen guys throwing up on the street
every day.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Yeah, it's true, yeah .
So for young girls I can saythey're newbie, they just came
here, they're excited, they areyou know really, first time they
are're free, they can dowhatever they want.
They excited and gotta like I'mfree, you know I'm free and I
can do whatever I want.
(37:08):
So I thought like for next,maybe like like me, I stay for a
couple years, maybe three orfour years.
After that they're gonnarealize like who?
Older than me, like around 30,40, they work in a bar.
(37:28):
They realize 30, 40 if yourealize that 30, 40 after you
start drinking at 20, that's toolate.
You're already Alcoholic, yeah,yeah.
So they realize around, say myage before, so they know
everything in Pattaya, but theydoesn't gonna tell you what you
(37:55):
could do, what you, but IUnderstand why they did that
because they want Yourself, Isaid.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
I think it's not only they want you to learn.
I think some of the people hereare extremely selfish and they
would like to see you go downthe same road, they went they
don't care, they would be happyto see you getting drunk and
wasting all your money becausethey did that before, yeah, so
like to see, if people like tosee people new I mean like young
(38:24):
people going down and then get.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
I think that is not not really nice to do.
Of course it's a place formyself.
I, you know like I get someorders.
They tell me.
You know like they get theyteach me about like you have to
be better and you know you'restill young, yeah but you got
(38:48):
lucky.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
I tell you something you got lucky because I know
where you work.
Your last work was right andsome of the people there are
extremely good people, right?
You know where I'm talking.
We can say the name by the wayit used to be Delirious, right
and the people that work inDelirious.
Some of them are extremely nicepeople, extremely caring, and
(39:13):
you get lucky.
But some people don't have thatluck and they find themselves
in other bars which are notnamed.
And the only thing the ladies dooh you're not okay, you don't
have customers which are notnamed, and the only thing the
ladies do oh, you're not.
Okay, you're not a customer.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Come on, let's do yabba together, you know, and
that's a problem, yeah, yeah, Igotta say, like I saw you first
time, I doesn't know who are you.
You know, and yeah, you tell memy, he's the owner of flame.
And then I'm like really, I seehim many times, but yeah, you
saw him in the bow many timesyeah not not many, but nobody in
(39:47):
the bar.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
In the bar, yeah, she met you before in the bar, but
I don't know who you are.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Maybe it's about like I'm not coming to the people
and I see them and I see I seeyou and you can devour drinks
and relax you out and I feellike, okay, so you're a friend
of yeah, yeah, I'm doesn't knowyou the owner of flame and to my
(40:17):
Thing.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Yeah, I mean, actually I'm also what name?
But yeah, mike told me.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
Now, she's starstruck .
No, no, no, it's nothing.
Yeah, I mean actually,obviously I won't name, but he
was one of the first customersafter I opened, very quiet, and
I was very nervous and Becausewhen you first open you're
worried about every table,everything, and I was just.
(40:41):
You're worried about every table, everything and and I was just
thinking, yeah, everything,everything.
And he didn't really say much.
But then he kept coming backand after we had a chat and he's
just such a nice, reassuringperson, he's got the most decent
heart and if you work for him,wow Him and the rest of the
(41:03):
stuff.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
But I would like to ask you a question about the
restaurant.
If we talk about the subjectagain, what was the biggest
mistake you did when you justopened?
Like if I would open arestaurant tomorrow, what would
you recommend me?
Don't do that.
Whatever you do, don't do that.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
Wow, that's a good question.
I have to think about it.
Probably I should have beenmore confident.
Okay, because I have a problemnow that I pretty much rely so
much on the chef and thewaitress manager to run the
restaurant and do it right,because I knew nothing and
(41:43):
that's created a problem nowthat, as I've had the restaurant
, what I've realized is the waythat they operate is good, but
it's kind of average Okay, andif I want to improve things I'm
permanently having to havefights, not like arguments, but
(42:04):
I get like tuts.
They don't buy in to theimprovements of the restaurant.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
I get that.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
It's only very comfortable for them right.
Yeah, yeah.
But also I put them in aposition where they probably
felt more like powerful than I'dlike to be now, only because my
peace of mind is customersleaving happy and Thais don't
(42:32):
really like to talk to customers.
So to get feedback, to getunderstanding, most of the time
I just go and talk to customersmyself and then a lot of the
time I go back to the kitchenand I say I have to stop you for
a second.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
You're right that ties don't like speak with
customers, but your customersare not eyes.
Most of them are foreigners.
Yeah, the foreigners also,except expect like maybe the
owner will come say hellobecause it's very common.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah, it's true, I'll come back to that, but okay, so
if I was told something's wrongwith the food, first of all
you've got to make your ownjudgment is that correct or not?
And if you hear something acouple of times, then you
definitely think it's broken.
But I would go in the kitchenand because he'd worked 10 years
for a steak restaurant and doneit a certain way he would, he
(43:26):
wouldn't accept.
He would accept what I'm sayinguntil I and he said, like, well
, it's only one customer andthat whole mentality is nothing
that I can buy into, because Iwant every customer to leave
happy and I do believe peoplesay you can't make everyone
happy, but I tend to think thereprobably is a ground in the
(43:46):
middle where most people arehappy If you go too extreme.
Anyway, so, coming back to yourtie thing, if I go up north to
see my girlfriend, then Ibasically looked into Google
when I was up north and therewere two one-star reviews and
it's because my manager was smugwhen she dealt with a customer
(44:08):
problem, so both people on thetable gave one sort of review.
Now, that to me, if you'retalking about mistakes or regret
, allowing her to be in aposition where for me to change
that now I have to go through alot of fight and pain.
But I have changed.
I basically found a young ladythat's kind of front of the
(44:32):
house, but I've got a bigproblem now that she's perfect.
She's polite, she's caring,she's interested in what people
say, she wants everyone to behappy.
But because I've stepped overthe kind of boundary with my
manager, she won't accept herand she's making her life
difficult.
I'm not in a position I mighthave to lose my in-house manager
(44:59):
or this girl and I feel loyaltyto my in-house manager because
she was there at the start andshe got me there.
But I don't really know how tofix this one and I've asked her.
She brought money.
I've paid her some money butshe won't change.
She won't let this girl feelwelcome.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
And ever since this girl started.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
the feedback from customers has been much better,
so it's something to deal with.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Yeah, but I think this is is and I'll give you a
different perspective.
In many big successfulcompanies, you got more than one
.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
CEO right.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
You got financial.
Ceo.
I don't remember all the names,but you got four, five, six,
which are all in the sameposition, and when you place
them in the same position,they're equal, and then they
cannot argue.
They both have the same power.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Yeah, okay, she is basically head of the floor.
Yeah, I get it, and the chef ismy head chef is head of the
kitchen area, and so it's justvery difficult.
And I'll be honest with you.
I know what she's like.
I know what she's like.
(46:20):
She's brilliant at admin, she'sa nice lady, but she cannot
communicate with customers theway that a restaurant of ours
should be communicating, and Iwould love her to accept 95% of
what she did is perfect and shecan't do that 5%.
But what I'm finding is thatthe more I try and keep her
waiting that 5%, the more shewants to prove she can do it and
(46:43):
fights me.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
Some people are not built for that, you know?
No exactly.
I mean, I can't sing, I'm not asalesman.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
I've got a stutter and I avoid, like I'm doing this
for you, but I avoid thesethings.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
And I thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
No, no, no I mean I'm very happy with her, but I
can't get her to accept that.
And I'll tell you I've had twocustomers that have been here
quite a few times that have sentme a message saying David, you
know, I came to the restaurant,the restaurant's quite full.
I sat in the seat waiting to bedealt with and your manager
(47:24):
came over and said you can't sitthere.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
Just that, yeah, he said that's so rude.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (47:30):
And he had a bit of a go at me and said you know
you've got to sort out yourcustomer care.
I said, yeah, I'm really sorry,I know we've got a problem with
this.
And he said, no, in my businessyou sack her.
And I said, well, I've gotloyalty to her, I can't do a
second, but I need to deal withit.
And he said, okay, I'll blockyou.
And I've had that with twopeople that were friends here at
(47:54):
the restaurant because of herand I need.
I'm dealing with it.
But that's my most stressfulthing when I come here right now
, because the food in fact thefood is one of the easiest
things to get right if you go toa restaurant?
Speaker 1 (48:08):
a restaurant, yeah, but I think also that also took
you time to reach oh yeah ittook six months at least.
Yeah, and you're still alwayschanging.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
I know we spoke about that and with Thai staff you
probably know this you changesomething, they do it and then
after a month they revert backto the old way.
So you've got to be on top ofit.
But I would say the food sideis much easier than the staff
side.
Okay, and actually times don'treally Okay.
(48:38):
So if you've lived your wholelife, you don't know how service
is in the States and Americansget the best level of service in
a restaurant they pay for it,they give big tips over us.
But best level of service in arestaurant, they pay for it,
they give big tips over us, butthey're used to that.
So if someone walks overwithout a smile, without seeming
that interested, it puts themin a bad mood straight away and
then if you get a problem, youget a much bigger problem.
(49:02):
And this Amy, this girl thatI've employed.
She's doing a brilliant job onthat and the other girls have
improved with her.
But I have this girl I'veemployed, she's doing a
brilliant job on that and theother girls have improved with
her.
But I have to deal with thisproblem.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
Let's see again what is this.
It is every about eating likefood or drinks or whatever.
Is like time to finishunderstand like um some kind of
(49:36):
people.
Okay, I can't say it.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
I had experience from um chicken crew normally so so,
yeah, some time they take likefor food they made from last
days, but they had to keep itand do for next day, okay, but
(50:04):
it depends on what food you aremaking and, of course, every
restaurant has something theyknow, oh, I can keep in the
fridge for the next day becauseit's okay, and something I
cannot.
But it very depends on what youcook.
For example, if you had a sushirestaurant, oh no, you cannot
do that.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's very logistical.
Especially, we've got 70 itemson the menu.
So it is very important the wayyou handle, the way you store,
the way you recognize whenyou've got a period of time you
can sell.
So it goes to waste and that'stricky as well.
So I would say the menu is theeasiest bit.
Maybe the operational side is alittle bit more difficult.
(50:46):
The staff is the most difficultthing.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
You know, I was always wondering when you have
such a big and rich menu as youhave in your restaurant, how
much product do you lose everyday?
Because I guess no one orderseverything.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, okay.
You try, and that's the problemwhen you first open.
If you have a big menu, whenyou first open you don't have
customers, you don't know what'sgoing to sell, you don't know
how much to take out, and as youtrade you become more aware of
what your average sales ofcertain things are.
So you know roughly how much toprepare and what to buy in, et
(51:27):
cetera.
Speaker 1 (51:29):
But I would say, starting off, that's really
difficult and sometimes you haveto start with big menu, right?
You cannot?
Speaker 3 (51:35):
just say oh, I have three kinds of steaks in fact, I
don't know if it's worked ornot, but when I started this, I
said to myself what do I lookfor in here, and I personally
like to have a girlfriend.
I like to myself what do I lookfor in here, and I personally
like to have a girlfriend?
I like to go somewhere that'snot like expensive, romantic,
but a little bit more romantic,a little bit nicer environment,
(51:55):
your place looks gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
I don't know if you designed it, but it's amazing,
thank you yeah, but it's stilllike it's or something.
It's kind of like the firsttime I came to your restaurant
with a friend of mine before Iknew you.
He said and he's an English guyhe said this is the most posh
place I've ever seen.
Oh, that's nice, and I didn'tknow what posh means.
(52:17):
You have to explain it to me,right, because I don't know the
slang over there, but it justgorgeous it's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (52:25):
Yeah, I mean, it's very nice.
You said that, but for me, forthis area which you know, if
you've got to rest on, most ofyour customers come to this area
.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
Again, we are talking about some soy linky.
Yeah, the whole soy bakaoregion.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
And the second, sorry , just to come back.
Yeah, so I had that in my mindto make it a place that you
would want to take a girlfriend.
Yeah, because I'd actuallystruggled before when I had a
girlfriend.
I want to go out in a sober cowand there was no restaurant
where I felt like it's slightlyromantic to sit with her.
(53:02):
So I had that in my mind and Ialso knew that when I go to a
restaurant, I like lots ofchoice, not because of me, but
when I go to a restaurant, Ilike lots of choice, not because
of me, but when you go with aThai lady, so often you find you
like something but they don'tlike anything on the menu.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
Most of the times, I just have to compromise on a
place that sells both foreignersand Thai food, but this is my
experience, and then if you gowith friends, there's even more.
Speaker 3 (53:29):
So choice, I always felt, is a really good thing to
have in a restaurant.
Yeah, I've been all my life.
I've been a consumer Me neitherbut the problem with choice.
And, funny enough, when I first, before I, opened one of the
top restauranteurs here, hecalled me and said David, if
that's your menu, take my advice, don't do it.
(53:50):
You can't have that many itemson the menu.
He said it in a nice way, buthe's like the top of fine dining
, right.
So he couldn't keep the veryhigh top level of fine dining
with a kind of mess thing.
But we've kind of I think wefound a way of getting close to
(54:15):
fine dining, but but being ableto put out lots of different
meals and plus, yeah, alsocompared to those high-end
restaurants.
Speaker 1 (54:23):
Right, your prices are yeah, oh great, right yeah
thank you I think you're rightin the middle.
Speaker 3 (54:30):
Yeah, I mean again.
I'm just trying to make anhonest profit that can pay the
wages, pay the electric andhopefully at the end of the year
have some profit.
Speaker 1 (54:44):
I remember a few years ago I came here to Pattaya
and me and a few other guyswent to a restaurant that I will
not name, but it's in the smallplaza in Soy Dayana.
I will not name the restaurant,and I wasn't paying for that
meal because one of the guyssaid he will pay for everyone.
(55:05):
We went there.
We were like five people.
The guys said he will pay foreveryone.
We went there.
We were like five people.
I think the bill was about13,000 or 15,000 baht and just
one dish, some side dish and adrink.
That's it.
It's so expensive sometimes.
And then you go to a restaurantlike yours or other restaurants
(55:27):
that I spoke about before andthe prices are down to earth us.
I know how much they make.
Speaker 3 (55:34):
I think that's a good , it's a good expression.
Yeah, but you know, obviously Ido feel we do better quality.
So compared to the like, the,the average kind of kind of
Steakhouse is here Steakhouse ishere.
No, I don't really mean that Imean there's loads of average
restaurants in this area,absolutely loads.
(55:55):
So if I do a restaurant forinstance if I do a 495, I'm more
expensive than probably 70-80%of people do it cheaper than a
495.
But they don't use the samebeef, they don't put as much on
the plate, they don't spend asmuch on the vegetables and the
quality of everything on theplate.
Speaker 1 (56:16):
And, as you said, the restaurant also looks less it
doesn't look like a place youwant to take someone to a date.
Speaker 3 (56:24):
Yes, and it also may be air-conditioned.
Yeah, of course that's veryimportant, but that was risky
because that's the first timeI've actually set something
where the price knowing theprice was high in the
competition.
But that's been the mostsuccessful thing because that
thing has changed the restaurantdoing a roast dinner on Sunday,
(56:44):
because so many people come andsay I've finally found a roast
dinner that is the quality thatI've had at home, or I, like you
, mean the Sunday roast and thenthey basically are totally
happy with the price,recommending it.
And I feel like you shouldn'tbe tempted to be the cheapest
(57:06):
and then cut your quality andthen you're in with everybody
else.
You shouldn't be tempted to bethe cheapest and then cut your
quality and then you're in witheverybody else.
You shouldn't be the mostexpensive, because honest.
You have to be honest and downto earth, I think yeah.
So everything I'm doing now,now I think that's the place to
be where the quality isobviously worth the extra money,
a little bit like if you boughta BMW where it's not the best
(57:27):
car in the world, but you knowyou can be confident.
Yeah, where, where?
Speaker 2 (57:28):
it's not the best car in the world, but but you know
you can be confident, yeah.
So, like I said, I everythingwhat we do.
So if you do from feeling, youdo from Heart, you have a heart
and honest, so yeah, it's gonnabe work.
Speaker 3 (57:44):
Yeah, yeah, you know you're right as well, because if
you do really suffer when youlet, well, because if you do
really suffer when you letsomeone down, if you do really
feel elated when someone gets itright and I know it's easy for
me to say, but if you're notdoing it for the financial gain
primarily, then I think thatdoes come across when you do it.
Also, the staff, because youknow I'm always letting my staff
(58:08):
off things and giving themextra money and things.
Speaker 2 (58:11):
It's like a.
Speaker 3 (58:12):
It's with them as well.
It comes across in the vibe Ofcourse, what you give, you get
back always.
Speaker 2 (58:17):
Yeah, I worked in a restaurant before I'm being a
staff in the restaurant.
And I have my noodle shop about.
Yeah, I make food, I do foodshop also, so my shop is like a
nearby school, young school, andyou know, like every every
(58:43):
afternoon around like 3 or 4o'clock they are finished
starting and go back home, rightyeah so many children in the
school I can say like around,like almost every, everyone in
school, every student that comeup to my shop and you know like
(59:04):
they take food, they I can'tfinish all my noodle and other
other food like in the one day,but I I doesn't know what is
going on because my mom did that, remember.
She made everything for themand here's it like.
And yet for food for children,you know just five but Tim, but
(59:26):
just a little and but yeaheveryone like children, many
children coming up and they sayhi to my mom, say hi to me it's
heartwarming yeah but I can'tsit like, I can't feel like from
mom and mom say, oh, wait to me, like if we do from feelings
and you do from heart, doesn'tmatter if you do for a concept,
(59:49):
but it's this delicious but Ifeel the effort and even the
loving, the fear, yeah that goesback to the a icon.
Speaker 3 (59:57):
So you had the start, was that?
Speaker 1 (59:59):
yeah, yeah, we're singing you, just yeah, yeah.
Anyway, david, first of all, Iwant to thank you so much for
being my, my pleasure and I hopeit was fun for you and it was
fun for me.
Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
It was an interesting conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
And another thing I want to again recommend everyone
that loves good steakhouse andSunday roast.
The menu is so bigger than that, so just check it out.
It's called the Flame inSoylinki.
Again, just give it a try.
Yeah, and again on anotherthing, I want to thank our
(01:00:35):
listeners.
Thank you for the support.
We really appreciate what youdid for us the last week and,
yeah, we, we will do our best toimprove on the sound points and
everything.
And again, if, if you want tosupport us, there is a link in
the show notes, in every way, itdoesn't matter if you're
Spotify, youtube, there is alink for support, and even just
(01:00:57):
clicking the share button isamazing, the like button is
amazing.
So thank you guys.
Bim.
Any closing words?
Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
Yeah, thank you for our listener and thank you for
David.
I'm very nice to see you todayit's first, it's the first time
me and you talk each otherbecause we see we see each other
before we never talk together.
It's first time.
Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
I'm very happy to see you and yeah by the way, she's
eating with us today.
Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
So yeah, it's the first time.
Yeah, is it?
8?
Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
o'clock yeah, I was panicking, I was thinking.
David, thank you very muchthank you, so much thank you
okay, bye, bye, bye, bye.
Hello everyone and welcome back to my Thai Wife
Podcast.
I'm Mike and sadly I'm stilldoing this without my lovely,
lovely wife, sunari.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hi everyone, nice to see you again.
Welcome back to my Thai WifePodcast.
Who are?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
you.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm Pim.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Oh, so tell them you're Pim.
And we got another specialguest for us.
His name is David.
I've known him for about threemonths almost.
I think.
A very nice guy, very good guy.
I like him.
I spent a lot of time on in hisrestaurant, which is the flame
in soylinki.
Right, yeah, hello, david, howare you doing?
(00:39):
so how?
First I will start by that.
Okay, I known you from somefriends, like mutual friends
that we have, and they told me,oh, you have to try this
restaurant.
They haven't even spoke aboutyou first.
Right, just try that restaurant.
Okay, that's nice and it is avery good restaurant, but I know
, especially in Soi Linky, thereare more than one steakhouse,
(01:01):
right?
Yes, yes.
So before we go to the whole,why you came to Thailand and
everything, this was my firstquestion to you.
I remember that when I askedyou why opening Soy Linky when
there is so much competition.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Okay.
So, first thing, I purchasedthe building 20 years ago as a
pension, okay, and I was happyto rent it out and just leave it
like that.
But then COVID came and thetenants left, so, as a result, I
had to decide to find a newtenant or do something, and I
(01:39):
decided like it was a crazydecision, but I decided to make
a restaurant.
Okay, and I've been learningthe trade over the last two
years since we opened.
And the second thing, thereason I chose a steakhouse was
I decided to do food that I knewthat I liked and felt
comfortable with, becauseobviously I could judge the
(01:59):
level of customer satisfactionwith some confidence With your
own time.
Yeah, okay, yeah.
So like, for instance, I can'teat seafood, so I'm very nervous
when I put seafood on the menu.
Why?
Because of the freshness of it.
No, no, I just actually I'vealways struggled with seafood.
I tried to at 18.
(02:20):
You don't like it yourself, Ijust can't eat it, okay.
So basically, I tried to eat itat 18, but you don't like it
yourself, I just can't eat it,okay.
So basically, I For those andthere's only a couple of seafood
dishes on the menu.
I rely on the chef to get itright.
Basically, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, I get that.
Not many people like Okay, I'llrephrase that okay, some people
do like seafood very much, butin the western world it's less
common.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
it's less common, so I get that and the dog lager in
Pattaya is just like many placesfor seafood.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Many choices, many around Pattaya, it's all seafood
so yeah, but it's almost all ofit it's Asian seafood.
I almost never seen stuff likelike.
I give you example, examplelike a real risotto, you know
what I mean, with the scallopsand everything.
You never see that around.
You see a lot of Asian seafooddishes.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I mean, I've been often in Poldi seafood, but I
also think it's high riskbecause People can get the shits
from it.
I feel safe with steak, thatyou're very unlikely to have any
problems with customer healthand ideas, as long as you trust
your supplier and everything.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that.
So before you said somethingvery interesting to me, you said
you purchased the building 20years ago, right, yes, for your
pension and everything, thismeans you're coming for Thailand
at least for 30 years.
Yeah, I came in 1997 the firsttime.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Okay, so I'm almost right I was off by two years?
Very good guess.
Yeah, and I came here, loved it, but obviously, like most
people who come here, you can'tstay here for long.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Because of the visa situation.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah well, because you have a job.
And then you're here on holidayand I was lucky to have my own
business.
So we said IT business andslowly I managed to kind of
sneak more time over here andthen eventually I had a
different business, which wasdesign.
My customer was in Germany andthey basically said to me,
(04:26):
because I was in England andsending the work remotely to
Germany anyway, they allowed meto come and work here, Okay, and
that's really given me thechance to live here.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
So you closed the IT business or you sold your share.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yeah, Actually we sold it.
Okay, I mean, I was only 10%shareholder, okay.
So the guy who owned it sold itand I got 10%, and then I
started a design business.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Okay, and you're still doing the design thing.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yes, I'm still doing the same job now, but I don't
think it's going to be many more.
It's 20 something years I'vebeen doing it, so I think days
are numbered, because thecompany I work for has a lot of
competition with China now and Iguess with all the AI stuff now
you know, becoming more yeah,you know AI does it's, it's
(05:15):
there, but AI isn't producingstuff of the quality needed for
the work I do, because I do bigscreen stuff for shows etc.
Okay, and and basically if youuse AI you can get really nice
anything on a mobile phone andeven on your computer screen.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
But when it goes big.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
You see all the imperfections and you see like
something's out of focus behind,but when the front is in focus
and then behind that is in focus.
So it can be a good starterpoint, but then you have to
still work on it very hard, yeah, but honestly, the speed that
AI has got to level it is now Idon't think it'd be long before
they can do what I'm doing.
Which is why I'm starting tothink, yeah, maybe I've had that
(06:01):
job kind of it's got a life ofmaybe two years, one year.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
So, yeah, I think, not only in design, I think in
many other occupations soon willgo to the AI.
This is why we still alwayshave to invent ourselves.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
And you know it's sad , okay, I basically grew up
listening to groups that thatthe whole talent of a rock group
was a singer, with nothingreally helping him.
Playing the guitar, playingplaying an instrument yeah, very
boring his soul into that music, right, yeah, putting his soul
into music.
And and you connected with thesinger, you you were thinking
(06:45):
what was he thinking when hesaid that, when he read that
lyric?
When he and I watch ai now onon, you know you get links all
the time, yeah, of course, and II've got this horrible feeling
that the creativity is is dying,basically, and I I kind of pray
would go back.
I wish it could be reversed.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I think at a certain point maybe there will be some
laws that will stop it yes, butinternationally nobody can apply
laws.
It's just now do you remember afew years ago, they took three,
three dead artists I don'tremember the third one, but I
(07:28):
know for sure the first one wasKurt Cobain, the second one was
Jimi Hendrix and I don'tremember the third one and they
gave all the previous songs andeverything to AI and told them
create a song by him.
Do you remember that?
Well, I totally believe it, andit was, by the way, some of
them went to the top of thebillboards, one of their songs.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, because a second problem and a thing that
turned me off in the music sceneis I basically met some people
that were quite happy in themusic scene and they said most
of their music is now writtenfor 15 to 16-year-olds.
Yeah, because they're the onesthat go out and buy and spend
the money.
Yeah, and so everyone's kind ofcompromised and come to a
certain level.
(08:11):
It doesn't need to make a hit,one hit.
It doesn't need to be catchy.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
It needs to be as you said.
The audience needs to be the 15or 16 year old people, and
that's it.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, and at the same time with movies.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
The movie industry is so fucking shit now.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah and I just it would be lovely if you could go
back to the days whereeverything was talent and even
when you listen to singles inthe old days, groups could hold
down, say I'm not going tocommercialize it, I'm going to
write the music I want to write.
I'm gonna do it the way I wantto do it.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
The some of them, yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Well, I'm going back to Pink Floyd and okay, and the
early Queen, before Queen werefamous, but it was.
It was different then.
I think it was different.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
They wanted to do something.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, that that is true to themselves, exactly,
yeah yeah, I get that.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah, but yeah, it's gone.
But I think part of thediscussion is not right and I'll
tell you why.
You could always, at any pointof time, you could go back and
ask people oh, were the old daysbetter?
And they will say, yeah, yeah,yeah, the old days were better,
because we have a sense ofnostalgia, you know, and stuff
(09:23):
like that.
So I get what you are sayingand I know we are at the verge
of a revolution, an AIrevolution, I know that, but
still, I think always we willlook at the old days and say
they were better.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
It's a very good point and as growing up, you
know, now I'm thinking thesethings.
I think my mommy said to me ormy grandma would say the same
things I'm saying, and I alwaysbelieved that with them that the
old days weren't better.
They just it's nostalgic.
But I spend a lot of time, ok,so if I've got work to do in the
condo, I put a movie on in thebackground when I'm working.
(10:00):
And I've found now I'm watchingthe 50s black and white moves
in America and England.
Okay, and I'm watching them,thinking that was a better life.
People were kinder to eachother, there weren't these
constant mobile phones and ifyou did something it was special
(10:20):
.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I do agree with that.
Yeah, I agree that creativityis dead.
Okay, yes, do agree with that.
Yeah, I agree that creativityis dead.
Okay, yes, I agree about that.
But our life, um, like youcouldn't say that our life isn't
better right now.
We are living longer, right,yeah?
yeah, yeah, I mean yes yeah, the, the, especially if you look at
(10:42):
the, the, how they say that allthe medicine stuff and
everything.
It went to a point that you canalmost queue, and this is
almost right.
And look, for example, at HIVpeople that get HIV now no
problem, one tablet a day and noworries.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
I think you're totally right and that's why I
stopped at the 50s, because whenyou go back to further, like
the treatments that they had andwhatever else were I mean I
mean yes lobotomy and stuff likethat for a headache yeah that's
right.
But but so I see it think it'smaking society sick, in the same
(11:26):
way that a child could haveeverything he wanted all the
time.
It's not good for himself, andit's more that healthcare is
brilliant, the fact that here inPattaya you can do anything you
want to do, any time of day,any time of night.
Pattaya, it was like that forthe last 30 years, I think.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, true, true, but it was like that for the last
30 years, I think.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Yeah, true, true, but it's still the case.
You can order Chinese food,indian food.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
You can use all the apps Grab or whatnot and just
order For now.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
yeah, yeah, you can watch MediNighty if you like, or
you can watch Formula 1 at 8.
It's like society has become soinstant and available that
nothing's really that specialbecause you can do it.
And the thing I like in the oldmovies is that they took a day
in the park and they kind oflooked forward to it.
(12:14):
They made a picnic bag, thekids came along and they
actually played sports with aball or something like that.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I would agree that it was simpler.
It was much more simple backthen.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I think it's value is the word that I think is
missing today.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
I get that because I had a discussion with my friend
the other day and he saidsomething that I thought was
very smart that right now,almost let's say 90% of the
people in the world have all theavailable information in the
palm of their hands.
Right Right now.
You just take your phone, youcan find whatever you want, and
(12:52):
people still watch fuckingTikTok and stupid stuff they
don't want to learn, they don'twant.
So even when you get access toso much information, you are
still distracted by the bullshit.
Yes, yes, yes, that's very true.
So, yeah, value is.
You're right, we valued more.
We valued information more.
(13:13):
Every house used to head youmaybe you remember that that
huge wall with the encyclopediasright, yeah, yeah, that's right
the books.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I mean, how long is this?
I read a book Probably 15, 20years.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I don't read books.
I listen to them, but justbecause I have severe ADHD, I
don't like to sit down and read,you know.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, but you see, on the other side, I wouldn't be
here If it wasn't for this.
You know, they say AI is now,but actually things have been
artificially intelligent for along time.
It Things have beenartificially intelligent for a
long time.
It's just now.
There's a big wave.
Now everyone can do that.
It's simpler.
Yeah, that's right, it's moreavailable.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
It's just like I gotta say yeah.
It's like it just depends onpeople how to use it.
I mean like for AI orelectronic new things.
It's just like, yeah, it islike a new generation and they
made it like glow up and whatthe point is from me, I see
she's younger than us, she's 20it's interesting to look at.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
I see from it, it's like they made human have life
easy like easily more doeverything easily with phone, or
, you know, like mobile phoneelectric and applications,
especially for people at yourage or even younger, that was
already born into it.
(14:34):
For them, it's obvious.
You want something?
Oh, I take my huge tablet and Ijust press three buttons and I
will get whatever I need.
But is it?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
whatever, I can't say like it depends on the parent
how they.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, how they raise the children.
Yeah, how they raise thechildren, that's true.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Because I'm yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
I'm a person like never get spoiled from parent.
Okay yeah, so I do everythingby my own and I thought, like
when I get like very phone, thisis very important and I like it
to shoot the good way to use it.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
You value the small yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I use for learn my English language a year, for
looking how to do like dancingpractice, or about travel around
the world, or learning abouthistory from other countries
which is very helpful.
(15:35):
Yeah, that's pretty good rightin in my, in same age, I mean
like same age, me 20.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
They do similar like me, but for some of them, some
of them yeah, but for new, forthe news like um, they are just
use it like a normally like, um,have fun with that and yeah,
and I think the tiktok, not onlythe tiktok, the reels, the
reels and all that stuff.
You know there is stuff calleddoom scrolling.
(16:07):
You heard that phrase before.
So doom scrolling is you cansee that everywhere, when you
see a Thai lady or a Thai man,or even a Farang man just
scrolling their phone videos.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
It's called doom scrolling.
Yeah, yeah, it's good.
It's good, that's a good namefor that and people are stacking
those loops.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
You know, sometimes because the videos, people reach
to the point that when theycreate content for people, they
make it instant with the hooks,something that will hook you
immediately for the next 10seconds.
They don't need more than that.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right, by the way, why?
One of the reasons we are not.
We chose not to do a video withthe podcast because I want
(16:49):
people to be able to focus onwhat we are saying, not how we
look like or whatever.
I don't like, for example, meand you.
We are old, fucks right, butPim, here is a sexy young lady
right and if there was a camerahere, no one would listen to us.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
This is one of the reasons I chose to do it this
way, because I understand thatthere is an overflow of how do I
say that?
Of content, that the onlyreason it exists is to catch you
for 10 seconds, without anymeaning behind it, without any
story behind it.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
That's a straight comment and I think it's easy to
receive a podcast by someonelistening.
You can have it on and do otherthings.
It's good, can I ask?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
about your restaurant .
Have you eaten here before?
I guess I never tried herebefore.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Weren't you our mutual friend here before?
Huh, our mutual friend.
No, you've never gone herebefore.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
No, no, I got a recommend from a guy who had to
come over to Frame and had somesteak.
They had a very nice steak.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Not only steak, by the way.
Yeah, not only steak.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, I see this is about like yeah, I don't know
how look like inside in therestaurant or the menu, so I can
check on phone like Google Mapsor yeah yeah, I always.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
By the way, yeah, I get you.
I always when I look foranother restaurant, a new
restaurant, just Google Maps andI see the picture that people
post.
It's much easier, yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
I mean, actually that's a good question, because
for me in a restaurant, Iobviously got my normal job and
then having a new restaurant,the first six months was
learning about the restauranttrade, you know, because
everyone knew a lot more than me, of course.
And the thing that I'veneglected is social media.
I've pretty much, you know,I've got much, you know I've got
(19:06):
a Facebook page, but I reallyhave time to go on and do
something and I basically lookedthe other day.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
You mean the Facebook page for the restaurant.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, and I basically looked in the other day and
there's 99 unread notificationsand the menu on our website
needs updating.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So it's like that side of it.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
I don't think I've got the kind of headspace to do
all of that social media and therestaurant.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, but most of the people that own restaurants
hire people for that right.
Yes, yeah, All the marketingstuff and everything, Especially
, by the way, in Thailand it'sextremely cheap to hire someone
that will do that for you.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
It's 100% true, but one frustrating thing about me
is I'm kind of really attentiveto getting everything right in
detail and I'm not very good atgiving someone a job to do.
Okay, yeah.
I get that, which I should do,but I'll be more scared.
They put something on thatdidn't reflect how I want to be
or how I'd like to be able toperceive the restaurant, and and
(20:09):
I I've got to trust more.
I mean, obviously, the chefs Itrust them, the service ladies
downstairs, I trust.
It's just really that For meit's step by step.
You know, that's true.
And even if someone you knowI've had a lot of kind of guys
come and done videos and thenpost them on YouTube, they're
like the most stressful,worrying moment for me.
(20:30):
When you see someone come inwith a camera in the restaurant,
it's because you're thinkingthat guy can destroy the
restaurant or he can help youyeah.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
But I prefer he just didn't come I understand that
you are not the only one that Iheard it from, because sometimes
it's just a matter of personaltaste.
You know, the food can be great, but he don't like carrots and
for some reason there wascarrots in his salad, and now he
says oh, this restaurant isshit.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Yeah, but that's how it is for me.
You see, that one guy I meanI've been lucky, we've come
through unscathed.
But if he makes the comments,the power of his comment is so
much more than if, like, acustomer comes in, he likes it,
he tells his friends he doesn'tlike it, he doesn't come back.
That's my ideal setup.
(21:19):
That gives me peace of mind.
I get that, yeah, but I've beenbeen, honestly, I've been
really lucky with with theyoutubers, but I've seen all the
ones I know about and maybenice.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
I Think you do go around for some bars and see
people and meet people.
You're also like Showingyourself what, what, what you
are doing there.
You know what I mean.
For example, the first time wesat together and spoke together,
you explained to me the wholetrade in one hour.
It was amazing, right, and manyother people wouldn't do that.
(21:55):
They would say oh yeah, I justown a restaurant.
Come in there.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
No, you're there you are present.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I think it's 50% of your success.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
I have to be totally honest with you.
This is totally candid.
First thing is I'm lucky.
I've got a good job that paysmy income.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yeah of course.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
So the restaurant was never really about making money
.
Obviously I put a lot of moneyin and I want it to be in good
shape for when my son's 18.
So he can have ownership insomething and if he doesn't want
to do something else, he's gota restaurant.
So obviously I don't want tolose money every month.
No one wants to keep puttingmoney in something, but I'm not.
I've seen it much more likealmost like a hobby, but not a
(22:43):
hobby, something moreprofessional, Something where I
kind of want to see can I do itor can I not do it?
Do you know how much pleasureyou get when people eat their
meal and they say that wasexcellent?
Or you know, with a roastdinner we get so many nice
comments back that you just feelbetter about life.
Yeah, I agree, I might be morelike the other restaurant owners
here because I might back that.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
You just feel better about life.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Yeah, and and okay, you know it's my main job.
I agree I might be more likethe other restaurant owners here
because I might rely on thatfor a living.
More, yeah, um so.
So I'm not like a saint oranything, but I just I just
honestly feel that I don't haveto look at it as a business and
and secondly, I'm I'm kind of aloner.
So the restaurant I've met ahundred people that I could say
(23:24):
are friends now and 20 or 30 areclose friends.
So it's been good for my lifeas well, like a home, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
It kind of feels like home.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
If the people I've met come we do sit down almost
like you're in the lounge Icannot count how many times me
and the other guys which Icannot mention came to your
restaurant just came sat with us.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
We talked like Like friends.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Yeah, exactly, we are friends, right.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
But it's giving also the customers the feeling that,
hey, this is not just anotherrestaurant.
This is like I come here tomeet my friend.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Yeah, which is nice, but I think I'm lucky because,
honestly, a lot of restaurantshere they rely on the number of
people who come in for theirincome for that month and
therefore they've got to be moreout there, they've got to be a
bit more pushy and whatever else.
I think for me I probablyworked enough that if I didn't
(24:24):
have an expensive girlfriend.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I could probably live quite well.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I could probably live quite well on my own, but
probably I'll have to keep doingthe work because it's my son.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, I get that and I think, first of all, you
understand that he made thisbusiness in order for his son to
have it later.
You are a good father.
That's amazing.
This business in order for hisson.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
Yeah, to have it later, that's you are a good
father.
Yeah, well, that's amazing.
Okay, but I had my son at 50,right?
So I was 50 years old.
That's your only son.
Yeah, I would say any yearbefore that I was far too
immature.
I'd have been a terrible dad,okay, but but I got to the point
.
I'm mature enough to be a dadat 50.
And we moved to Thailand.
He was born in England.
He's half Thai.
He was born in England.
We moved to Thailand becauseI'm not that good at admin and
(25:08):
all the kind of jobs andcommitments and things.
So Thailand the family are muchbetter for taking care of a
child and helping you than inEngland.
So I would say here, the familyvalues here are absolutely
superb and they've gone in our,I think, in our culture.
(25:28):
We love our parents more thanus.
But everyone lives a bit of aselfish life in England.
I think children don't.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah, but another thing that I heard a few days
ago that was very interesting.
Thailand doesn't have socialsecurity, so their social
security is the children.
Yes, and there's almost like acontract.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
There's almost like I've looked after you, so you
have to look after me, but thenI think you're only talking
money.
See, the kind of thing I see isgirls going back to their home
and telling their mom to liedown and basically give them a
massage, massaging their feet.
They do things that are justlove, love and care, that are
stronger.
I think in your countryprobably it's more similar to
(26:10):
Thailand because of the faithand the yeah, it depends.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
But yeah, In Israel we do have very strong family
values.
Yeah, sometimes You-hmm.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Sometimes you know England.
You could live like a mile awayfrom your parents and go and
see them once every fortnight orwhatever, oh no, no, you're not
flying in Israel.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yeah no, yeah, they will just come knock on your
door.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Come to dinner, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
For Thai it is like before the family.
They were really careful aboutchildren.
You know about me.
I'm 16, 17.
For your country young adultscan go work, can do part-time
(27:03):
job, but in Thailand it's like18.
You can't do part-time.
Before that you're a child Like18, you're a young adult and 20
, you're an adult.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Okay, but I do see in Thailand children help with the
.
If you go to the country, forinstance, maybe they're farming
or something, and I do seechildren at 14 are doing a lot
of the tasks to help the familywith the things.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
I do.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
And, by the way, I think there's nothing wrong with
that, because it's not likeforced labor or something, of
course.
It's nice, they're learning atrade, Learning a trade.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
But one more thing.
Sorry to cut you, but I want toremind you that there is
something that the Thais do thatwill never, ever go easy in
Western countries.
So many of the Thai ladies havea baby, but they want to keep
work what they do they give thebaby to the grandmother.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Right, they don't raise their own children.
That's right, very common, butthat's economic.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
I understand that, but it will never Like when I
was with my wife before and wewanted to have children.
We talked about it.
She said I told her listen, weare not ready financially and I
think we need to wait.
She said no problem, we'll havea child in Israel and we'll
ship it.
This is what he said.
We will ship it to Thailand formy parents to take care of it.
(28:33):
I said no, what are you talkingabout?
No, it's not.
And then she said no, it'snormal.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
No, it's normal.
Yeah, I can say from Thaipeople.
It's just like they are stillfocused on the time they can
have children Like I am.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
it's really like mom had me when I was just 21, 20,
something like that.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
And my family is poor , so what her can do?
Her has to leave home.
Keep working yeah keep working,but her cannot take care of me
because her doesn't have timeenough, so that's why I take the
parent.
But for some it's hard.
Like you said, some people takechildren to grandparents to
(29:26):
take care of them because, theyneed to you know, like do To
provide yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
I get that, but for a restaurant to hear such a
phrase.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Let's ship our child to another country for our.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
It's insanity, you know yeah but okay, child to
another country for our, it'sinsanity, you know.
ok, so this is my own from girlsI met here and talked about
things I would say like in Patea, for instance.
Ok, 7 out of 10 girls that havea child that is staying with
their family desperately want tobe with that child.
But there are the 3 out of 10that love the scene here, love
(30:02):
it all, and they're quite happywith the convenience of not
having to look with that child.
Oh, of course, but there arethe three out of ten that love
the scene, love it all, andthey're quite happy with the
convenience of not having tolook after each other.
Yeah, I agree and that surprisedme, because I think that's
totally against the culture hereand everything.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yeah, but people tend , especially in this city, to
get very selfish very quickly.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Especially the girls that walk the bars or the
go-go's.
They see the money, they knowthe income, they like the party
scenes right.
Some of them are unfortunatelygetting hooked on drugs or
getting addicted to alcohol.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Well, it's hard not to get addicted to alcohol if
you're working there becauseyou're getting paid to drink,
and if you don't drink, I thinkthat eight, nine, ten hours,
wherever you were, it must bevery long.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
it is so you're probably tempted to have more
drinks and then eventually ittakes over I agree, but you can
always put a bit more waterinside the drink and make sure
well, well, I think, I think alot of people do that.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
But yeah, I mean, but you, you don't really drink, do
you so?
Speaker 1 (31:06):
I drink.
Well, when I'm back home inisrael, I almost never drink,
maybe one bit a month, maybe.
Here I drink almost every day,but not too much.
Yeah, you know, I try to drinkmaybe three or four drinks a day
maybe.
Normally I just drink sodawater.
You know that.
I see, yeah, yeah, but we bothwell, the three of us know bar
(31:32):
owners and people that work inthe bars that get really
addicted to alcohol and they gotthe shakes when they don't
drink, yeah, and stuff like that.
But I think the world, some ofthem even were alcoholics before
they just said, oh, I like todrink, I'll open a bottle.
You know, it's part of thatalso.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
You know how I see it .
Are you a drinker, by the way?
No, no, no Okay.
So before I came to Ireland, Inever drank, never, never drank,
no Okay.
I came here and I had problems.
I was a bit broken heartedabout a girl and I found that
when I'm really down, if I wentout and had a few drinks, just
got a bit like slightly drunk,then all the stresses in my life
(32:11):
went and obviously the next dayyou wake up hangover and they
come back.
But I think a lot of the girlsworking here they're very
stressed about their mum sayingI need another 4000 baht for
this.
There's other stresses the roomwhere we and I think there's an
artificial comfort in beingdrunk.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
And it starts with that.
I will mix those two together.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
I can say it from myself I'm not a person who
really likes to drink and yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
But when you walk in the bar, you to drink and yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I have to, but you can see and.
I laughs after that, you know,like the last yeah yesterday,
last night I hang out with him.
This is first around like two.
I left the bar and after I leftand I'm not hanging out at
night.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I'm doesn't drink any alcohol.
You are the exceptions, right?
Most of the people that I know,even on the day off and talking
about ladies also they stilldrink, yeah well yeah, I mean
every girl from Okay I like aserious relationship with ladies
.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
I've had okay I like a serious relationship with
ladies.
I've had four girlfriends sinceI first came here.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Okay, so let's say one every five years.
Yeah, yeah, that's what I'mlike.
Yeah, it is that kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
I mean, the current one is seven years, okay, but
basically the last two theywould go, they'd have a drink,
and if they're having a drinkI'd drink with them.
And then it gets to 11, 12o'clock and I think, well, let's
go back home now.
And then they've got anotherbar to go to and they drink more
.
And then they're at 4 or 5o'clock, coming back and Peace,
(33:52):
completely peace, sleeping, yeah, sleeping.
You have to carry them back tothe room and it's not really the
kind of life that I want fromyou, yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
I understand.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
And I'm kind of you know if you love someone you
don't want to see him in thatsituation and you accept things
that maybe you wouldn't acceptif you knew the first day you
met.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Yeah, but.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
And I've tried the thing of drinking with her just
to see whether that works, but Ijust if I get ill I can't do it
.
So no, just to see whether thatworks, but I just if I get ill
I can't do it.
So now I'm like you.
I basically only drink with afriend.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
In social situations, so like not like many times,
but just for social, for fun.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Yeah, actually for fun, not for in order to feel
better.
Just sometimes grab a beer orwhatever For relax, yeah, so
this is what, what, but it'svery I prefer.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
But yeah, the mosque, I guess it's like not Not only
lady, lady boy also, and manalso Thai people I can't say
like in work people, I mean likework part, they all have money,
right, they have money.
(35:10):
And some people doesn't haveany problem with money in the
family.
Some people have, like me, had,like me, so it's just so I'm
trying to, you know, like spendall night and you know, pay a
(35:31):
lot of money for drink and andrealize like I'm pay for it all
money.
So how about my, what aboutyour family?
yeah, you're spending all yourmoney on your dreams yeah, so
that that is, that is justlearning me, and realize like,
oh, there's this, that is notgood to do, you know, and I'm
(35:53):
I'm curious, like how you guyslike can drink every night.
And well, that's a question forme, right?
Speaker 1 (36:00):
yeah, yeah, like I used to used to wake up in the
early index so, first of all, itdepends some, some guys and I
can speak for myself.
I know my limit, so at acertain point after drinking a
few, I would say okay, that'senough for me, I feel drunk
(36:20):
enough in order that I don'tneed more.
Yes, right, and I don't want tofeel bad, as you said.
I don't want to feel ill andpuking and throwing up or stuff
like that, you know, I just wantto feel tipsy.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
I don't know.
That's the world right.
See, you and me have got thatswitch, and I've got it because
you actually feel worse, so youstop, yeah.
But a lot of the girls say theydon't have that switch.
The guys also.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Come on, I've seen guys throwing up on the street
every day.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Yeah, it's true, yeah .
So for young girls I can saythey're newbie, they just came
here, they're excited, they areyou know really, first time they
are're free, they can dowhatever they want.
They excited and gotta like I'mfree, you know I'm free and I
can do whatever I want.
(37:08):
So I thought like for next,maybe like like me, I stay for a
couple years, maybe three orfour years.
After that they're gonnarealize like who?
Older than me, like around 30,40, they work in a bar.
(37:28):
They realize 30, 40 if yourealize that 30, 40 after you
start drinking at 20, that's toolate.
You're already Alcoholic, yeah,yeah.
So they realize around, say myage before, so they know
everything in Pattaya, but theydoesn't gonna tell you what you
(37:55):
could do, what you, but IUnderstand why they did that
because they want Yourself, Isaid.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
I think it's not only they want you to learn.
I think some of the people hereare extremely selfish and they
would like to see you go downthe same road, they went they
don't care, they would be happyto see you getting drunk and
wasting all your money becausethey did that before, yeah, so
like to see, if people like tosee people new I mean like young
(38:24):
people going down and then get.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
I think that is not not really nice to do.
Of course it's a place formyself.
I, you know like I get someorders.
They tell me.
You know like they get theyteach me about like you have to
be better and you know you'restill young, yeah but you got
(38:48):
lucky.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
I tell you something you got lucky because I know
where you work.
Your last work was right andsome of the people there are
extremely good people, right?
You know where I'm talking.
We can say the name by the wayit used to be Delirious, right
and the people that work inDelirious.
Some of them are extremely nicepeople, extremely caring, and
(39:13):
you get lucky.
But some people don't have thatluck and they find themselves
in other bars which are notnamed.
And the only thing the ladies dooh you're not okay, you don't
have customers which are notnamed, and the only thing the
ladies do oh, you're not.
Okay, you're not a customer.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Come on, let's do yabba together, you know, and
that's a problem, yeah, yeah, Igotta say, like I saw you first
time, I doesn't know who are you.
You know, and yeah, you tell memy, he's the owner of flame.
And then I'm like really, I seehim many times, but yeah, you
saw him in the bow many timesyeah not not many, but nobody in
(39:47):
the bar.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
In the bar, yeah, she met you before in the bar, but
I don't know who you are.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Maybe it's about like I'm not coming to the people
and I see them and I see I seeyou and you can devour drinks
and relax you out and I feellike, okay, so you're a friend
of yeah, yeah, I'm doesn't knowyou the owner of flame and to my
(40:17):
Thing.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Yeah, I mean, actually I'm also what name?
But yeah, mike told me.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
Now, she's starstruck .
No, no, no, it's nothing.
Yeah, I mean actually,obviously I won't name, but he
was one of the first customersafter I opened, very quiet, and
I was very nervous and Becausewhen you first open you're
worried about every table,everything, and I was just.
(40:41):
You're worried about every table, everything and and I was just
thinking, yeah, everything,everything.
And he didn't really say much.
But then he kept coming backand after we had a chat and he's
just such a nice, reassuringperson, he's got the most decent
heart and if you work for him,wow Him and the rest of the
(41:03):
stuff.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
But I would like to ask you a question about the
restaurant.
If we talk about the subjectagain, what was the biggest
mistake you did when you justopened?
Like if I would open arestaurant tomorrow, what would
you recommend me?
Don't do that.
Whatever you do, don't do that.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
Wow, that's a good question.
I have to think about it.
Probably I should have beenmore confident.
Okay, because I have a problemnow that I pretty much rely so
much on the chef and thewaitress manager to run the
restaurant and do it right,because I knew nothing and
(41:43):
that's created a problem nowthat, as I've had the restaurant
, what I've realized is the waythat they operate is good, but
it's kind of average Okay, andif I want to improve things I'm
permanently having to havefights, not like arguments, but
(42:04):
I get like tuts.
They don't buy in to theimprovements of the restaurant.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
I get that.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
It's only very comfortable for them right.
Yeah, yeah.
But also I put them in aposition where they probably
felt more like powerful than I'dlike to be now, only because my
peace of mind is customersleaving happy and Thais don't
(42:32):
really like to talk to customers.
So to get feedback, to getunderstanding, most of the time
I just go and talk to customersmyself and then a lot of the
time I go back to the kitchenand I say I have to stop you for
a second.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
You're right that ties don't like speak with
customers, but your customersare not eyes.
Most of them are foreigners.
Yeah, the foreigners also,except expect like maybe the
owner will come say hellobecause it's very common.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah, it's true, I'll come back to that, but okay, so
if I was told something's wrongwith the food, first of all
you've got to make your ownjudgment is that correct or not?
And if you hear something acouple of times, then you
definitely think it's broken.
But I would go in the kitchenand because he'd worked 10 years
for a steak restaurant and doneit a certain way he would, he
(43:26):
wouldn't accept.
He would accept what I'm sayinguntil I and he said, like, well
, it's only one customer andthat whole mentality is nothing
that I can buy into, because Iwant every customer to leave
happy and I do believe peoplesay you can't make everyone
happy, but I tend to think thereprobably is a ground in the
(43:46):
middle where most people arehappy If you go too extreme.
Anyway, so, coming back to yourtie thing, if I go up north to
see my girlfriend, then Ibasically looked into Google
when I was up north and therewere two one-star reviews and
it's because my manager was smugwhen she dealt with a customer
(44:08):
problem, so both people on thetable gave one sort of review.
Now, that to me, if you'retalking about mistakes or regret
, allowing her to be in aposition where for me to change
that now I have to go through alot of fight and pain.
But I have changed.
I basically found a young ladythat's kind of front of the
(44:32):
house, but I've got a bigproblem now that she's perfect.
She's polite, she's caring,she's interested in what people
say, she wants everyone to behappy.
But because I've stepped overthe kind of boundary with my
manager, she won't accept herand she's making her life
difficult.
I'm not in a position I mighthave to lose my in-house manager
(44:59):
or this girl and I feel loyaltyto my in-house manager because
she was there at the start andshe got me there.
But I don't really know how tofix this one and I've asked her.
She brought money.
I've paid her some money butshe won't change.
She won't let this girl feelwelcome.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
And ever since this girl started.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
the feedback from customers has been much better,
so it's something to deal with.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Yeah, but I think this is is and I'll give you a
different perspective.
In many big successfulcompanies, you got more than one
.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
CEO right.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
You got financial.
Ceo.
I don't remember all the names,but you got four, five, six,
which are all in the sameposition, and when you place
them in the same position,they're equal, and then they
cannot argue.
They both have the same power.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Yeah, okay, she is basically head of the floor.
Yeah, I get it, and the chef ismy head chef is head of the
kitchen area, and so it's justvery difficult.
And I'll be honest with you.
I know what she's like.
I know what she's like.
(46:20):
She's brilliant at admin, she'sa nice lady, but she cannot
communicate with customers theway that a restaurant of ours
should be communicating, and Iwould love her to accept 95% of
what she did is perfect and shecan't do that 5%.
But what I'm finding is thatthe more I try and keep her
waiting that 5%, the more shewants to prove she can do it and
(46:43):
fights me.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
Some people are not built for that, you know?
No exactly.
I mean, I can't sing, I'm not asalesman.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
I've got a stutter and I avoid, like I'm doing this
for you, but I avoid thesethings.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
And I thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
No, no, no I mean I'm very happy with her, but I
can't get her to accept that.
And I'll tell you I've had twocustomers that have been here
quite a few times that have sentme a message saying David, you
know, I came to the restaurant,the restaurant's quite full.
I sat in the seat waiting to bedealt with and your manager
(47:24):
came over and said you can't sitthere.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
Just that, yeah, he said that's so rude.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (47:30):
And he had a bit of a go at me and said you know
you've got to sort out yourcustomer care.
I said, yeah, I'm really sorry,I know we've got a problem with
this.
And he said, no, in my businessyou sack her.
And I said, well, I've gotloyalty to her, I can't do a
second, but I need to deal withit.
And he said, okay, I'll blockyou.
And I've had that with twopeople that were friends here at
(47:54):
the restaurant because of herand I need.
I'm dealing with it.
But that's my most stressfulthing when I come here right now
, because the food in fact thefood is one of the easiest
things to get right if you go toa restaurant?
Speaker 1 (48:08):
a restaurant, yeah, but I think also that also took
you time to reach oh yeah ittook six months at least.
Yeah, and you're still alwayschanging.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
I know we spoke about that and with Thai staff you
probably know this you changesomething, they do it and then
after a month they revert backto the old way.
So you've got to be on top ofit.
But I would say the food sideis much easier than the staff
side.
Okay, and actually times don'treally Okay.
(48:38):
So if you've lived your wholelife, you don't know how service
is in the States and Americansget the best level of service in
a restaurant they pay for it,they give big tips over us.
But best level of service in arestaurant, they pay for it,
they give big tips over us, butthey're used to that.
So if someone walks overwithout a smile, without seeming
that interested, it puts themin a bad mood straight away and
then if you get a problem, youget a much bigger problem.
(49:02):
And this Amy, this girl thatI've employed.
She's doing a brilliant job onthat and the other girls have
improved with her.
But I have this girl I'veemployed, she's doing a
brilliant job on that and theother girls have improved with
her.
But I have to deal with thisproblem.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
Let's see again what is this.
It is every about eating likefood or drinks or whatever.
Is like time to finishunderstand like um some kind of
(49:36):
people.
Okay, I can't say it.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
I had experience from um chicken crew normally so so,
yeah, some time they take likefor food they made from last
days, but they had to keep itand do for next day, okay, but
(50:04):
it depends on what food you aremaking and, of course, every
restaurant has something theyknow, oh, I can keep in the
fridge for the next day becauseit's okay, and something I
cannot.
But it very depends on what youcook.
For example, if you had a sushirestaurant, oh no, you cannot
do that.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's very logistical.
Especially, we've got 70 itemson the menu.
So it is very important the wayyou handle, the way you store,
the way you recognize whenyou've got a period of time you
can sell.
So it goes to waste and that'stricky as well.
So I would say the menu is theeasiest bit.
Maybe the operational side is alittle bit more difficult.
(50:46):
The staff is the most difficultthing.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
You know, I was always wondering when you have
such a big and rich menu as youhave in your restaurant, how
much product do you lose everyday?
Because I guess no one orderseverything.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, okay.
You try, and that's the problemwhen you first open.
If you have a big menu, whenyou first open you don't have
customers, you don't know what'sgoing to sell, you don't know
how much to take out, and as youtrade you become more aware of
what your average sales ofcertain things are.
So you know roughly how much toprepare and what to buy in, et
(51:27):
cetera.
Speaker 1 (51:29):
But I would say, starting off, that's really
difficult and sometimes you haveto start with big menu, right?
You cannot?
Speaker 3 (51:35):
just say oh, I have three kinds of steaks in fact, I
don't know if it's worked ornot, but when I started this, I
said to myself what do I lookfor in here, and I personally
like to have a girlfriend.
I like to myself what do I lookfor in here, and I personally
like to have a girlfriend?
I like to go somewhere that'snot like expensive, romantic,
but a little bit more romantic,a little bit nicer environment,
(51:55):
your place looks gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
I don't know if you designed it, but it's amazing,
thank you yeah, but it's stilllike it's or something.
It's kind of like the firsttime I came to your restaurant
with a friend of mine before Iknew you.
He said and he's an English guyhe said this is the most posh
place I've ever seen.
Oh, that's nice, and I didn'tknow what posh means.
(52:17):
You have to explain it to me,right, because I don't know the
slang over there, but it justgorgeous it's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (52:25):
Yeah, I mean, it's very nice.
You said that, but for me, forthis area which you know, if
you've got to rest on, most ofyour customers come to this area
.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
Again, we are talking about some soy linky.
Yeah, the whole soy bakaoregion.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
And the second, sorry , just to come back.
Yeah, so I had that in my mindto make it a place that you
would want to take a girlfriend.
Yeah, because I'd actuallystruggled before when I had a
girlfriend.
I want to go out in a sober cowand there was no restaurant
where I felt like it's slightlyromantic to sit with her.
(53:02):
So I had that in my mind and Ialso knew that when I go to a
restaurant, I like lots ofchoice, not because of me, but
when I go to a restaurant, Ilike lots of choice, not because
of me, but when you go with aThai lady, so often you find you
like something but they don'tlike anything on the menu.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
Most of the times, I just have to compromise on a
place that sells both foreignersand Thai food, but this is my
experience, and then if you gowith friends, there's even more.
Speaker 3 (53:29):
So choice, I always felt, is a really good thing to
have in a restaurant.
Yeah, I've been all my life.
I've been a consumer Me neitherbut the problem with choice.
And, funny enough, when I first, before I, opened one of the
top restauranteurs here, hecalled me and said David, if
that's your menu, take my advice, don't do it.
(53:50):
You can't have that many itemson the menu.
He said it in a nice way, buthe's like the top of fine dining
, right.
So he couldn't keep the veryhigh top level of fine dining
with a kind of mess thing.
But we've kind of I think wefound a way of getting close to
(54:15):
fine dining, but but being ableto put out lots of different
meals and plus, yeah, alsocompared to those high-end
restaurants.
Speaker 1 (54:23):
Right, your prices are yeah, oh great, right yeah
thank you I think you're rightin the middle.
Speaker 3 (54:30):
Yeah, I mean again.
I'm just trying to make anhonest profit that can pay the
wages, pay the electric andhopefully at the end of the year
have some profit.
Speaker 1 (54:44):
I remember a few years ago I came here to Pattaya
and me and a few other guyswent to a restaurant that I will
not name, but it's in the smallplaza in Soy Dayana.
I will not name the restaurant,and I wasn't paying for that
meal because one of the guyssaid he will pay for everyone.
(55:05):
We went there.
We were like five people.
The guys said he will pay foreveryone.
We went there.
We were like five people.
I think the bill was about13,000 or 15,000 baht and just
one dish, some side dish and adrink.
That's it.
It's so expensive sometimes.
And then you go to a restaurantlike yours or other restaurants
(55:27):
that I spoke about before andthe prices are down to earth us.
I know how much they make.
Speaker 3 (55:34):
I think that's a good , it's a good expression.
Yeah, but you know, obviously Ido feel we do better quality.
So compared to the like, the,the average kind of kind of
Steakhouse is here Steakhouse ishere.
No, I don't really mean that Imean there's loads of average
restaurants in this area,absolutely loads.
(55:55):
So if I do a restaurant forinstance if I do a 495, I'm more
expensive than probably 70-80%of people do it cheaper than a
495.
But they don't use the samebeef, they don't put as much on
the plate, they don't spend asmuch on the vegetables and the
quality of everything on theplate.
Speaker 1 (56:16):
And, as you said, the restaurant also looks less it
doesn't look like a place youwant to take someone to a date.
Speaker 3 (56:24):
Yes, and it also may be air-conditioned.
Yeah, of course that's veryimportant, but that was risky
because that's the first timeI've actually set something
where the price knowing theprice was high in the
competition.
But that's been the mostsuccessful thing because that
thing has changed the restaurantdoing a roast dinner on Sunday,
(56:44):
because so many people come andsay I've finally found a roast
dinner that is the quality thatI've had at home, or I, like you
, mean the Sunday roast and thenthey basically are totally
happy with the price,recommending it.
And I feel like you shouldn'tbe tempted to be the cheapest
(57:06):
and then cut your quality andthen you're in with everybody
else.
You shouldn't be tempted to bethe cheapest and then cut your
quality and then you're in witheverybody else.
You shouldn't be the mostexpensive, because honest.
You have to be honest and downto earth, I think yeah.
So everything I'm doing now,now I think that's the place to
be where the quality isobviously worth the extra money,
a little bit like if you boughta BMW where it's not the best
(57:27):
car in the world, but you knowyou can be confident.
Yeah, where, where?
Speaker 2 (57:28):
it's not the best car in the world, but but you know
you can be confident, yeah.
So, like I said, I everythingwhat we do.
So if you do from feeling, youdo from Heart, you have a heart
and honest, so yeah, it's gonnabe work.
Speaker 3 (57:44):
Yeah, yeah, you know you're right as well, because if
you do really suffer when youlet, well, because if you do
really suffer when you letsomeone down, if you do really
feel elated when someone gets itright and I know it's easy for
me to say, but if you're notdoing it for the financial gain
primarily, then I think thatdoes come across when you do it.
Also, the staff, because youknow I'm always letting my staff
(58:08):
off things and giving themextra money and things.
Speaker 2 (58:11):
It's like a.
Speaker 3 (58:12):
It's with them as well.
It comes across in the vibe Ofcourse, what you give, you get
back always.
Speaker 2 (58:17):
Yeah, I worked in a restaurant before I'm being a
staff in the restaurant.
And I have my noodle shop about.
Yeah, I make food, I do foodshop also, so my shop is like a
nearby school, young school, andyou know, like every every
(58:43):
afternoon around like 3 or 4o'clock they are finished
starting and go back home, rightyeah so many children in the
school I can say like around,like almost every, everyone in
school, every student that comeup to my shop and you know like
(59:04):
they take food, they I can'tfinish all my noodle and other
other food like in the one day,but I I doesn't know what is
going on because my mom did that, remember.
She made everything for themand here's it like.
And yet for food for children,you know just five but Tim, but
(59:26):
just a little and but yeaheveryone like children, many
children coming up and they sayhi to my mom, say hi to me it's
heartwarming yeah but I can'tsit like, I can't feel like from
mom and mom say, oh, wait to me, like if we do from feelings
and you do from heart, doesn'tmatter if you do for a concept,
(59:49):
but it's this delicious but Ifeel the effort and even the
loving, the fear, yeah that goesback to the a icon.
Speaker 3 (59:57):
So you had the start, was that?
Speaker 1 (59:59):
yeah, yeah, we're singing you, just yeah, yeah.
Anyway, david, first of all, Iwant to thank you so much for
being my, my pleasure and I hopeit was fun for you and it was
fun for me.
Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
It was an interesting conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
And another thing I want to again recommend everyone
that loves good steakhouse andSunday roast.
The menu is so bigger than that, so just check it out.
It's called the Flame inSoylinki.
Again, just give it a try.
Yeah, and again on anotherthing, I want to thank our
(01:00:35):
listeners.
Thank you for the support.
We really appreciate what youdid for us the last week and,
yeah, we, we will do our best toimprove on the sound points and
everything.
And again, if, if you want tosupport us, there is a link in
the show notes, in every way, itdoesn't matter if you're
Spotify, youtube, there is alink for support, and even just
(01:00:57):
clicking the share button isamazing, the like button is
amazing.
So thank you guys.
Bim.
Any closing words?
Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
Yeah, thank you for our listener and thank you for
David.
I'm very nice to see you todayit's first, it's the first time
me and you talk each otherbecause we see we see each other
before we never talk together.
It's first time.
Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
I'm very happy to see you and yeah by the way, she's
eating with us today.
Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
So yeah, it's the first time.
Yeah, is it?
8?
Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
o'clock yeah, I was panicking, I was thinking.
David, thank you very muchthank you, so much thank you
okay, bye, bye, bye, bye.
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