What are the most common businesses for foreigners in Thailand?

What are the most common businesses for foreigners in Thailand?

Moving to Thailand and starting your own business to be free from the chains of corporate life can sound like a dream come true for many. Just imagine yourself sitting in your very own beach bar, sipping cocktails, while your bikini clad waitresses are serving drinks to a never ending supply of customers. 

That’s pretty much where the dream stops and the reality begins though. Although beer bars have long been a popular choice of business for expats in Thailand, the innocence of newcomers to Thailand in what is actually required to start and run a successful bar has become somewhat of a cliche. 

Take a walk down Beach road in Pattaya and see the overwhelming amount of bars all looking pretty much the same as one another. Some of the more successful bars owned by foreigners are usually theme pubs or aimed at specific nationalities and sell more expensive imported beers or serve authentic meals from that particular country. 

Nevertheless, many foreigners each year still decide to take the plunge and buy a bar in Thailand as an investment. Done Deal has a number of bars for sale in Pattaya and other locations. Despite the negative comments you may receive in some popular social media groups, you can make a good living in Thailand as a bar owner if you have something unique to offer which is missing in the current market. 

If you have been successful in the pub trade back in your home country, then you stand an even better chance of running a successful bar here in Thailand. Be aware there are often ‘extra’ expenses involved to stay on the right side of the law but owning a bar in Thailand can still be a profitable business. 

Other popular businesses in the F&B industry include restaurants, cafes and food supplying to larger hotels and restaurants. As many restaurants and hotels want to be able to offer international dishes but do not have the expertise to produce these items such as bacon or english sausages or even meat pies and western style bread there is a market to supply them. 

How to start a bar or restaurant business in Thailand

If you are starting your bar or restaurant from scratch instead of buying an established business, then the first steps would be to find suitable premises, look at acquiring the necessary equipment and check which licences are required.

Some of the basic licences will be a liquor licence, the form for obtaining this licence is SOR. 2/64 and the cost at the time of writing this article is 8,250 baht. 

Because bars and restaurants are typically restricted businesses, you may need to obtain a foreign business licence which basically gives you an exception to the rule. In order to do this, you will need to show that your knowledge of your target market is required to run the business and it cannot be done by a Thai person.

Many bar and restaurant owners find it easier to set up a Thai limited company with their Thai partner or nominee shareholders and own the business through this company. It’s important to get expert advice on the best company structure before committing to any purchases or long term commitments. 

Starting a Real Estate business in Thailand

One of the most common jobs for foreigners in Thailand is Real Estate sales or lettings. It’s much easier for real estate agencies to be able to sell or rent properties to foreigners if they have someone who speaks their language and understands their culture. Many expats learn the business as an employee and then start their own real estate agencies once they know the ropes. 

There are no regulations in order to open a Real Estate business, you will of course need to understand Thai property ownership laws and have connections with the necessary government agencies. Most real estate agency owners hire experienced Thai staff to handle that side of the business and they focus on sales and customer service. 

Running a hotel or guesthouse in Thailand

Until recent years, many bars in Thailand used to make money from renting out rooms above the bar to backpackers and low budget tourists. With the changes to hotel licence requirements, this has become less frequent and has opened the doors for boutique hotels and guesthouses. We are seeing more and more foreigners who are married to Thais investing in a plot of land to build small resorts. Many of these resorts are outside the main tourist areas but close enough to make the journey into town not that tedious. As a foreigner in Thailand you can’t legally own land, however many get around this restriction by putting the land into their Thai spouses name or setting up a company to hold the land. There are a number of risks associated with these methods so it’s advisable to take expert advice before committing. 

Starting an online business in Thailand

Since the global pandemic in 2020, working from home and remote working has become commonplace in almost every industry. Even before that, major institutions such as banks and some financial institutions had used offshore call centres to handle their customer service. For the last decade or more, sales and marketing agencies have been popping up all over Thailand employing expats and selling products and services over the phone or online to customers in western countries. If you enquire about a product online and speak with an English guy over the phone to seal the deal, you don’t know whether they’re sitting in Bristol or Bangkok. This is how many companies can keep their overheads low by selling at western prices or just under but with a lot lower costs per employee. 

If you’re considering starting a call centre for sales or an online business in Thailand and employing expats to sell into western countries, then it would be a good idea to apply for BOI promotion so you don’t need to employ four thais for each work permit application. There are even foreign owned companies of this nature who employ more foreigners than Thai staff!

These are some of the most common businesses for foreigners in Thailand, others include web design agencies or digital marketing agencies either selling to the Thai market or international market, health and wellness centres such as yoga retreats or alternative therapy clinics.

If you’re thinking about buying a business in Thailand, check out the opportunities available on our businesses for sale page.