Bangkok Samurai - Coming Soon

Well folks, this is going to be quite the adventure. Perhaps a never ending one but at a minimum a learning experience to remember. A few of you know that I've been wanting to open my own restaurant for some time. At 32, I still think I'm too young - need more experience but an opportunity popped onto my lap that I couldn't refuse. So, with that being said some friends and I are opening a restaurant soon. It's called Bangkok Samurai - Thai and Japanese Cuisine. Yes, my partners are Thai and they will be taking care of the Thai side while I take care of the Japanese side - more specifically, sushi.

We signed the lease last week and have been frantically hunting down distributors for food, equipment and everything else in between. Needless to say, it's been one long week! There are not enough hours in the day so I've been living on about 3 hours of sleep a night and still working full-time.

We decided to have some construction completed so although I'm aiming for an opening the first week in April, realistically I've been told June. We'll see how this goes! Hehehehehe.

So this is what the restaurant looks like now. We still need the construction crew to come in and make a sushi bar. Then we'll install the equipment. It's a really small place - maybe seating for 30-36 people. The downside is we cannot serve alcohol... the city requires 2 restrooms for any establishment that serves alcohol and we only have one. But I'm sure we'll be okay without it.

We decided to keep the drapery. It's kinda cool looking. The previous business was only open for 6 months before then went out of business. It's a fairly new building - just a few years old. Two businesses have been here in the 1 1/2 years since it's been constructed, so our odds are a bit tough. But we keep thinking optimistically the third time is the charm. I know with the economy not very good, it'll be even more difficult opening a restaurant and it might not be the smartest thing but it's a risk we're willing to take. There are so many restaurants going out of business, there are a lot of leases available and perhaps less competition.