Dr. Pizza

 

Dr. Pizza.

When I first came to Cho-Ho (Korat), in 2002, it was a small village with only a few people and almost no foreigners. Only 1 restaurant (a shop with a few wicker chairs and tables) which was also the local bar; A shop with a fax machine and a printer selling office items; A small shop selling food and drinks.

In 2003, a Swiss guy came to live in Khorat, together with his Thai wife. I meet him and his wife at the local restaurant and his wife was talking opening a shop and make her own income. She was planning to open a "Massage" shop, a job she had been doing in Phuket where they had meet each other. A few days later, she opened her massage shop, obviously sponsored (paid) by her Swiss husband.

Everything went well, except that the Thai people could not afford a message at the prices she was asking and the few foreigners were not interested in a massage which they could get for free from their own wife. After a few weeks, having no customers, she closed her "Massage" shop.

A few months passed and one day the Massage shop opened again, but now it was a Barber/Beauty shop for woman. She had printed advertising and was distributing it to the village. I passed the shop a few times, but there were no customers. After a few weeks, having no customers, she closed her Barber/Beauty shop.

The Swiss guy, having invest a lot of money in the 2 shops without getting anything back, decided that it was time to do everything at his own idea.

A few weeks later, a "Super Duper Internet Cafe" opened. High swiveling chairs with the highest comfort; The latest and best Computers; A fast ADSL Internet connection; And a coffee shop with snacks.

At the opening, he was offering "Free internet hours" to attract customers.

Unfortunately, most Thais were poor farmers with no interest in "Computers" and zero knowledge about what the Internet was about. They only knew how to cultivate their rice and handle their cattle.
The few foreigners had their own computers and had no interest in his Internet Cafe.
After a few weeks, having no customers, he closed his Internet shop.

Apparently, his savings were up, and he went on a trip to Switzerland to look for help form his family.
After a month, the Swiss guy came back.
A few days later, some local people started to build a furnace outside his Internet Cafe and a week later a Pizza Stove was build.

The computers and all his Internet material was sold and replaced by quality tables and chairs and local builders were decorating the interior to an Italian restaurant.

In the mean time, the population of Cho-Ho and the Foreign community had grown to about 1000 citizens. A Thai restaurant with cheap prizes had opened, "Blue Steak", and a 7/11 shop was catering the first needs.

The Swiss guy opened his pizza shop, "Dr. Pizza", and a few foreigners visited his restaurant.
But his prizes were too high for most foreigners and they chose to eat Pizzas and Pasta at the Blue Steak for about 1/3th of his prizes.

About 1 year later, the Swiss guy moved to Bangkok and joined a business with a few other foreigners.
The pizza shop remained open a few years, but was finally closed due to the lack of customers.