I am currently in the restaurant business here in San Francisco, but plan to move back to Taiwan to raise our baby and start another restaurant concept in Taiwan.
Both my wife and I are bilingual and bi cultural and wife was born in Taiwan therefore still has all records on file and has passport and can live in Taiwan, where as I am foreign born and do not have a ROC passport.
My questions are: for a foreigner what conditions and or qualifications are necessary for me to start a business in Taiwan? and will I have the privilege to reside in Taiwan without leaving the country every 3 months or 6 months with extension, since I am married to a ROC national?
Furthermore, any feedback or suggestions for people that have experience in opening a restaurant or know someone that has experience, I would love to hear from them.
I am wanting to meet anyone in the food service arena, and possibly form a group of professional gatherings that meet regularly.
thank you for any useful comments,
[quote=“riceisnice2011”]and will I have the privilege to reside in Taiwan without leaving the country every 3 months or 6 months with extension, since I am married to a ROC national?
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I do not know much, what I know I tell ya. And that is you being married to a ROC national, if that national resides in Taiwan, will get you an ARC which will be extended, so no Visa run necessary. Sorry did not read all probably so maybe you said where the ROC national lives.
Unless you’re planning to open your restaurant in an area with lots of expats, you might want to do some market research before you start. Are you willing to change your recipes to appease local tastes? Do you have an open mind about the use of, say, corn?
Anybody opening a restaurant catering soley to expats will fail. Who needs to be an in area full of expats. There are plenty of very succesful local restaraunts that are packed
where you rarely ever seen an expat. You can have a succesful business not catering at all soley to expats.
Also what type of investment capital does the OP have. Wendels in Neihu cost close to NT$30 million to outfit but caters to some expats but most of their business is local based even though its a German Bakery and restaurant. On the other hand some restaurants on the cheap can be done for NT$3 million or less.
As for residency the OP might want to look at the Visa section of the forum
looks like things are final for us moving back to Taiwan, do you have any contacts in the architect, design and construction field?
I am planning to get a cost estimate for a small cafe build out in Taiwan?
besides this forum, any other sites you would recommend for market research and understanding trends in Taiwan?
As with everything in Taiwan, I think the best resource is connections. Find people, no matter how distant – friends of friends’ uncles, relatives who haven’t seen you since you had your baby teeth – as long as they’re in the industry you want to learn about, that’s your admittance ticket.
Something you should know is the overhead is really high for the most cosmopolitan parts of Taipei, and since the price of goods here isn’t, it could be a while before you break even. Word of mouth is the most effective advertising campaign… well that and an “exclusive” report from one of the garbage TV news stations. Whatever you do, you don’t have to do it well, you just have to make people think you’re doing it well. Plenty of the most “famous” eats in the country do not live up to the hype, but that doesn’t stop the crowds form coming in and lying to themselves.
By the way, the reason people said you can’t cater solely to expats is because they’re too few and the expat community is constantly changing.
Best of luck, and let us know when and where it’s open!
My take on the restaurant scene here is that food aimed at Western tastes does just fine. Look at Friday’s and Chili’s for example. Western restaurants are popular places for “special” meals and get-togethers for classmates and coworkers, or for those with money that think they’re happening places to see and be seen. Those crappy German beer restaurants are a good example. The beer is so so and the food’s not very good, but everyone has on cute little uniforms and the place provides an attractive ambiance in prime locations. Environment and affect are primary, food is secondary.
This is spot on in my experience. Changing recipes to suit local tastes just puts you in competition with the 95% of average same-old, same-old beef noodle and fried rice places. Even greasy spoon eateries with home-style western meals like Granma Nitties and the G’day Cafe are packed to the rafters with locals. Try getting a seat a NY Bagels at lunch time…
The key to a successful restaurant is to do what you do well, not copying what the locals are used to.
Locals put corn on their pizza because they don’t understand pizza culture, but they still buy cornless pizza if you put it out there, and if it tastes good, they’ll come back for more. If fact, I can think of a bunch of restaurants that don’t put corn or mayonnaise on their pizzas and they are all very successful.
totally agree, do somethings that is true and original to the product, otherwise how are you to distinguish yourself from the masses? One thing i can not avoid and no longer fear is the plentiful of copycats out there, “imitation is the best form of flattery…” in terms of food offerings it maybe easier to appeal to the masses, but there will be no competitive advantage competing with the cut throat local vendors and eateries. I think the secret to opening a successful restaurant is timing and offering a quality product more so than a value based product as the local demographics appreciate quality. The proprietary knowledge has to be unique where it can not be easily duplicated, due to the ever changing food trends and emerging brands entering and wanting to compete, the concept must be able to sustain itself long term and not be another 6 month shelf life statistic.
@riceisnice2011 - So what other info did you find out about opening a restaurant? What are the starting cost for a foreigner, I personally know that the TW govt makes it much easier for locals to start a biz.restaurant than it is for a foreigner. What else have you found out? Maybe me can meet up for a discussion?!!
Well, this friend of mine, married to a local, had taken over a little restaurant with 3 other parties, them being Taiwanese. Had the place for 0.75 Million NT or so, but it had only for tables. Had it running for a while, made very minor profit because of size and customers being used to a low price. One of the three parties finally took over the place alone; friend made a little profit.
Entirely different circumstances though.
