⌛ Trying to find out more about your City.

Hello everyone.

My name is Heinz Schirmaier and I have just become a new Member. I presently live in the City of Vancouver, Washington, USA which is right accross the Columbia River from Portland Oregon.

I am a retired businessman looking for new challenges and adventures. I am of German heritage as you can tell, but now an American. I have been active on the (website removed, due board policy) and have met a very intelligent and beautiful business woman from your city.

She thinks that opening a Internet Cafe' as a business might be the way to go, but my specialty is the Restaurant / Bar business. I just wonder which of the two would be more challenging or needed in your city. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. My E-Mail is
thanking you in advance.

 

Welcome Heinz.

Well, you have probably chosen the two most competitive (wurst?) businesses to try in Dumaguete, and neither are we in need of more of, so either will be quite challenging, I assure you. I hope you have a steady income from overseas.


Larry

 

Hello Heinz,

welcome to DI. Here my 2 cents (worth some millions if you follow them .. )

you definitely don't want to compete with the 3,8 Million internet cafe's in Duma, unless you look for a way to get rid of your money. (there are other DI-members who tried that).

Restaurant and Bar might be a better Idea, but both of them are a huge challenge.

Whatever you do, never, and I will repeat NEVER and once more NEVER and NEVER (for the last time) ,give your money to a "philippine business woman" met on a page you mentioned (where I needed to remove the name)

You wanna run a business, run it by yourself, have control over it in terms of being here and do YOUR way of business ALL the time, or have a western guy as a partner doing that for you.

did I forget to say: NEVER !!!

If you have too much money give it to me, at least I get many hang-overs from it, (I will post pictures here to proof) and your money does not disappear somewhere in weird channels...

sounds hard, but is the reality.

cheers

Rhoody

 

Trust the advice you read on these boards. Many of us have already been down those roads and have tilted at the windmills you now are spying. The rewards from a relationship with a sweet Filipina are many however, the pitfalls are indeed real and many have been humbled and broken by feelings posing as needs.

Many of these women are masters of the con and using emotions of a lonely guy to exploit their kindness and generosity. It is hard as trying to improve a life and help one who in fact does deserve helping is very intoxicating. However, wait until you arrive and live here before taking that plunge into the deep end of the pool.

For now just stay in the shallow area and enjoy life and the company of a Filipina. If her desires and feelings are real, she will wait and be content until you are closer to monitor EVERYTHING with a stern but loving stance.

Good luck,

- The Outcast

 

Both really are stuff to compete, But very thing boils down down to how good the management is. About Restaurant since this is your plus point I suggest you stick to this, you just need to have a feasibility study about the location, buying capacity and etc. Well I have no Restaurant experience so far. But I have been running a small time icafe for 5 years, and it's a stuff business to survive, I need to lower the overhead as much as i can to be able to save and compete because every now and then each year new internet shops open with new model of hardware, low power consumption and more productive system.

Rhoody is right never trust your money to anyone as easy as talking on the net, do your home work well before getting into, as a local am telling you it is better to be safe than later on being scam. Just a little tip from me :D

 

business

Hi,
I just want to put my short two-cents worth in....if you want to open something that has absolutely no competition here.....let me tell you: AUTHENTIC Mexican Restaurant!! And, it would do AWESOME business, I promise you that!! But, you would have to have AUTHENTIC mexican food...not the mexican food that is passed off as mexican food here in the Philippines. I went to a mexican restaurant and ordered an enchilada and was so disappointed when they brought me a burrito....that is their version of an enchilada!!
Internet cafes are everywhere, I think that would be a tough one......just my thoughts, though.
Good-Luck!!
Marie

 

And just in case you were thinking of it, I do not believe Dumaguete needs another Alpine themed restaurant unless you guys really enjoy competing with each other. But maybe you have money to burn. If so, have fun, but do think of donating some of your cash to Rhoody for his advice which really is coming from his heart and thirsty tonsils.

 

Marie, that is an advice what definitely will not work in Dumaguete for the next couple of years. People from here are not willing to spend money on good food. The few who do so are not enough to keep a business going. There have been plenty examples in the City before.

As long groups of people changing the pub because happy hour is 5 minutes longer there is now way to make a living out of any kind of authentic food.

We all have our "wishful thinking" about food, but specially in Duma you won't find enough guests to keep that running.

 

just my 2 cents

Just my 2 cents worth after my observations, and comments made to me in private from several members regarding the same. Like I said....just my thoughts.....I don't think Dumaguete or anyplace else in the Philippines for that matter, needs another internet cafe, restaurant, or bar.....but at least nobody is doing real mexican food here, it would stand a chance....if it were good.
Marie

 

there have been people who tried that (not only mexican cuisine)

Again, many people telling what they "really"want. When it comes to pay the appropriate price for the service offered (not only food) the crowd melts down faster than the speed of light...

anyway Mexican food: Biker Dave at private Garden , MikesResort in Dauin , so not that much of a new idea :-)

Dumaguete needs first enough people who are willing to pay for what they receive, after that we can talk about good restaurants. I won't break down the population here into groups again, but Dumaguete is not really that "big" anymore when you take away the students and the retired expat who need to live for less than 1000 $US.