The Book House Coffee Shop & Restaurant

well done bookhouse on the expansion of the business, whereas a lot are selling up or just complaining you seem to be taking it in your stride and making it happen. expanding into selling frozen goods, a good move (i know of kpk) will it not cause friction with chern chim who also has his frozen goods sent from pattaya albeit a different supplier (western meats). maybe if you can get the dry goods in people will naturally eat and shop there. good to hear a sucess story. good luck

Yes well done! Will you be stocking frozen brussells sprouts as Carefore used to sell so many. Like other of their popular lines they don't bother to replenish their stocks.Many farlangs bought the sprouts regularly as this is not a vegetable that is only cooked for christmas.Any sunday roast and they are a treat.Let's hope you will be able to oblige.

Hey BB , thanks for the well observed comments and compliments -

we have no intention of stocking dry goods - period .. that market is already sewn up between CC and the other retail outlets in Udon . ie Tops , Macro ,

Beef and Wayne , from KPK and Western Wholesale were customers of mine for many years in my old printing company .( as was Jon from CC in several of his ventures ! Fatboys Jomtien being the 1st i think )
Beef ( Keith ) of KPK is a personal friend of many years also .

Beef called me some weeks ago and said he had some interest from an Udon Expat AND several restaurants to be the sole stockist / supplier of his goods and products . He told me as business is tight for all, he was considering having an agent here in Udon ( to boost his business ) and said he would prefer it to be me as we have known each other for many years and have always had a great working relationship .

we didnt really intend to sell our products uncooked .. ( everything we sell / will sell is already available on our menu ) but if i want to purchase at my same costs as present , rather than pay an inflated price through an agent i have no choice but stock KPK products BOTH COOKED on our menu and UNCOOKED from our freezers and become thier agent .

KPK makes his own sausages etc etc which are not available anywhere in Udon apart from ourselves , so i dont really see how that could be considered competition to anyone. it just gives people who wish to cook at home another option.

i wouldnt say we are successful after just a few months , but we , ( well Mrs L ) works and trys very hard to give customers a pleasant experience which seems to be showing through relating to the amount of business we are getting.
we just trying to make a simple living and lead a peaceful life in a land far far away


The Librarian

barbara's bush wrote:well done bookhouse on the expansion of the business, whereas a lot are selling up or just complaining you seem to be taking it in your stride and making it happen. expanding into selling frozen goods, a good move (i know of kpk) will it not cause friction with chern chim who also has his frozen goods sent from pattaya albeit a different supplier (western meats). maybe if you can get the dry goods in people will naturally eat and shop there. good to hear a sucess story. good luck

FRICTION !! none of that talk please - as my old gran use to say theirs nowt bad with a bit of healthy competition and as Libes has pointed out we have known each other for a long time and indeed his old business did quite a lot of printing jobs for me in my various ventures inc fatboys Jomtien (aaaah those were the days )..... so no bad feeling (indeed i still refer folks to the Bookhouse and i know Libes sends punters to CC inturn ) from this end BB i can a sure you. I cant see this developing into the sausage wars that shook Pattaya a few years back (true story)

HOWEVER BB you yourself do seem a tadge negative towards me and my business here in Udon and you are obviously batting for Libes at every chance SO to clear up some of the points you raise - im am in the fortunate position that im selling up to return to the UK and takeover my fathers business hence if CC sells tomorrow or next year i dont give a fig just go with the flow , the shop is mine and my sons home and i am quite happy with my life at the mo - not gonna get super rich but doing fine .

Good Luck Libes . Weve all got to make a living some how.

You guys are doing a great job with your Sunday carvings. Net and I came by today and were very pleased with the food. I would highly recommend it to anyone. One of the best values for a meal anywhere in Udon and super tastes. Glad we found your establishment.

i just wanted to clarify a point i made in an earlier post

the point was - we have no intention of stocking dry goods - period .. that market is already sewn up between CC and the other retail outlets in Udon . ie Tops , Macro ,

what i mean by that is - erm , we have no intention of stocking dry goods .......
the reason we dont want to stock dry goods/ tinned goods are various -

we dont want to run the risk of not being able to sell the products before the sell by date expires . out of date food often results in bad taste , soft biscuits etc etc .
we are avoiding any friction with other venues selling identical products
but most importantly , we are avoiding upsetting our main supplier by putting him in the position of asking him to supply us outside of his designated selling area . and thereby causing him conflict with his suppliers who grant areas to sell certain products . ( phew )

all we are doing differently will be selling our meat products supplied and manufactured by KPK Foods , uncooked as well as cooked ...

thats it - end of story

Librarian

Well explained Jeremy that pretty much sums it up , good luck with your new plans .

What ive found is when it comes to say take sausages if people like a certain sausage wether it be Kpk from the Bookhouse or Western meats or Bunters from Chern Chim thats the one they will buy , its down to customers individual tastes also obviously even taking into consideration the quality and price factors these come secondary to what the buyer likes taste wise , this applies to all foodstuffs if everyone liked to eat the same food all the shops would have the same grub made by the same suppliers..

chz jon

I live in Laos but frequently visit Udon mostly because i can get everything i need usually under one roof and without having to run all over vientiane , farang products that i crave are not necessarily cheaper in udon but i find the hassles that vientiane has for parking the car these days compared to a quick drive over to UT make shopping less of a #ucking chore , This last trip over i was impressed with the bookhouse and coffeeshop,i could not only order a meal for myself and the Lao missus but peruse the bookshelfs for some reading material to take back while i wait , enjoyed the steak i had and the missus liked her spaghetti,
Mission for the day accomplished Time to hit a few udon bars , see you next time librarian

got any plans to watch England on Saturday Night ?

we have, at the Bookhouse !!

some very dear friends of ours at the BookHouse , Carl and Ren are celebrating their birthdays on Saturday .
so to kill two birds with one stone so to speak , we are having a FREE BUFFET at the Bookhouse starting 7pm on Saturday as a Duel Birthday Party AND pre world cup food and drink fest !!

to show our appreciation of the business that Carl and Ren have given us at the BookHouse , we want to give something back - lots of FREE FOOD and a great atmosphere prior to the 1.30am Start of Englands world cup attempt.

everybody is welcome to join us . and we mean EVERYBODY !

the idea for the night is a 7pm Food Kickoff .. then leaving the BookHouse at about 10.30-11pm to go to the Sports Bar in Soi Sampan for a last hours drink .. then leaving the Sports Bar under the guidance of Steve ( owner ) at around midnight to go to hi tech .

Hi Tech have reputedly got the BIGGEST screen in Udon Thani to watch the world cup ..

i cant think of anything better than a group of like minded people in a foreign country , supporting our National Team , together .... can you >>?

Librarian and a very busy in the kitchen on Saturday Mrs L

see you all then !

Well done Jeremy, for organizing the plans for watching the World Cup on Saturday night.

Leave your cars and bikes at home if you are drinking . The BIB are planing late night catches during the world cup showings .

We have just been sponsored by Leo /Singha to be a licensed official broadcaster of the World Cup. ( official stickers and all )

home cable apparently are showing all the games but in Thai commentary only.

we contacted True to see about getting it installed in time for the World Cup , and they promised they could .. just as Mrs L was hanging up the phone i asked her to ask if it was going to be broadcast in English .. the answer was NO .. Thai commentary only on True .

We at the Bookhouse have managed to set up an internet system where we can Broadcast BBC and ITV World Cup Matches LIVE - in ENGLISH on our OUTSIDE large screen TV with surround sound !

see you soon

Librarian

We have just been sponsored by Leo /Singha to be a licensed official broadcaster of the World Cup. ( official stickers and all )

And the cheerleaders...? Leo/Singha girls ?

jingjai wrote:

We have just been sponsored by Leo /Singha to be a licensed official broadcaster of the World Cup. ( official stickers and all )

And the cheerleaders...? Leo/Singha girls ?

now your talking . that would be the ideal setting .
game ,, sex ,, and mash ..

Well I must say I have just had the Sunday Lunch at The bookhouse and it was fantastic. Excellent pork, roast potatoes, peas etc. Almost perfect.....except....

I was looking forward to the "Paxo Stuffing made with Sausage Meat" as advertised, but not on the plate.

Did you run out or something?

Not really complaining...just a comment. Great food.

Nick