The Factory Pub & Restaurant

Zidane wrote:I see that The Factory is advertised as being up for sale on Udon Map.
Bit of a surprise as they seem to be one of the few farang restaurant/bars in Udon that seems to be doing quite well.
We always enjoy going there.Food is excellent and not expensive at all.
It would be a shame if it closed IMO.Anyone know if Rene and his Thai missus are planning on relocating anywhere ?

Yes siree, you hit the nail on the head why they are closing, 'cheap prices' to cater for cheap eaters. It does not work if your catering for Udon farangs.

Right Cryptic nailed it,
You cannot sell fish & chips at 69 Bt and Leo beer at near to cost in a sit down restaurant and expect to stay in business, even KFC charge more than that for chicken & chips.
Unless, of course you have substantial volume, like for instance Mare yaa has.

Unfortunately most of the western restaurants here are focusing on minimizing price rather that trying to provide decent value for money. As I said, I can do better at home, apart from the occasional trip to the Clock which achieves a good compromise between quality and price, home is where I eat.

I did try the Factory some time ago, service was very polite but less that prompt and the food while undeniably cheap, it just wasn't for me, way to much salt and the pork I had would have been a bit of a challenge if I had false teeth.
But as they say, ya can't please everybody and I am a bit particular about my food, probably because I am not English.

I agree. Most of the farang restaurants in town aren't worth a visit because all they provide is cheap food poorly done. Over the years I've been mostly disappointed with the food, service, and ambiance.

I eat at home most of the time because there are few places with American food as good as I can do for myself. If I want Thai, Vietnamese or Chinese I can eat with my family.

I've never visited The Factory and in all likelihood never will.

Zidane wrote:I see that The Factory is advertised as being up for sale on Udon Map.
Bit of a surprise as they seem to be one of the few farang restaurant/bars in Udon that seems to be doing quite well.
We always enjoy going there.Food is excellent and not expensive at all.
It would be a shame if it closed IMO.Anyone know if Rene and his Thai missus are planning on relocating anywhere ?

I know the current French owner of "The Factory" whose first name is Alain (same first name, but he's not the French coffee roaster in Udon Thani whom I spoke about in another thread!), not René, and as far as I know, he's not selling his bar (I can ask him directly the question the next time I see him). Another nice guy and he still proposes inexpensive and rather decent meals and drinks at his pub / restaurant, indeed.

Goyave,mon ami,
I wrote that on the 15th March !!! Rene sold The Factory to Alain at the end of that month and he is still the owner.
What do you think France's chances are of winning the 1998 World Cup ??

Zidane wrote:Goyave,mon ami,
I wrote that on the 15th March !!! Rene sold The Factory to Alain at the end of that month and he is still the owner.

Oops! My bad! I didn't know the previous owner (René) and have met the current one (Alain) only a few months ago. The good news is that information about the reasonable prices at The Factory is still accurate.

Zidane wrote:What do you think France's chances are of winning the 1998 World Cup ??

Thanks to you (amongst other players), they are pretty good, I guess...

TJ wrote:Their menu has American Fried Rice. This is fried rice with ketchup added, maybe with some raisens. Apparently, this version was served to G.I.'s during the Vietnam war and has remained popular.

Can't say that anybody in Udorn or Nakhon Phanom every tried to sell me anything that awful in 74-75.

new-bar-in-udon-opening-party-t16925.html

If any of the original customer base needed to know what happened.