hey brother, I want to thank you for all the t'shirts you brought me. I still wear them!
frank
- Thread starter PeterInBrat
- Start date
Jose OShay owner retiring!
hey brother, I want to thank you for all the t'shirts you brought me. I still wear them!
frank
Great time to sell, as for buying a beach bar...
This is a great time to sell a beach bar in Cabarete. *Why? *I have never seen it slower in Cabarete in the 13 years I have been here. *I don't just mean traditionally "the slow months" like this time of year, I mean year over year, business has slowed tremendously. *Blame "the lost decade" in the world economy, *the costs of air fares, Punta Cana's growth, and the building of condos rather than hotel rooms in this region. *All of those have hurt Cabarete regarding tourism and it has never been slower. *
From a personal perspective, the only musicians able to get gigs are solo artists and the occasional duo. *One of the guys playing at Jose Oshays recently wanted to play so much, he played there for free. *The normal pay pretty much amounted to playing for free.*
I did go to Jose Oshays one time in my 13 years living in Cabarete. *Best of luck to the new owner.*
This is a great time to sell a beach bar in Cabarete. *Why? *I have never seen it slower in Cabarete in the 13 years I have been here. *I don't just mean traditionally "the slow months" like this time of year, I mean year over year, business has slowed tremendously. *Blame "the lost decade" in the world economy, *the costs of air fares, Punta Cana's growth, and the building of condos rather than hotel rooms in this region. *All of those have hurt Cabarete regarding tourism and it has never been slower. *
From a personal perspective, the only musicians able to get gigs are solo artists and the occasional duo. *One of the guys playing at Jose Oshays recently wanted to play so much, he played there for free. *The normal pay pretty much amounted to playing for free.*
I did go to Jose Oshays one time in my 13 years living in Cabarete. *Best of luck to the new owner.*
Never been to OShay?s. Perhaps will make a trip up within next month to have a beer.
I'll take playa Cabarete over any place on the east coast. Trying to convince mi esposa it's worth the daylong trip.
I'm just going to add one more thing about trying to run a business in the DR.
Imagine trying to compete with businesses all around you who are paying little to no taxes. Look at all of the small bars on the other side of Highway 5 selling beers & drinks for a little over cost. They're not charging 18% tax, plus the 10% Ley. Some of them are not paying employee insurance and Severance pay. Many of them carry few staff, and some of them rotate their staff's every 3-months in order to not pay any employee insurance.
A lot of places are flying completely under the radar.
Some of the places don't even have a computer that rings things up, itemizes sales, and records each sale. Therefore, they are not paying the 18% taxes, and 10% Ley. They just have hand-written receipts. When you see a business giving out hand-written receipts, you better have some fuc^&*ing common sense about you.
The problem is that most people do not know, or they don't care. And why should they? They just want a good deal on their drink! They don't care about taxes, staff insurance, Severance Pay, Double pay in December, Generators, electricity theft, etc. That's not their problem, nor should it be their problem.
Is every business paying their fair share of taxes? Is every business doing what's right? Look at how few places have staffs that have been with them 10, 12, and 14 years! Look at how many businesses go through large turn-overs of staff. Few places keep staff around very long. The severance pay alone is 10% each year, for each employee. When you see a business going through a lot of staff, you should have red flags coming up in your head.
Is every business paying the staff's insurance? Nope, they just let people go before their 3-month trial period so that they don't have to pay for their insurance. Do you think all businesses are setting aside 10% of the Severance Pay? Of course not.
And that's why so many places can sell a beer or drink at just barely over cost.
In a third world country, like the DR, there is little to no infrastructure, and therefore, there is little to no government agencies walking around and enforcing the laws. No one is walking up and down the street "Auditing" each business and making sure that they are paying all of their taxes and meeting the requirements of the law. The Dominican government threatens to do this. They talk about doing this. In some places, like in Santo Domingo, they have started to do this. But imagine you are a Chinese restaurant in Santo Domingo, and you are trying to compete with other Chinese restaurants on the same street. But none of the restaurants are charging the 18% tax, and the 10% Ley, and therefore, they are selling food much cheaper then you are because you are paying all of the taxes and trying to do what's right. How are you going to compete with their prices when you are trying to do things the "legal" way.
You cannot compete. And you will not compete.
You cannot compete with, for example, the "Blue Bar" directly across the street from Onno's who is selling drinks at 50% of the price of all the other bars across the street from them. Many people have the audacity to come into Onno's, Lax O'Shay's, etc with their Styrofoam cups from the Blue Bar and say, "How can you charge so much for a drink when i can get the same drink across the street at the Blue Bar for half the price!"
What do you say to that? You cannot start going into explanations about government taxes, insurance requirements, Severance pay, Double pay in December, laws, etc. "Ain't nobody got time for that!"
I've had dozens and dozens of expats (people who live in the DR)--Canadians, Americans, Italians, Germans, English, French...you name it...even Barrick Gold Mine employees and wives come in and say to me, "I can get this same beer down th beach for $30 pesos less!" They would actually get angry at us for charging taxes! Taxes!
People will actually come into businesses on the beach and say things like, "I'm not paying any taxes! I don't pay these taxes in Sosua, Sabeneta, Gaspar Hernandez, Cofresi, Cabrera, etc...just fill in the blank. Many people actually believe that there are no Dominican taxes. None. Zero.
Peopel get upset and will argue if you try to charge them taxes. They simply do not believe it. They absolutely refuse to believe it!
Some businesses have computers in place; they record every sell. They print out the 18% tax and the 10% Ley. But many places do not. They fly underneath the radar. They're small businesses. If all, or most, of your business transactions are with these places that are hand-writing receipts and not collecting taxes, then imagine your surprise when you walk into a business for the first time and get hit with the 18% tax, 10% ley?
Frank
Imagine trying to compete with businesses all around you who are paying little to no taxes. Look at all of the small bars on the other side of Highway 5 selling beers & drinks for a little over cost. They're not charging 18% tax, plus the 10% Ley. Some of them are not paying employee insurance and Severance pay. Many of them carry few staff, and some of them rotate their staff's every 3-months in order to not pay any employee insurance.
A lot of places are flying completely under the radar.
Some of the places don't even have a computer that rings things up, itemizes sales, and records each sale. Therefore, they are not paying the 18% taxes, and 10% Ley. They just have hand-written receipts. When you see a business giving out hand-written receipts, you better have some fuc^&*ing common sense about you.
The problem is that most people do not know, or they don't care. And why should they? They just want a good deal on their drink! They don't care about taxes, staff insurance, Severance Pay, Double pay in December, Generators, electricity theft, etc. That's not their problem, nor should it be their problem.
Is every business paying their fair share of taxes? Is every business doing what's right? Look at how few places have staffs that have been with them 10, 12, and 14 years! Look at how many businesses go through large turn-overs of staff. Few places keep staff around very long. The severance pay alone is 10% each year, for each employee. When you see a business going through a lot of staff, you should have red flags coming up in your head.
Is every business paying the staff's insurance? Nope, they just let people go before their 3-month trial period so that they don't have to pay for their insurance. Do you think all businesses are setting aside 10% of the Severance Pay? Of course not.
And that's why so many places can sell a beer or drink at just barely over cost.
In a third world country, like the DR, there is little to no infrastructure, and therefore, there is little to no government agencies walking around and enforcing the laws. No one is walking up and down the street "Auditing" each business and making sure that they are paying all of their taxes and meeting the requirements of the law. The Dominican government threatens to do this. They talk about doing this. In some places, like in Santo Domingo, they have started to do this. But imagine you are a Chinese restaurant in Santo Domingo, and you are trying to compete with other Chinese restaurants on the same street. But none of the restaurants are charging the 18% tax, and the 10% Ley, and therefore, they are selling food much cheaper then you are because you are paying all of the taxes and trying to do what's right. How are you going to compete with their prices when you are trying to do things the "legal" way.
You cannot compete. And you will not compete.
You cannot compete with, for example, the "Blue Bar" directly across the street from Onno's who is selling drinks at 50% of the price of all the other bars across the street from them. Many people have the audacity to come into Onno's, Lax O'Shay's, etc with their Styrofoam cups from the Blue Bar and say, "How can you charge so much for a drink when i can get the same drink across the street at the Blue Bar for half the price!"
What do you say to that? You cannot start going into explanations about government taxes, insurance requirements, Severance pay, Double pay in December, laws, etc. "Ain't nobody got time for that!"
I've had dozens and dozens of expats (people who live in the DR)--Canadians, Americans, Italians, Germans, English, French...you name it...even Barrick Gold Mine employees and wives come in and say to me, "I can get this same beer down th beach for $30 pesos less!" They would actually get angry at us for charging taxes! Taxes!
People will actually come into businesses on the beach and say things like, "I'm not paying any taxes! I don't pay these taxes in Sosua, Sabeneta, Gaspar Hernandez, Cofresi, Cabrera, etc...just fill in the blank. Many people actually believe that there are no Dominican taxes. None. Zero.
Peopel get upset and will argue if you try to charge them taxes. They simply do not believe it. They absolutely refuse to believe it!
Some businesses have computers in place; they record every sell. They print out the 18% tax and the 10% Ley. But many places do not. They fly underneath the radar. They're small businesses. If all, or most, of your business transactions are with these places that are hand-writing receipts and not collecting taxes, then imagine your surprise when you walk into a business for the first time and get hit with the 18% tax, 10% ley?
Frank
So Frankie,
You didn't include the unbelievable Thanksgiving all you can eat/drink dinner with Butterballs. Quality meal.
I hope Big Frank enjoys his retirement.
RV
You didn't include the unbelievable Thanksgiving all you can eat/drink dinner with Butterballs. Quality meal.
I hope Big Frank enjoys his retirement.
RV
Jose O'Shays, obviously a stand-up, well-run organization who follows the rules---as they should---would benefit from collecting proof of scofflaws and turning them in to DGII in an effort the level the playing field.
There is no "free market" until all are playing by the same rules.
There is no "free market" until all are playing by the same rules.
Makes it easier to sell a business if you can show a history.....
To say nothing of the compliance issue Frankie G is talking about.
You are confident the gov't won't shut you out the first month.
To say nothing of the compliance issue Frankie G is talking about.
You are confident the gov't won't shut you out the first month.
100% agree if you're selling a cash flow stream.
Selling assets? Different animal.
Bottled beer is a loss leader even in the US~ fighting over the few pesos isn't worth it. Charge what you want for beer, then focus on premium mixed drinks, esp frozen drinks. Frank took me to a place down the beach a year ago and they did that. I doubt they sell more than 20 beers a night but well over 100 mojitos. One mojito makes a LOT more profit than a beer.
exactly!!! which is what makes me wonder how Dominican bars stay in business, because if it is not a beer, it is a servicio of rum with a bottle of chaser. i cannot see how they can make payroll selling all that beer...
Around here, the big colmado on the corner is the local bar. The booze is just gravy. They've had two free concerts in the last six months.
The clubs here in Hig?ey have the bartenders buy all the booze through a hole in the wall. Late afternoons, there's 25 bartenders and 15 customers. I don't think the money is from the booze! Another place has a liquor store within the club. No table service at all. 500 pesos for a bottle of Barcelo then 100 pesos for a 911 for a table of four is the norm. Last time we went on a Sunday and there were over 500 ppl. We were lucky to get a table.
The clubs here in Hig?ey have the bartenders buy all the booze through a hole in the wall. Late afternoons, there's 25 bartenders and 15 customers. I don't think the money is from the booze! Another place has a liquor store within the club. No table service at all. 500 pesos for a bottle of Barcelo then 100 pesos for a 911 for a table of four is the norm. Last time we went on a Sunday and there were over 500 ppl. We were lucky to get a table.
Frank,
Congratulations on the sale of your business and your well deserved retirement. I've frequented your bar for seven winters and brought many of my Newfoundland friends there to enjoy the good food and great atmosphere. Always enjoyed St. Patrick's Day celebrations emmensely. Made me feel like I was in the bars in downtown St. John's Newfoundland on any Friday night. As we say in Newfoundland, "Long may your big jib draw".
Congratulations on the sale of your business and your well deserved retirement. I've frequented your bar for seven winters and brought many of my Newfoundland friends there to enjoy the good food and great atmosphere. Always enjoyed St. Patrick's Day celebrations emmensely. Made me feel like I was in the bars in downtown St. John's Newfoundland on any Friday night. As we say in Newfoundland, "Long may your big jib draw".
I had the pleasure of meeting Big Frank, and little Frank (Sorry bud, but you are little)
Great personality, loved talking to him....
We had a great night of boozing and playing around with the beautiful women that were all around us......(well when you combine my presence and his charisma......deadly......fagetaboudit!)
Spent 2 weeks there last Oct....had a blast!!
Totally loved overpaying for everything.....
The place is Awesome!!!!
Great personality, loved talking to him....
We had a great night of boozing and playing around with the beautiful women that were all around us......(well when you combine my presence and his charisma......deadly......fagetaboudit!)
Spent 2 weeks there last Oct....had a blast!!
Totally loved overpaying for everything.....
The place is Awesome!!!!
Oh...
I agree....
I met a whole bunch of those loosers.....
Living the life on 1200 bucks a month.....