Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand June / July 2017: The Business Issue | Page 57

Business
There’s an art to
creating and managing
places that are sexy and
stylish enough to draw
crowds.
—Justin Dunne
F
eel like sipping a cocktail at a
sprawling rooftop lounge to-
night? Bangkok’s nightlife ex-
perts have created dozens of sexy, sky-
high perches where you can curl up on
a sofa with an epic view of the city.
Prefer to cool off with a craft beer
in some intimate little hideaway?
The ever-growing number of Edison
bulb-lit bars and speakeasies all over
town have tables waiting for you.
We are spoiled for choices of
nightspots in this city. It’s easy, if
you’re so inclined, to discover that
you haven’t visited any of your favor-
ites in months because too many in-
teresting new ones keep on opening.
Which is lovely for us customers.
But what’s it like to run a business
and forge a solid career as a night-
life entrepreneur in a city where the
competition is so fierce and the ex-
pectations are so high?
The answer is as clear as a classic
martini: It’s exciting, but also really
challenging.
“Everyone is looking for the new
hot thing,” Minway Chi says, smiling
at the absurdity that even the best
nightspot quickly become yester-
day’s news here in Bangkok.
Chi is currently the “vice president
of drinking” at Bootleggers Trading
Co., according to his website. Sounds
pretty effortless, but it isn’t: He sat
down to talk with Wanderlust to dis-
cuss Bangkok’s nightlife industry over
a midday cup of coffee — a quick stop
during a busy workday that includ-
ed meetings, emails and poring over
spreadsheets. So much for the idea that
nightlife people get to sleep all day.
Chi and his team do everything
from importing and producing spirits
to consulting on drink menus, plan-
ning and executing nightlife events,
and teaching “spirits training” classes.
He’s also a skilled bartender with his
own hotspot in the works.
As this issue goes to print, details
on this new collaborative effort are
still under wraps. But Chi did divulge
that the bar will be in the Sathorn/
Silom area and will merge the laid-
back vibe of a New York dive bar with
next-level cocktails.
Chi isn’t alone in loving his work,
and he’s not alone in having a hectic
schedule that involves long, some-
times difficult days. “Like most ‘glam-
orous’ gigs, there’s less glamour than
you may think. Long hours. High
turnover. Late nights. Good-bye hol-
idays and weekends,” says Justin
Dunne, known for his work at such
Bangkok hangouts as the sexy Bed
Supper Club and equally sexy restau-
rant Namsaah Bottling Trust.
But, Dunne says, “there’s tremen-
dous joy in seeing people have a
good time and knowing that you
helped contribute to those smiles.”
So what goes into succeeding in
such a competitive industry? Here’s
what I learned by talking business
with some of Bangkok’s professional
party experts:
DON’T FOLLOW A
TRADITIONAL PATH
None of the nightlife entrepreneurs
we interviewed have taken a pre-
dictable road to success. It’s not
an industry that prioritizes order-
ly management training programs
nor a required route from one lev-
el to the next. That’s exciting, but
it also requires the willingness to
take risks and a fair amount of good
serendipity.
Ronnaporn “Neung” Kanivichaporn
was an actor and TV host when he
began falling in love with what’s now
called “mixology.” When he was asked
in 2011 to emcee the Diageo World
Class bartending competition, he
didn’t mind that he’d been chosen
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