Money & Me: 'I set up my business with Dh700,000 in savings, a bank loan and a credit card:' Chef New

Restaurateur Patthama Chaklang (Chef New) expects Café Isan to survive the pandemic, but says her eat-in business has been hit hard

Patthama Chaklang, known as 'Chef New' to family and friends, opened Thai restaurant Café Isan in Dubai’s Jumeirah Lakes Towers in 2016. She had moved to Dubai on a visit visa in 2009 and used the money she'd saved through cooking and catering jobs to buy a partnership stake in the restaurant. The business partners spent upwards of Dh1 million setting up, but they have kept the restaurant going over the last four years. Ms Chaklang, 32, from Thailand expects the business to survive the pandemic, before expanding to new locations. She lives in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, while her 13-year-old son lives in Thailand.

How did your upbringing shape your attitude towards money?

I grew up in Pak Chong in rural Thailand. We were a poor family but our mum was hard-working and enterprising. She had several jobs, sometimes two or more at the same time – including working on a farm, at a construction firm, in a factory and cooking and selling food to her colleagues. So I learnt the value of money at a very young age. My mum taught me that the more you give, the more you get back later. That’s Buddhist philosophy, and that’s how my mum was. She’d cook extra food for people who didn’t have any, or give people things on credit. Later on, these people came back and helped her out when she needed it. It’s karma. Mum is still my biggest inspiration.

How much did you earn in your first job?

At the age of about seven or eight, I’d help my mum out with her farm job and she’d give me THB20 (Dh2.26) per day, or buy me new clothes or shoes as an incentive…. Read More

Lisa KnightMay 7, 2020