What should I check before buying a Thai restaurant?

A Thai restaurant’s flavour comes from a handful of sauces, pastes and cooking habits, and a buyer is purchasing the ability to repeat them. Start there. Ask to taste the food on a busy night and a quiet one, sit in the kitchen if the seller allows it, and ask who would still be standing at the stove after the sale. The questions below follow that thread.

Pastes, sauces and who makes them

Ask whether the curry pastes and sauces are made in the kitchen or bought from a supplier. House-made pastes are a selling point, but they only carry over if the recipes exist on paper and a second person can make them. Bought pastes are simpler to continue, though the buyer should confirm that the supplier will keep serving a new owner on the same terms. Our page on whether recipes come with a restaurant covers what to put in writing.

The cook behind the wok

Many Thai kitchens lean on one wok cook or one curry cook whose timing and seasoning customers recognize. Find out who that person is, how long they have worked there and whether they plan to stay. Ask whether the owner is the cook. If so, the buyer should expect to learn the kitchen or hire someone who can run it, and should plan for the weeks while the food may taste different.

Imported ingredients and suppliers

Thai menus often use ingredients that come through specialty importers, such as particular herbs, fish sauce, rice and noodles. Ask for the supplier list, how orders are placed and whether any supplier is a relative or a friend of the owner. A thin supply chain can mean missed items on the menu when one importer is late. Ask what substitutions the kitchen has made and whether regulars noticed.

How sales are split

Ask for sales by channel: dine-in, takeout, lunch specials and delivery apps. Delivery orders usually come through a platform that keeps a share, so the same sale can leave a different amount in the till. Compare what the books show with what the point-of-sale system reports. A buyer’s accountant can help read the statements, and the BDC guide to due diligence gives a useful checklist.

• Written recipes for every paste and sauce, tested by someone other than the owner.
• The names, hours and plans of the kitchen staff who make the signature dishes.
• A supplier list with contact details and the usual order rhythm.
• Monthly sales by dine-in, takeout and delivery app.