Also - if employees steal things in America, expect this issue to be 100x worse in Eastern Europe...
Opening a Restaurant
If you want a business idea - you are American citizen who speaks Russian and Polish - start a mail-order bride/introductions tours/international dating agency in Ukraine. You don't have to have an physical office at all, I imagine the start up cost would be minimal. I think the business is not as good as it used to be, but still an idea to try out. Plus, you'll be working with a lot of hot girls. Look at http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com for good info on that community, they even have a commercial section...
One thing I've noticed in Bangkok is there are new places opening all the time and there seems to be good opportunities.
One guy running "Sunrise Tacos" for example appears to be killing it. It's just a basic mexican place but it's really one of the only ones here. He's got 4-5 branches now and runs a tight ship. He employs Philippinos at the major branches which is a big, clever move (much better english and service than thai people who really dont know anything about western service standards). They're open 24 hours a day, including delivery and the food obviously takes very little prep.
Another type of place that seems to do well here is luxury Cheesecake cafes. There's one that's expanding quickly, opening new branches in malls every few months. They sell expensive cheesecake and drinks and that's it. It's "Japanese" (even though Im pretty sure thats just marketing and they're actually thai/chinese owned, and the cheesecake is certainly very much western cheesecake).
Very little preparation - you can just keep them in the fridge and re-serve - and they might not even make the cheesecakes in the cafes. It tastes great though and is really playing to the Thai penchant for trendy, expensive cafe-type places where they can eat (what they think) is delicious, trendy japanese treats.
So in summary: I think there are enhanced opportunities in a developing country with middle/upper class natives with a penchant for nice stuff from the west/japan, and with high throughflows of tourists. Think about niche cafes or fast food, what's currently missing in the country that the locals will love and tourists will definitely go for (thus making it "trendy" and modern for the locals..).
One guy running "Sunrise Tacos" for example appears to be killing it. It's just a basic mexican place but it's really one of the only ones here. He's got 4-5 branches now and runs a tight ship. He employs Philippinos at the major branches which is a big, clever move (much better english and service than thai people who really dont know anything about western service standards). They're open 24 hours a day, including delivery and the food obviously takes very little prep.
Another type of place that seems to do well here is luxury Cheesecake cafes. There's one that's expanding quickly, opening new branches in malls every few months. They sell expensive cheesecake and drinks and that's it. It's "Japanese" (even though Im pretty sure thats just marketing and they're actually thai/chinese owned, and the cheesecake is certainly very much western cheesecake).
Very little preparation - you can just keep them in the fridge and re-serve - and they might not even make the cheesecakes in the cafes. It tastes great though and is really playing to the Thai penchant for trendy, expensive cafe-type places where they can eat (what they think) is delicious, trendy japanese treats.
So in summary: I think there are enhanced opportunities in a developing country with middle/upper class natives with a penchant for nice stuff from the west/japan, and with high throughflows of tourists. Think about niche cafes or fast food, what's currently missing in the country that the locals will love and tourists will definitely go for (thus making it "trendy" and modern for the locals..).
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