An exciting opportunity to own a successful business in Amsterdam's Red Light District

30+ years success story

Trading for more than 30 years as the historic Mekhong River Thai Bar, and for the past 4 years as the Thai Street Bar, we are now passing on the amazing opportunity to own this franchise in the A* location of Amsterdam's famous red light district. As the current owner I have been involved with the company for 15 years, and watched it evolve into the success story it is today. The business sailed through the pandemic and will continue to succeed with its new captain. The entire interior of the premises had undergone a full 1 year renovation that was completed in 2019. The floor has been replaced with high quality stone slabs, the walls were remodeled with new lighting fixtures, and the wooden bar was demolished and replaced with premium quality polished stone. The entire kitchen was demolished and rebuilt with brand new fixtures and a modern ventilation system. The entire premises meets all current standards and regulations as of January 2024.

Location & Licenses

The business is situated a mere 3 minute walk from Amsterdam central station. It is seconds away from the nearest red light windows, and sits next to one of the most photographed canal bridges in all of Amsterdam. The cafe/bar benefits from many different licenses that other local establishments cannot compete with. These licenses include a gambling license, hard liquor bar license, terrace license, food & dining license, commercial music license, and a late licence until 3am. 

Customers and opportunities

The business benefits from tourism all year round with peak times in the holiday seasons. We are surrounded by hotels that bring in a constant flow of customers, as well as the daily foot traffic to and from the red light district. Amsterdam is the walking city, so everyone sees the business closeup. We also have our fair share of regular customers that come both for food & drinks. Currently we are operating as a two person team, and taking a relaxed approach to the business opening just 4-5 days a week with short hours, however as the new owners you could easily double your income, increase the working hours, utilize more staff and open 7 days a week.

Kitchen and Bar

The premises comprise of a fully equipped modern kitchen with powerful wok burners, ventilation, professional six door under-counter fridges, pro ice machine, deep fat fryer, hot plate, two freezers, dish washer, deep sink, counter top cooling unit, fixed cabinets and cooker. The bar is a unique style Island bar with a high quality stone counter top. The bar can seat a maximum of 18 persons on high stalls, and the bar has modern roof shelves to hold and display drinks around the entire bar area. There are two large display fridges under the bar which are maintained by the coca-cola company for free. There is two spaces under the bar to hold approximately 20 crates of bottles. There are two beer taps currently set up for Heineken, but can easily be changed to whichever beer you prefer. Under the beer taps there is a powerful beer cooling unit, and space for two 50L barrels. The rear of the bar houses the touchscreen cash register, and the touchscreen music system along with the controls and music limiter. There is also a reasonable storage space with electrical outlets under the music system. The bar is surrounded with LED light strips that can illuminate the bar in many different colours. 

Dining area & terrace

The dining area has two long dining sofas, 8 small tables, 3 display tables and 15 chairs. There is two separate spacious toilets complete with sink and hand dryers. Two gambling machines currently placed in two corners of the room, and there is a large storage room where we keep spare supplies. The front of the shop has a large display area which we currently use for our mannequin and decorations. Outside we have space for 2 tables and 8 chairs, and there is also a possibility to expand the terrace to the canal side.

Point of sale

We are offering this business for sale with all of the fixtures, fittings and stock at the time of sale. We will also throw in any additional stock, glasses and extra chairs that are currently in our storage unit. The bar/cafe is currently one of the highest rated establishments on Google in Amsterdam center, and has contracts with Thuisbezorgd and Uber Eats for delivering food. It is up to you if you continue with these contracts or decide to try something new. The current asking price for the complete takeover of this business is €625,000. The rent price can be negotiated with the landlord in a new contract agreement. For serious inquiries please contact us using the form on the contacts page.