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bluemoonOffline
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Post  Posted: July 21, 2003 - 06:02 PM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

HI all. I\'d like to know if an expat wat to open a cafe here in shanghai, usually how much it needs and it has any special rules for the business of expats here? Plus, after opening it, what kind of visa can this expat have? I\'d be appreciate to your all helpful information, thanks! Smile

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Post  Posted: July 21, 2003 - 08:29 PM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

Yep.. no only a partner, but some capital to keep going through the startup phase.. like the first year or so. I have seen some really good restaurants go away just because they were undercapitalized. If you know restaurants, you know its not a get rick quick.. its a 7 day a week 12 hour a day job. If you don\'t know restaurants, there is probably something better you should be doing with your money.

Actually we need a cheap western joint that has good food! .. Not a decent diner in the town!

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Post  Posted: July 22, 2003 - 08:52 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

Thank you for your all information. But why an expat can\'t do it by his own? If we know about this business well, why we must need a chinese partner? :casstet:

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Post  Posted: July 22, 2003 - 09:56 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

Quote:
Because that is the law dude.

Suggest you do some RESEARCH before coming up with so-called \'cool\' ideas.

Fidel


Haha. That was, like, bluntly put but so right.
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Post  Posted: July 22, 2003 - 10:26 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

I know Fidel is being hard.. but he probably has seen so many come and go and is probably some experience behind that gruffness. By posting here he is doing research..right?

... but yes. you do need a chinese partner.. if you expect to run it and control the cash flow yourself.. probably someone who can take some money for being the partner and stay out of the way.

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Post  Posted: July 22, 2003 - 10:47 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

I\'m ready to hear all advices, even hard ones Razz So I just can write my chinese girlfriend\'s name for this business, i just can make business with her and all. It is the same thing right? Actually i planned to make this business for both of us, so she jsut can be my partner Cool

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Post  Posted: July 22, 2003 - 01:09 PM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

hello there

i just want to respond to fidel about opening a erstaurant.
i am french and living in changzhou and i will open a restaurant/bar on my own no partner...............i just use my future wife as a translator and as an help to do all the papers ........... the lease is on my name the business name is on my name.............. everything is on my name no partner ................ i wish i could have one expat partner though because i already had a restaurant in the states for 4 years and it is very demanding ................... but i do not need a local partner................. thanks to WTO .

IF I AM WRONG I WAIT FOR FIDEL TO PROOVE ME WRONG

have a good day

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Post  Posted: July 22, 2003 - 01:18 PM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

nanar747,
Please tell more. How was it done, legally or slightly bent?
Changzhou must be like an oven now!!
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nanar747Offline
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Post  Posted: July 22, 2003 - 02:24 PM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

completely legal i am not open yet i am just doing the decoration and remodelling everything but it is all legally done no freebees ha aahahahh

u need lots of papers and health permits etc etc ............... but for someone like me that spend 15 years in the states when u see what is happening there u feel so upset ......... this is why i want to make it clean and organized.............

the health regulation here is a joke.

anyway everything i do is legal

good luck to u

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Post  Posted: July 22, 2003 - 02:38 PM  Reply with quote  Back to top
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Nanar! Glad to hear taht we can do it legally by our own, U mentioned about many papers , what kind of papers shall we need? U sound very experienced in this business, wish you sucess! Smile

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Post  Posted: July 22, 2003 - 05:49 PM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

fidel

it is a join venture between me an myself ha hahahahh no it is completely foreign investment.

here is how i will do it

the office asked me to tell them how much i will invest .............in restaurant business they accept no less tehn 300.000 rmb for some othe industries they want a lot more .

my application is accepted so far i just have to do the health thing and then i got to proove the office that the money i invest comes from my contry............... if is is england or usa or france etc etc

so i need to give them the papers the bank gave me when i brought the money ........ in euros ok???????

if u open a business like that way they told me u got to get the money after it is open but of course i came to china with the money so i will give them the bank papers and even some from my bank in france to show them the money is not local that someone gave me to say it is foreign investment just for tax purposes.

ok this is it for now when i get more i will post it





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Post  Posted: July 23, 2003 - 10:11 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

Quote:
fidel

it is a join venture between me an myself ha hahahahh no it is completely foreign investment.

here is how i will do it

the office asked me to tell them how much i will invest .............in restaurant business they accept no less tehn 300.000 rmb for some othe industries they want a lot more .

my application is accepted so far i just have to do the health thing and then i got to proove the office that the money i invest comes from my contry............... if is is england or usa or france etc etc

so i need to give them the papers the bank gave me when i brought the money ........ in euros ok???????

if u open a business like that way they told me u got to get the money after it is open but of course i came to china with the money so i will give them the bank papers and even some from my bank in france to show them the money is not local that someone gave me to say it is foreign investment just for tax purposes.

ok this is it for now when i get more i will post it

M Wink essage to nanar747 and all. Do you guys have any business connection with the chinese communist party leader to experdites whetever business licensing. :exclam:


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Post  Posted: July 23, 2003 - 10:14 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

Opps... pls disregard the previous quote, sorry..

Smile Message to nanar747 and all. Do you guys have any business connection with the chinese communist party leader to experdites whetever business licensing. :exclam:

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Post  Posted: July 24, 2003 - 09:31 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

bluemoon, I am a lawyer in shanghai.
In china, some industries have limitation to foreigners , which include restuarant.
Solely foreign-owned restuarants r not allowed in china before 2006.
But the ratio of the share of the foreigner is not restricted, that means you can hold 99% share or more but less than 100%.
For the owner of the resturant,you can apply visa and got residence in shanghai.
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Post  Posted: July 24, 2003 - 10:14 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

this is nanar here
i thank all of u for informations and advises.
the fact is i just filed up some papers( my chinese girlfriend did) wich i will marry very soon i just got the papers i need to get married.
all the papers are on my neme, i am the only one to sign and the only thing the gouvernement is asking so far is to give 3 names for the company but only me sign only me put money 100% - they did not mentionned anything about 99% yet. it may comes as the lawyer posted in his message but for now i am the only partner and owner of my company wich will be called \"jungle bar and restaurant\"

i will post more when i get more information from gouvernement.

thank\'s again for the advises

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Post  Posted: July 24, 2003 - 10:19 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

nanar again

for howg
i do not take ofense for the message u posted
the oly connection i have with gouvernement peoples is beiing a foreigner.
i do not know about shanghai and other cities but in changzhou. with the new indusrtrial area and the foreign investments that are coming every week they do lot of special facilities for foreigners.
basicly this is the only connection i got with them
i have to answer the same questions as everyone else but beiing a foreigner with foreign money to invest they tend to give u little more easyness than other peoples ............. the rules are the rules but they cut down on few things................... timewise i mean

as i said when i get more i will post more

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Post  Posted: July 24, 2003 - 10:29 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

Quote:

bluemoon, I am a lawyer in shanghai.
In china, some industries have limitation to foreigners , which include restuarant.
Solely foreign-owned restuarants r not allowed in china before 2006.
But the ratio of the share of the foreigner is not restricted, that means you can hold 99% share or more but less than 100%.
For the owner of the resturant,you can apply visa and got residence in shanghai


Thank you for your information, so i jsut can open it with my girl friend in shanghai, it will be a joint venture if so. If you know more details, plz let me know. Many thanks!

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Post  Posted: July 24, 2003 - 10:51 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

feel free to contact with me:wendy1230@citiz.net
I would like to make friends with foreigners
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Post  Posted: July 30, 2003 - 03:21 PM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

some knews on foreign investments

may be u guys do not know but the law change acording to the place u are in ha aah i am in changzhou and i just visited a friend in shanghai who owns a restaurant business and what he told me does not really reflect what they ask me in changhzhou and there is different laws for size of the business too

here are some informations.

now they ask me a minimum of 400.000 rmb to put in a business account.......... i will not need that but lets make it ok

then they want me to import the money from europe .................. most of the money is already here in china because i already started to work on the shop so now i can not imoport another 400.000 rmb ............... anyway let say for the hell of it i play the game and i get money from europe.

then u got to go throught the whole health thing wich is ridicullus compare to teh us that are far more concerned about health than china but it is ok i got the diploma for safe serv ( hacaap i do not know how to write it ) in the state so i can make it here with minor changes.

from what my friend told me yesterday in shanghai if u want to sell anything u need a license for everything u sale in shanghai in changzhou u do not need that many just one for liquor and one for food this is it .................... i am still working on it i want to get them .....................

if peoples got some advises and news i will be happy to get them but as i said before no one as asked me to put a local partner .....not yet anyway...............





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Post  Posted: Aug 05, 2003 - 06:41 PM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: questions about opening a business

- business
as i said before when nanar get more information he will post them.
as for now everything goes according to plans for my business the application is well on the
way for sinaly owned foreign business in china.
my application as been accepted for foreign investment. for a restaurant they said that with
what i want to invest is too small ..........ha hahahaah .......... i prooved them with numbers
and everything i will not need to invest the money they told me is the minimum. well after
couple days of discutions and bla bla blassssssssssssss i got it right where it is ok if i invest
only 300.000 rmb for the busines but in foreign money of course................ in this case we
are talking euros............. they aslo told me the money got to come from foreign country to
make sure it is foreign investment so when i open a business account i got to have the
money wired to me and then show them the paper from the bank....................... other ha
ahahahah what they did not know is that the money is already ibn china and i used some
already to decorate the place. a few more days of bla blassssssssssssssss and they told me to
prove the money was really from europe and the money i spent already could be used as
original investment.................... ouf when u cry a lot and scream louder than them u get
something out of them ..............
- so far so good..................... i got lot of things done and should be all finished by the end of
august to open as planned mid septmber.

now i got other news for peoples that want or plan to open businesses.

i am actually in changzhou only 2 hours by train from shanghai 1/2 way between shanghai
and nanjing there is one thing i can say is the rules and laws change according to the place
u are ....................... let me explain. in shanghai i went last week to ask questions to french
guys i know that have businesses there for some time................ they told me in shnaghai u
even need a license to sell coffee .................... well in changzhou so far nobody care about a
license for coffee or alcool they did not ask a liquor license.............. i was very surprised
.................. in nanjing where i went 1 month ago to visit a friend ( he is chinese and open a
restaurant with his in-laws) they asked him a license and everything ............... this is just a
little something

as far as kitchen hygiene................ they asked me for 8 sinks ............ what do u want to do
with 8 sinks?????????? if u put 8 sinks in a kitchen there is no more kitchen i passed the
health test regulation when i was in the states 2 years ago and i passed with 86%
.................... no one ask so much things for health in a restaurant.............. let me rewrite
this.................. as a foreigner u get lot of favors from gouvernements but for somthings they
got u good. anyway all the businesses i know never have 8 sinks not even 4 but they are
chinese owned.

- more than 1/2 of the businesses in changzhou should be closed but they are chinese so
nobody care ......as a foreigner u want to do something u got to pay............

as for the taxes some businesses in changzhou do nothave the tax exemptions they advertize
for foreign investmsnts. me for exemple ha hahahaah my business will be too small to
qualify for it ............ yes it is true........... if your business is too small or the company does
not invest a lot may be u will not qualify for taxe free company .........anyway i found a way
to go around that .................... apparently from what they told my girlfriend ( we are not
maried yet and i am still on a tourist visa) i will explain later ..............if she open a business
and do not have a job when she open she will as chinese person qualify for taxe free
business for some time .................. the governement peoples told us when we went to
register the company ............... so guess what i am doing when i get the coporation on my
name????????? everything is going on my wife name ................ by then i will be married and
she will not pay taxes................ this is governement peoples ............... not nanar that say
that.

for my visa............. i came here with visiting visa and was suposed to get married but some
of the papers i got were wrong and othe bla blas ............... anyway i got my visa renewed last
month .............. now it is my last day today and i went to the police yesterday explain them
everything and i have no time to go hong kong to get new one and more bla bla
blassssssssssssssss. to busy with restaurant .................. so he called his boss and the result is
that they will give me a new one but they should not just because i open business and will
get married and more bla bla blassssssss so it is good but i could have had to go hong kong .

anyway this is what i wanted to post in case poeples are interested.

now i have a question to ask may be for michael????????????? nanar made a logo for t-shirts
to give the waitresses in his bar and want to sell some to how do i go at protecting
it?????????????? and does anyone knows where to have them printed and how much it would
cost?????

i am waiting for some feedbacks

thanks

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Post  Posted: Sep 30, 2003 - 12:03 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top

Nanar:
Did you have to open "back door" in order to get your paperwork done? Do you have any info about how it's done in Shanghai? If it's necessary to open back door in order to open a food related business in Shanghai?

Thanks

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Post  Posted: Apr 06, 2004 - 06:31 PM  Reply with quote  Back to top

Hi All
i intend to setup a restaurant by year end.
Any help from you guys + gals would be gladly appreciated
Thanks
Davechong2@hotmail.com
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Post  Posted: May 10, 2004 - 12:40 AM  Reply with quote  Back to top
Post subject: Re: questions about opening a business

Fidel wrote:
You need a Chinese partner. Either a Joint Venture or some \'good\' friends. You can\'t do it on your own. Go and talk to Bryce at the Big Bamboo for some advise. You\'ll need it.

Anyway we have loads of restaurants. I don\'t think we need another cheap Western joint from some get-rich-quick economic refugee with half a brain.

Fidel


So anyone know Bryce? and where is this Big Bamboo..?
i am looking for chinese partners with some restaurant experience..

Davechong2@hotmail.com
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