Bing [00:00:00]:
I’m more American than I am Thai. Right? Because I I grew up in New York for 30 years. So I was a little culture shocked, and I I had no idea how the industry worked here. I came down here. I’m like, there’s all these there’s like thousands and thousands of pizza shops, but it’s all like Neopolitan pizza. You know, there’s only a couple operators doing New York pizza. So I was like, okay. Let’s do New York pizza.
Bing [00:00:23]:
Thai pizzas that there’s no cheese. It’s mayo and ketchup, you know, and they’re really based on ketchup. We had to kinda adjust our sauces. Originally, I was gonna go with, more traditional, very simple tomato sauce, but Thai people, they like, like, “rot jad”, you know, and they they like, a lot of there’s a lot of flavor in Thai food. I didn’t think pizza was that hard, but it is. Like, you know, if, like, to get a consistent level, like, it’s it’s, it’s a process, you know.
Scott Pressimone [00:00:56]:
Alright. So welcome. I am here at Chef Bing Pizza, joined by Bing. So thanks for joining me today.
Bing [00:01:03]:
Hi. Thank you for coming.
Scott Pressimone [00:01:05]:
Yeah. Of course. So Bing, if you could, could you just give a brief introduction of yourself and, what you do here in Thailand?
Bing [00:01:12]:
So I’m originally born in Bangkok, Thailand. I relocated to New York when I was about 6. Lived and worked in New York for about 30 years and I, you know, I I ended up coming back home to to Thailand about 7 years ago, and I’m the chef owner of Chef Bing Pizza.
Scott Pressimone [00:01:34]:
Fantastic. Well, the reason I invited you on, it was, of course, because I’ve enjoyed your your pizza. Right? It’s absolutely fantastic. So anyone who is in town and looking for some New York style pizza specifically, you know where to come. So maybe we take a step back and talk about that history in New York.
Bing [00:01:50]:
I was there. I was literally sitting at home in my apartment and, looking for a job on Craigslist, and, they, I came across Harold Dieterle’s, restaurant. He I think he was doing he was, like, the first winner of Top Chef, and he, was opening his 2nd restaurant. His first was Perilla, but he was opening Kin Shop. So I kinda saw an inn, you know, like, okay. I’m Thai. He’s doing he was doing, like, a modern Thai concept. So I, I applied, you know, sent in my resume, which was fake.
Bing [00:02:26]:
You know? It was, like, culinary school, you know, blah blah blah blah blah. I I got the interview, you know, kinda and I I went there, and I was, not prepared. I would dress code wise and everything wise, I I I was not prepared for the kitchen, but I think he needed body, you know, and he wanted to see like, I showed up in in, like, patent leather shoes. You know, you’re, like, you’re in a kitchen. You’re you’re in it’s actually a suit with, like, shit, like, a chef’s coat on. Right? And, yeah, I think, he he really want Harold just really wanted to see what, like, you know, because nobody had I think it’s a pretty rare story. Somebody’s gonna show up to a kitchen’s trail, a stage in in patent leather shoes, but it happened and, and, I came into work, to the stage. The first day was they didn’t hire me, you know, I came into work for free, that Friday night, and he asked me if I could cook white rice, and I had some questions, but I will I won’t dig into it too much, but, yeah, I was like I said I was like, what do you mean? Like, in a rice cooker? And he’s like, yeah.
Bing [00:03:44]:
And, I was like, yeah. Yes, chef. I I I can cook rice in the rice cooker. It wasn’t even a job. It was my, you know, my first, like, being in an open kitchen, and, you know, and it’s a busy night, you know, and, you know, I think he asked me how the rice was and I opened it and the rice was pretty much perfect and, you know, so got my foot in the door, you know, he he gave me a chance, you know, he they ended up hiring me afterwards.
Scott Pressimone [00:04:15]:
Wow. So you know how to make rice, did you have rice written on your resume?
Bing [00:04:18]:
Like
Scott Pressimone [00:04:19]:
I’m Thai and I know how to make rice.
Bing [00:04:22]:
I don’t know, I guess they were I don’t know who didn’t know how to make rice, but they were they couldn’t make the rice the way that, the chef wanted, you know? So that was the blessing, I guess, for me, you know, when I was like, you know, I was like, okay. He’s got the rice down.
Scott Pressimone [00:04:40]:
Was there anything else that you think he saw in you? Because obviously He saw potential.
Bing [00:04:45]:
Yeah. Yeah. I I think that’s, now that I’m, you know, had a couple of chef positions and now I’m a owner operator and I, you you have to be able to lead people at the end of the day to kinda, and I I think yeah. Well, I had to I I we still, you know, conversate every now and then, you know, like, through messaging and stuff like that. And, but, yeah, I think he saw he saw something in me. You know, he he was actually gonna let me go, a month into the job. Basically, you know, he sat me down. I think it was it was a it was another Friday night, and he sat me down when I got in.
Bing [00:05:29]:
Yeah. I think he was just kinda seeing if at the end of the day, if my mindset was gonna change, you know, where if you want to really pursue this culinary thing, it’s more a mindset of, like, are you just will willing to just, give it your all, you know. So I I asked him for that, and I was like, hey. No. I was messing up on the line too, you know, I was like forgetting ingredients, end up slow, and all accumulation of things, you know, it wasn’t just one thing, you know, I was not a I was I didn’t go to school, you know, and then, like, self train, you know. So I asked him for that night, that service. It was I think it was full reservations. I think we’re doing, like, 3 turns, 4 turns.
Bing [00:06:16]:
It was only, like, a 50 something seat restaurant. Oh. But, yeah, I didn’t I didn’t mess up. So I I was fortunate that the kitchen that I that I entered in was a great kitchen. You know, the sous chef was talented. You know? The everybody was talented for the most part, you know, but, except for me. And, and, yeah, it was a good environment to learn, you know, but it was still that it was it’s definitely not the same now. Mhmm.
Bing [00:06:49]:
You know, the kid it’s the industry is being ran a little different. I think people are more have to be a little bit more sensitive, you know, and tough love doesn’t work anymore in in the I think in any field, but especially in the FNB, but we’re known we’re known for, you know, you know, a a tough working environment. You know? Like, you guys had you know, if you guys are a poor Dave Faz and you would you know, you already understand he he told it quite well in his books, you know. Yeah. Yeah. So those stars should be, and then if you like it, then go to culinary school. Yeah. You know? Then go to culinary school.
Bing [00:07:35]:
See if you can it’s the it’s the hours, you know? Thailand is different though. Thailand’s there’s the setup is I don’t know if the state is changing yet, but it’s kinda brutal here. You know, it’s a 6 day work week. Yeah. You know? And, normally, it’s 10, but in the restaurant industry, you’re working 12, 13, 14 hours. Mhmm. You get overtime, but it’s still, you know, a long shift.
Scott Pressimone [00:08:08]:
So you experienced, you got a lot of experience in the US under this chef, a top chef.
Bing [00:08:14]:
Yeah.
Scott Pressimone [00:08:16]:
Can you fast forward a bit to your first step was when arriving in Thailand to get a job here and everything?
Bing [00:08:23]:
You know, I, as soon as I got back, I I I said, okay. I’m gonna at least vacation. You know? So I I took a vacation, basically Thailand. You know? I just went I went up north. I went, down south. You know? I just kinda went all over. After 6 months, I I decided that, because I’m I’m I’m more American than I am Thai. Mhmm.
Bing [00:08:49]:
Right? Because I I grew up in New York in New York for 30 years. So, I was a little culture shocked and I I had no idea how the industry worked here. Originally, I I I started looking at all these hotel jobs, but nobody would hire me because I had no hotel experience. You know, even though I was I worked in F and B, I worked for, like, restaurants and and I had a I had a decent resume. You know, I worked for some some great chefs.
Scott Pressimone [00:09:14]:
A real resume at that point. Yeah.
Bing [00:09:16]:
Yeah. Yeah. At that point, like, when when I got here, yeah, I had a real resume. You know, I had I had a shopping LLC that was in New York, you know, we were doing clean food, clean eating, catering, custom, like, very customer service oriented. But yeah, so the hotels wouldn’t give me the time of day, so I, again, I went online. Actually, I think it was a friend of mine. A friend of mine, I think he got a job down south in Gribee, and they were looking for a chef. It was a bistro, down in Ao Nao.
Bing [00:09:53]:
So salary was decent, you know, for for Thailand. You know? They’re like digging. It was like 60 k, but they only paid me 55. But, I, you know, I I got down there, and I I signed a 1 year contract.
Scott Pressimone [00:10:12]:
Mhmm.
Bing [00:10:12]:
And I just wanted to learn how to work with Thai people. You know? So it was an interesting experience, you know, very different than what I was accustomed to back in New York, lack of focus, and, and that’s to each it was a beach town at the end of the day. Right? It wasn’t like in Bangkok, you know, so I took it in as, like, let me enjoy beach life. I’ll do what I’ll I’ll do my job, you know, but, you know, they knew I was not gonna stay after a year, you know, so, you know, I I did everything they asked me to do. I got their recipes down. I I did their every, you know, their events and stuff like that, and, I left, it was October, you know, I had left and I decided I by then, I already have decided before I took the job, actually. So I got here, I had to figure out what I was gonna do. I knew I was gonna open something of my own and, you know, when my brother was here and stuff like that, and we had conversations with friends in New York and they were, the the plan was pizza.
Bing [00:11:28]:
You know, New York style pizza because I saw the market. You know, I came down here. I’m like, there’s all these there’s, like, thousands and thousands of pizza shops, but they’re tall, like, Neopolitan pizza. You know, there’s only a couple operators doing New York pizza, so I was like, okay. Let’s do New York pizza. I didn’t think it was in I didn’t think the recipe was gonna be I didn’t think pizza was that hard, but it is. Like, you know, if, like, to get a consistent level, like, it’s it’s, it’s a process, you know? So, you know, I would I I isolated myself and I did I started recipe testing. Really?
Scott Pressimone [00:12:04]:
Yeah. Well, so, May, who who was, your girlfriend at the time. Right? Yeah. What did she think about the idea of starting a New York style pizza place?
Bing [00:12:14]:
I think she thought it was a great idea. I think she, I think she believed in me, like, kind of from the get, in a way, and I always knew that I can’t read or write Thai, right, and I knew it was either I gotta get a business partner or I get a partner, you know, and luckily I found a partner, you know, and so, you know, she took the she she had a job. She was already working at the time, and she was she was working for, like, a is Israeli, company and, down in Phuket. Like, she was, like, she’s a southern girl, worked in Phuket for, like, 9, 10 years. So I saw that, like, she was a leader. You know? She would like and, you know, we kinda had the conversation because she’s, you know, at the end of the day, like, I had no money, but my my my family are okay. Right? And she has money, you know, she has a family. She works.
Bing [00:13:17]:
She saved up some money, and, we just decided to just, yeah, just start to build this business together, at my mom’s house in Momatong. So essentially, like, after a couple of weeks, she left her job, and then she moved in with us or with me at my mom’s house, and, we just got working. So, you know, we got everything started for a 1,000,000 baht, you know, which you cannot do in the United States, You know? So, that’s why I think, a little bit of, just a point that, the I I feel the American dream is kind of, it’s almost done in in America. You know, it’s it’s almost like you had you already had to have money to be able to start something over there. Here is yeah. There’s a lot of potential, but it’s, you definitely need to understand how to move to route to to the Thai society because at the end of the day, you’re in Thailand. The fortunate for me, I’m Thai, so it’s easier for me to maneuver, you know, I have more information, but for like foreigners and expats and stuff like that, it’s like it’s not easy to to move here and just start, you know, that I got money. Yeah.
Bing [00:14:43]:
You can, but like it there’s certain ways you you you have to maneuver to to the country, you know, to the kingdom.
Scott Pressimone [00:14:52]:
Yeah. Good point. I mean, I I think a lot of foreigners come here and see opportunities because there are some things that are maybe less efficient or whatever else, but don’t they don’t necessarily know why those things are less efficient or what’s actually going on. Exactly. And takes a while to kinda get it. Yeah. Can take many, many years. And as you said, I think you learned a lot even being Thai.
Bing [00:15:13]:
Yeah.
Scott Pressimone [00:15:14]:
Right? It probably took a while to adjust the Thailand
Bing [00:15:16]:
for you. Absolutely. I’m still adjusting. You know, as, growing as a business and and growing, as as, like, an operator. Right? Yeah. There’s, the social ranking and social status is a big thing here, you know, and whether you want to believe it or not, it is, and, you know, it’s hard to try to just be in the middle. That’s why I think my isolation a little bit helped me because I wasn’t I wasn’t, like, around everybody and because the industry is small, you know, even in New York, it’s small. You know, maybe even smaller here, You know? So, like, my thing is if you’re if you’re trying to open a business and become a small business, yes, you there’s it’s very easy to become a small business here.
Bing [00:16:17]:
But if you’re trying to, you have bigger plans and bigger dreams, you have to understand, the pecking order. Mhmm. Yeah. There is a lot of layers.
Scott Pressimone [00:16:36]:
Well, so walk me through what that was like when you started the business. I understand that you started it. Your mother invested. You began working on recipes together. Right? Or I’m sorry, with your with your partner, you guys were working together on recipes. Can you speak a little bit to the location, the starting of the business, the launch, things like this in those early days?
Bing [00:16:57]:
Well, early days was kinda tough. I think, I think, the isolation, what was tough was more the relationship with me and my mother, because I knew it wasn’t gonna work. She wanted me to open the pizzeria downstairs because we had a big space, it was a big house and, but it’s in Bang Vu Tong in, like, the west side of town before you’re gonna go to a UTA. And it was for Thai people. You know? So we had to kinda adjust our sauces. So originally, I was gonna go with, more traditional, very simple tomato sauce, the American style, but Thai people, they like like lok chat, you know, and they they like a lot of there’s a lot of flavor in Thai food, you know. So we I decided to just really everything was geared towards the Thai market. It wasn’t for Americans, it wasn’t for tourists, it was for Thai people.
Bing [00:17:56]:
So, you know, our sauce recipe is very unique. People would actually be kind of curious if if I told you what a degree is that we put in there, but I will tell you. But, yeah. So that was the whole thing. You know, like, from I I knew that we we were gonna sell to Thai people. That was the goal. If we get the tourists, we get the expats, great. But we’re gonna sell it to the Thai people.
Bing [00:18:28]:
So we we started, you know, after the the 6 months of recipe testing and then, you had to learn how to open the pizza and get everything, you know, baking it and everything. So overall, it took a year. My mom being the Thai mother, and Thai parent, I should say, they tend to, not let go or they are they if they have it set that they want you to do something, they wanted you to do it that way. So even though under my advisement that I told her it was gonna fail, we opened in Bogota, downstairs, we put some money into renovations. We opened I had at at this time, I I found a pizza oven, a peerless pizza oven from Pizzarulo. We were burn burning through, like a tank of propane a day, you know, and we have no business. There’s no there’s nobody coming in, you know, because we’re we’re not on the main street, we’re in the Mumbai. Yeah.
Bing [00:19:31]:
You know, we’re, like, deep in this thing, and I’m like, so I I I made the call after a month, you know, at least we got the chance to kinda like soft fold in, you know, like we got we got to invite. I think I think ultimately that’s why my mom wanted it, but we could have done without all the renovations. Right? Like, we could have just, like, yeah, let’s come. Let’s eat some pizza. Right? But, so we got to host for a little bit, you know, I got to make pizzas. I had a station, so definitely still helped me, you know, kinda gearing up for the business. So ultimately, after a month we decided to shut down and we decided to open up my dad’s place. My dad play my dad’s place was, right near Khao San.
Bing [00:20:16]:
Right? It was, like, a couple of meters from Khao San. So it was a Buddhist bookshop, like, a, like, for, for the temples and stuff like that. And it was small, but it was a corner lot. It was it was actually that space still reminded me of New York. Like, that would be it was a really tiny, like, kinda hole in the wall. You know? My dad kinda cleared out. He he had a lot of stock, but it was a it was a town, 3 level, 4 level, townhouse. So, we had a little bit of space upstairs, but it was tiny, super small and we made it work.
Bing [00:21:00]:
You know, we shut down, I think it was November, I think October or November from Bangbatong, and then we care we I decided we need to order a oven. Mhmm. You know, because I was looking for ovens here, and, most of the ovens were not what I was looking for. You know, they were not the quality that I would that I was that I needed. So I I had a peerless oven, so I knew that, okay, this peerless oven, this is what I need because I was cooking it out of there. The pizzas were coming up pretty good. You know, they were like, my friends came, you know, I kinda got those seal I had some New Yorkers came and and it kinda gave me the vote of confidence to to keep going. So we ordered our oven.
Bing [00:21:48]:
You know, it took about 4 months to get here. Right? And so I think we ordered it in, like, November, and COVID was started, I think in the beginning of that year of 2020, I believe. And the ovens have just arrived and we’re like, it’s cold. Like, what are we gonna do? You know, me and my wife is, like, we we have to open. You know, it’s, like, what are we gonna do? You know, ovens here, the space we got the space ready. You know, we we it was just just a small team. It was me, my wife, and, bod, which is a a a it’s kinda like a a family, friend, you know, that we kinda help take care of their family and stuff like that. They they did a lot for us when when, they helped take care of us when we were younger and stuff like that.
Bing [00:22:44]:
Yep. So, yeah, we decided to open, you know, but it business was terrible. The first couple months, there was no tourists, you know, and all the expats lived in Ansekumwit and and in New York City, so I was far. So, you know, like pizza, if you don’t get that thing delivered within, like, 20 minutes, it’s the quality, you know, you know. Yeah. Like, I I wouldn’t order pizza. It was, like, 40 minutes away, and that’s what it was. Mhmm.
Bing [00:23:14]:
But luckily, there was a lot of Thai businesses around there, like, some some bigger companies, you know, with, like, a 1000 employees and stuff like that. And they came out and, you know, opened and, like, hey. Come, you know, to try try it out, you know, and help support. And, so we started getting things rolling. You know? At that point, we weren’t doing any ads or anything like that. And, business was slow, but I wasn’t paying anywhere in. It was my dad’s face. You know? We were still sharing it.
Bing [00:23:49]:
You know? He still had his Buddhist books operation still kinda there, but more inventory. And then I had the ground floor, you know, which was tidy. I I’m bad with square meters, but it was it was it was definitely New York City style kitchen, like, where where, like, back to back. So the Thai community really really, got us through COVID, you know, at the end of the day, you know, because, like, if we didn’t I didn’t I yeah. We didn’t gear towards the Thai palate. Like, we had kabu yang pizza. That was, like, the the the staple. We knew we we were to come in with something for specifically for Thai people.
Bing [00:24:32]:
Yeah. And, we came with the kabu yang, you know, that’s sweet and spicy. You know? I and I I thought it was great. It was a great combination, you know. We we that was one of the toppings from the beginning, you know, before I even got the recipe down, you know. And then we had, you know, nam jim jal, some hot oil, Had to give him, like, these little dipping sauces. You know? And, and, yeah, it really, it really worked out. Yeah.
Bing [00:24:59]:
You know? But we had a really good push, through the new year. We’re starting and then I got then migration Mark Wiens, Migrationology, he he reached out, and, super organic, super genuine, and, you know, we decided to shoot. You know? Of course, I wanted you know, I’d actually, at the time, I didn’t know who he was. You know? I think we were contacted through DM and, at the end of the day, we were busy that day, and I I gave the phone to my wife at the end of the night, and I’m like, hey, this guy is gonna come and he’s gonna come shoot and then she recognized who it was and then I saw the scope of it and it was like and the crazy thing was the day that we play, I I asked him to choose the date, you know, and the date that he chose, it was actually my birthday. Mhmm. And I didn’t even realize it, you know. I woke up that day, it was a Sunday morning, and I just realized that day that shit, Mark Weems was coming. But I think we had a really great it it everything was just super centered.
Bing [00:26:10]:
Right? And his energy coming in was, just a really humbling experience. You know, not too many people get that, you know, 1 on 1 with with a guy so busy. Right. So, you know, we just really shot just we didn’t really edit much. Everything was kinda just straight through. Yeah. And it gave us a little bit of global recognition. We, you know, we we started picking up some followers and and a lot of words of encouragement.
Bing [00:26:39]:
And and then, I10, who is Mark’s partner, in this this, he came and did a a Thai version. You know? Because, like, when Mark came, we did it all in English. Right? So I10 came and they interviewed they did the the shoot all in Thai, so, you know, I was, like, trying to speak Thai the best that I can, you know, like it was some broken Thai, but I think I I handled it relatively well, But, yeah, when I tanked in, because it was during COVID, so we didn’t shoot inside the restaurant, and plus we were we did we had, like, 3 tables. We were not a sit down restaurant. So it it worked perfectly where he con concept the concept was, hey. I’m gonna order it to go eat at home, and I’m gonna review, you know, because everybody’s locked down, you know, so delivery was picking up. Yeah. As soon I think he aired it, like, 3 days later.
Bing [00:27:43]:
When he’s like, it took couple days to edit and then he aired it and, wine was just there we went to yeah. We got to the, like, the 2, 3 it was, like, 3 month wait, you know, until you could get the next pie. And, yes, people waited, you know, so it was good. It gave us, like, this clear, like, weed. It always helped us because then we got new workers. You know, we hired some people. Some guys that I work with out south came up and then, you know, they, to to come help me work and so everything was kinda that system that that POS has already started, like, naturally for us. So it helped it helped it helped the core team, which was the me, my wife, and and my to to really just understand, like, hey, even if whatever, we could still do it ourselves because the the biggest problem is with people, with with, acquiring staff and and keeping staff, you know, and and making sure that that staff is growing.
Bing [00:28:47]:
Right?
Scott Pressimone [00:28:48]:
So before we touch on staff, because staff is definitely a big challenge for any business, probably anywhere, but but also in Thailand. But I wanna talk more about the recipe. You touched on the fact that you’re aiming at Thai, customers because, obviously, that’s the base. Right? I mean, we’re in Thailand. Right?
Bing [00:29:06]:
Yeah.
Scott Pressimone [00:29:06]:
So, you have to adapt your recipe for the Thai audience. But I would say that I certainly love your pizzas. I think a lot of forwarders that I know and expats that I know really like your pizzas. So I would say you didn’t adapt it to the point that it’s similar to the pizza that you get at a market or something like that here, which is super sweet or anything like this.
Bing [00:29:22]:
Yeah.
Scott Pressimone [00:29:22]:
It seems like you’ve struck a really good balance. Yeah. But I’m kinda curious if you were to say the big changes that you made without, of course, listing your exact ingredients. Right? But Yeah. What other things did you have to change to better meet a happy medium?
Bing [00:29:38]:
Well, so, you know, at the end of the day, I I think the we had to change certain things to kind of, we’re not a pizza wasn’t meant for delivery, you know, like, we definitely have regular customers that says, yeah, We still order, but, you know, nothing beats a fresh pie. Right? The biggest thing was sauce, you know, and we kept it, and it was you know what it is? It’s like the pizza here is the the especially, you know, there there’s not enough education for Thai people about pizza. They know Neapolitan pizza. They do not know New York style pizza. And luckily, fortunately, you know, I had, you know, other, I guess competitors that open, like, I think a year or something, around the same time, where they were already kind of educating, the Thai community about what it should be. But in Thai people, you know, there’s Thai pizzas that there’s no cheese, it’s mayo and ketchup, you know, and they’re really based on ketchup, so we were like, okay, we’re gonna get it down to where we’re gonna season this, the sauce was the main thing because it actually ended up helping us at the end right now, as supply chain issues arise, because if we I had to, essentially I had to make the decision, am I gonna be a Pierce, or am I gonna make this flavorful, because Thais like flavor, right? So I said okay I’m not Pierce, right? And now we’re gonna season this sauce, we season our sauce heavily, and we cook it down for you know about 7 to 8 hours, so it’s a process, Right? And it’s all just to create the natural sweetness, you know, what happens here a lot of pizzerias and they’re just like, some of them they’re just using, like, some of them they’re just using the Jira just to canned tomatoes, which is fine, you know, you’re getting quality product from Italy and stuff like that, but, you know, if, I had to look scalable long term, right? So I need my tomato sauce to key, Right? So I need to I need to cook this thing down, or I need to store it properly. So when it because like when you’re when you don’t do that cook, everything spoils really easily. Mhmm.
Bing [00:32:03]:
You know, especially, you know, if you’re like I do some of these pizzerias, they’re literally using the sauce straight out from the container. Right? That’s like the the purest. Right? That’s why I don’t sometimes I don’t like I think people should really get away from that a little bit on this authenticity and like, oh, this is authentic. Like there’s there’s a lot of, you you end up kind of putting yourself in a box, you know, where now, you know, why why did you need to put that label on, you know, it’s like what if you’re tomato what if you can’t get these tomatoes anymore and now you’re now you only can get Thai tomatoes, now what happens, right? So yeah, it was the sauce. What what about on
Scott Pressimone [00:32:52]:
the crust side? Because I know some New Yorkers or people seeking New York style pizza, really do care about the crust as well, so how do you strike that balance?
Bing [00:33:00]:
The crust, no. We we knew Thai like Thai people like, crispy pizza, like crispy stuff anyway, and we wanted to get it there as crispy as possible because we wanted to hold up as much as possible during delivery. If you have a fresh pie out of here, it’s like, yeah, there’s no flop, you know, where but where we did have to negotiate on was the undercarriage because, we’re used to more of the whole bottom being this charcoal nice dark color, and Thai people, once they see black, they don’t they’re they’re shy they shy away from it because, you know, you have carcinogens, all that types of stuff, which is valid. So we played the happy medium, you know. So, you know, if if a purist came, like, I don’t know. That that’s why I’m curious if I can get, you know, Courtney out here, you know, go Patriots. Like, I would I would be curious to see what he would rank. Yeah.
Bing [00:34:06]:
You know, just because he’s done so much for the the we we saw it, like, during COVID, you know, like him going out, it just helped all these pizzerias, you know, so, yeah, I think our pizzas is unique. It’s, you know, it’s New York style. It’s not authentic. Mhmm. You know, it’s, it’s the chef’s pizza is New York pizza. Yeah.
Scott Pressimone [00:34:36]:
But what about the way to eat the pizza? Are you supposed to eat it by folding it? Is this New York style like eating it? Yeah. Or are you supposed to take your fork and knife and Thai style?
Bing [00:34:46]:
It’s folding. Thai style is fork and knife, and Europeans actually. Uh-huh. Yeah. Most most Europeans ask for good. So it was originally, when we started, I was just gonna paper plate, you know, kind of deal, and then the the tires are like, what’s going on? And I’m like, alright. You know? So because we didn’t really wanna have to do the whole dining. Right? We were kinda like, maybe we try to go towards delivery a little bit.
Bing [00:35:12]:
Yeah. But at the end of the day, we wanted people to experience the pizza in the location because it’s if you if you had our pizza before only for delivery, I would highly recommend coming in and eating it straight out the oven. It’s a totally different pizza.
Scott Pressimone [00:35:29]:
Yeah. Speaking of that, what is your go to pizza when let’s say you bring your family and friends over and you kinda want your favorite or your favorites to go, on the table. What do you think your top 3 are?
Bing [00:35:42]:
Well, okay. For personal, I’m a cheese. I’m a I’m a regular cheese. We do have our our imported American, imported mozzarella cheese from, from California, which gives it like it’s like a New York slice, you know, the cheese melt and everything. So, that’s why I’m a cheese guy. But our regular cheese one, the classic cheese that we have with our Australian cheese, it’s it’s just as delicious. It’s just a different style, you know, but, that’s the one that we use on all our pies to it’s to keep the price point down because, yeah, I would love to change it to all the other cheese, but our prices are gonna go through the roof, and it’s gonna turn customers away. And then and people like our cheese.
Bing [00:36:31]:
The normal cheese that we use on all our pizzas, the people really really like it. If you wanna try something new, I would highly recommend the kobuyang. It’s our number one seller because our, you know, our main, customer base on this is Thai. So believe it or not, it beats our pepperoni. You know, it’s kobuyang then pepperoni, then the third is Hawaiian, which is pineapples. That’s what I said, I mean, purists like, you’re in the market, I’m in Thailand, like Thais love pineapples, so I’m gonna put pineapples on the pizza. Like, if you don’t, that’s your, that’s you have every right to.
Scott Pressimone [00:37:20]:
Yeah. So that’s interesting. You have quite a variety, and you’ve even mentioned to me offline that for more of the purest, let’s say that you’re hosting an event, which we’ll touch into later, is that the catering and some of this personalized sort of offerings that you have. But from my understanding, for the purest, you can offer a more pure New York style pizza Yeah. One off basis. Right?
Bing [00:37:42]:
So Yeah. We have it on the menu. It’s essentially just changing the cheese. Like, getting this, yeah, this cheese is really, like, just really quality cheese. It’s the start process. It’s like non GMO, no trans fat. It’s like healthy cows, I guess. But, we tend to, my focus back in New York, my my only head chef job in in New York was, I was more focused on plant based and vegan food and and stuff like that.
Bing [00:38:18]:
So I’m looking forward to, kinda exploring that more. Mhmm. You know, get getting some some more plus it helps bring down the price point. You know, when when you stop using a lot of all this meat and stuff, vegetables are cheaper. Mhmm. So I’m trying to get even more friendlier for for the Thai community. Really? You know? But at the end of the day, it’s a pretty I mean, a large Thai, okay, on average is like 800 Baht. I mean, 1 a Thai girl is eating one slice, you know? So say just one slice a person, it’s like 100 Baht.
Bing [00:38:54]:
It’s not that bad.
Scott Pressimone [00:38:55]:
Yeah. Not bad at all. Definitely, your your pricing is very fair. And again, it’s just so different than some chain stuff, which is not even in the same ballpark. So if you want a good balance of price and quality. Right? Yeah. You got it here. So thank you.
Scott Pressimone [00:39:11]:
Now you mentioned in passing that people were a very difficult thing. So when you’re thinking about hiring, you’re thinking about the people make the business work. Right? Yes. So do you have anything that you can share in terms of recommendations or lessons that you’ve learned since starting your business when it comes to either tracking or keeping, good employees?
Bing [00:39:31]:
I think we need to, especially, you know, the younger generation, I think they need a little bit more guidance, you know, there, and, so we try to screen screen them through interviews. Like, we kinda have, like, set questions that we ask every staff, every potential staff that that we’re interviewing. We’re mainly Burmese. I’m, have a good friend that runs a nonprofit. I started a company which is essentially a agency that helps, migrate refugees from the other countries, specifically, Burma. And he helps places them. He his team It’s a whole team, you know, and it’s for the community, you know. So, you know, he places them and he helps evaluate them.
Bing [00:40:24]:
It’s more you really have to ask them, like, hey, what are you trying to get out of this? So that way you don’t waste your time. If she just wants to be a cashier or if she’s just supposed to be a server and, you know, it’s that’s what she wants, then okay, great. Let’s just make her the best server that she can be. But for me, especially, you know, the difficulty with turnover with employees, I try to, like, when I when I make the decision to hire, I’m looking like, I want them to understand that, hey, there’s room for growth in the company, and I want you to be here long term. You know? Like, I don’t think people look too long term sometimes. You know? I mean, it was like that in New York. You know? You only work for restaurants for, like, 2 years and then you go to the next one and learn learn, but here is different, you know, like, I I would highly if it’s in the labor department, I I high rec highly recommend seeking, there’s a lot of agencies out there seeking burpees. Well That ISA is the company ISA Compass.
Bing [00:41:33]:
They, they help facilitate the work permit because, Thailand, there’s a lot of paperwork in anything that you wanna get done, you know, but, like, legally, like, on biz like, as a business, you need a lot of paperwork. And, there, they basically cut out that problem for the for the operator. Because, like, you know, you go through 3, 2 months of all this paperwork, going drop out all this, and then the the person leaves in, you know, 2, 3 weeks, then you just wasted all your time. So with them is like they have, a system that’s being in place, you know, they’re relatively new, you know, they’re a startup, but they’re gonna get big. They
Scott Pressimone [00:42:20]:
Yep. Yeah. So it’s so important to get those right workers. And like you said, with them helping you out, do some of the screening and making sure you’re identifying people for the long term, you’re gonna get people that are gonna stay here longer, and they’re gonna you treat them well. I mean, I see, of course, how you treat your staff, and so long as they wanna stay long out of it, you’re gonna of course take care of them on the long term, right?
Bing [00:42:38]:
Yes. It’s a
Scott Pressimone [00:42:38]:
mutual benefit. I’m wondering whether or not you, asked them to cook some rice as one of their first tests. No.
Bing [00:42:45]:
No. We’re it’s it’s, you know, running a pizzeria and running a restaurant is kind of 2 separate things, I guess. What I see here in Thailand is is too many people in the kitchen. Hey. Like every kitchen. Like, I go in there, like, you guys sound like ramen. Like, why do you guys have, like Anyway, I’m just trying to get it because when you want the when you want employees to stay long term, they need to they need to see, not just and you can’t just tell them, they need to see that, hey, there’s room for growth here.
Scott Pressimone [00:43:23]:
Mhmm.
Bing [00:43:23]:
You know, like my dishwasher, you know, one of the I got my dishwasher moved up from dishwasher to become a line cook in, like, 6 months. Right? And now, almost a year later, he’s my kitchen manager. Potentially, if he can get his English better, potentially my sous chef. You know? So there and essentially, we want everybody to be able to learn all the stations so that way we don’t need, we have the safety net. Right? Like, oh, if somebody got sick, does somebody can make it? Like, we have it covered. Like, somebody else can fill in the position.
Scott Pressimone [00:44:01]:
And now I understand you’re even expanding further, because so can you share a little bit more about your plans for expansion?
Bing [00:44:06]:
Yeah. We’re looking for a second location. The reason why we’re trying to really, push is because, you know, I had some some deaths, specifically Quintan that we were talking about, and, and a family member, and, you know, I think, the timing is kinda do you and the universe kinda kind of put all these, this energy around me at the right time. And I’m potentially working with, a shot Diego. He’s actually one of the first copes that I worked with. I do consider him as one of my mentors, you know, and, you know, he’s doing great things in New York. And he came out here to do a dinner and, for a couple nights, and we got time to finally catch up because we’ve been so busy. And, we always kinda had this vision of, doing something together, so I think, it it may it may something might come out of it, so we’re I’m very excited about that, about growth, expanding, like opening definitely the second location is coming, right, I already have options, I’m just, people just need to get their their acts together, but, event catering is a big thing that, I see a huge potential.
Bing [00:45:34]:
Just I did catering in New York City for 4 years. You know, I’ve had oh, it’s 3 years. 3, 4 years. It was the Roseland properties. So it’s basically all the condos on the Fort Lee side. I had, like, 11 condos. Like, my my friend kind of plugged in. He was one of the management, property managers.
Bing [00:45:54]:
Mhmm. So they were they had to throw, summer parties and winter parties. So he got me in on his, and then all the other managers saw and then, you know, so I have experience. And, you know, I had the opportunity the past months and change to, link up with our production team and stuff like that to, kinda start doing these events, and, it’s very interesting. So right now, it’s my main focus is more, like, on my side of trying to figure out, where everybody goes. I give my and my friend decides to sign on, which I think he should, you know, things are gonna we’re gonna scale up relatively fast. I think what was hindering our growth was more, you know, I went through some mental health stuff and, you know, I finally got better. And, you know, and experiencing death and realizing how short life really is, you know, I I set some big goals, for myself, so, and I know I can’t do it alone.
Bing [00:47:12]:
I need I need a a strong, team of people that are like minded and and are focused on the right, on the same the same goal. Right? But, yeah, I’ll yeah. I think we’re we’re gonna be really gearing towards, do, some more events. I’m gonna kinda take control of, more of a sales position, and because, the interesting is is, like, there’s so many talented chefs and here in in Bangkok already. You know, people, why don’t you just work with somebody that’s just already here and stuff like that. It was like, me and, my friend Diego, we have, we understand each other more, we’ve worked with each other before, you know, we’re good friends and and stuff like that. But not only that is, you know, I, you know, I’ve been here 7 almost 8 7 years, you know, and I was lucky to have a community of F&B people, you know, that are kinda, like, higher up in the in the social status and and stuff like that to kinda help guide me through how to maneuver to to to have to be seen here, and, it really, setting us up for, a big win if if we can all kinda just come together and and get it done. So
Scott Pressimone [00:48:40]:
Yeah. And on the catering side, it’s interesting because we were also talking a bit about some of your recent experiences kind of putting on events. And there are some really big numbers that go out there, for food for some of these events. Right? And what’s interesting, you mentioned, of course, you you’re a company. You wanna make money. Yep. But at the same time excuse me. At the same time, the offerings of getting a few pies for events is it can be good for the company Yep.
Scott Pressimone [00:49:08]:
But it also is, I think, very cost effective for some of these, events as well. Absolutely.
Bing [00:49:13]:
I mean, I you know, like I I saw, you know, I was part of, you know, I was helping out a friend of management team, and I’m watching these quotes that are coming in and then I’m seeing like, okay, let’s just say if your if your budget if you don’t have a high budget, it’s very hard for you to get a caterer here. You know? They they come per head, and it’s usually a 1,000 or not. Then that’s for type typhoon, you know, typhoon, you know, so that if you wanna do something else, it’s it it gets up there, you know, and, the the way the system, what worked for me in New York was give me your budget, and I’ll tell you the menu. I’ll tell you what I can offer. Whether I recommend, if you don’t have a budget, pizza is great. It’s easy. It’s it’s, it’s almost like a short thing, you know, like, p especially our pizza. But, but, you know, we can do other things.
Bing [00:50:17]:
That’s where the this growth is is happening, where I’m gonna kinda once I have the once I’m confident enough in the team and if I have some leadership members that come in, I will essentially facilitate sales because the big thing is when back to the talented chefs here. They’re all, like, under these big groups. So they’re they almost kinda have their a little bit of their hands tied. You know? It’s like, if you’re an expat, if you’re not a Thai chef, right, and you’re here, you’re working for a Thai counterpart, whether it’s a American company, whatever company, they’re working with a Thai counterpart. If you cannot bridge yourself in this Thai community, you’re gonna have a hard time doing something else for yourself. Right? So that’s why it’s like when, we were talking about this whole Diego thing coming over here and, I got to talk to the friends, it’s like, yo, you’re gonna have you you bring along another creative and salary is high. Right. Where, like, you what you need is sales.
Bing [00:51:28]:
So what works perfect is, like, I’m Thai. Yeah. Because, like, the salesperson has to be Thai because you gotta go sell to Thai people. Right? So it kinda works where I’ll be the one as much as I don’t want to be out. Yeah. I I’m happy behind the kitchen. You know, happy, like, here, you know, I don’t I don’t really need to be out, but it is fun. It does get, you know, but besides that, we also want to, kinda really looking into agriculture.
Bing [00:51:59]:
I have a team of of, people that are because we wanna we’re we’re seeing what’s happening with farming and agriculture as a whole, as a as a as a world. You know, props are failing. There’s drought. There’s floods. There’s all this stuff. And at least for our pizza, our main focus, like, the event catering and stuff is just not this stream of income or of potential income. Our main focus is still the pizza. You know, we’re we’re gonna put even though we’re gonna have some exciting off projects that, you know, we’re gonna be doing and it’s gonna be typhoon.
Bing [00:52:39]:
It’s really tied. Yeah. Tide. Dot. I won’t tell you guys because somebody might do it. But, yeah, we wanna grow. Like, my my family has land, that’s in Pitsundalk, and, we wanna get off the supply chain a little bit. So we wanna concentrate on growing some really, really quality tomatoes because, like, like, the guys that we we’re working with, they’re they’re bod they’re, like, bottom, like, side to, like, on that level.
Bing [00:53:10]:
Some of them are, like, madness, you know, where yeah. What, harvest all the like, imagine, like, we just have our own tomatoes for shopping pizza. You know? We’re not servicing it to the market. It’s just for our our brand in in our our company. And then at the same time, bringing back, a little bit of biodiversity in crop in the Thai crops. I mean, Thai crops are still pretty diverse, but it’s getting smaller and smaller. Mhmm. You know, industrialism is it started to set in.
Bing [00:53:41]:
Right? It’s already hit, it it but it’s starting to set in, so you’re losing a lot of, like, the the that heirloom stuff, like like Kerpau ban, right, like like picking up on, like, they’re different. They’re they’re they’re attention, they’re organic. Right? They’re not mass produced. They’re not they’re they’re, they’re not GMO ed. You know, we’re we’re all getting hit with GMO ed. Yeah. Like, whether you feel it, you know, we’re all getting hit. You know, it’s, like, you know, we’re we’re trying to we yes.
Bing [00:54:17]:
We want the the goal is to grow, and to grow the goal is to make money. Right? But we also want to add value to the community, especially the Thai community because we live in Thailand, you know, you know, and, we want to, you know, you know, if I if me growing tomatoes can cut you down with 15 baht on your pizza, then let me grow the tomatoes.
Scott Pressimone [00:54:41]:
Very cool. Very cool. That’s inspiring and something to look forward to. So, with that, I love if you can give sort of a takeaway of where people can get their best New York style pizza, how they can find you, location, everything like that. Okay. If they wanna get the best pizza in town.
Bing [00:54:56]:
Okay. So if you’re looking for the best New York style pizza in town, we are on Grab. We are on the line man. I I would recommend ordering directly from us. We have a link, we our system is, Hato Hub, but our link is in our Instagram profile, chefbing pizza. You can find us on Facebook, you can find us, you could Google us on Youtube, but I would highly recommend coming to our location here in, Ruam Rudi Soi 2, off of the Phloen Chit BTS station. It’s a little bit of a walk, but they have, motorbikes. You can pay, like, 10 baht.
Bing [00:55:39]:
You can get over here. Nothing beats, pie straight out of the oven, and I think we have something special here, and I would love for you guys to come in and try.
Scott Pressimone [00:55:51]:
Yeah. Well, you’ve been super generous with your time, chef. I really enjoy it. It’s been awesome. Yeah. Really great great pies here, and I couldn’t recommend it enough. Definitely come stop by Chef Bing Pizza. You won’t regret it.
Bing [00:56:02]:
Thank you so much.
Scott Pressimone [00:56:02]:
Thank you.
