One of the hottest restaurants that the social network community said that “people should queue up and try once in a lifetime” is “Jae Oh Khao Tom Pet”. It is a famous restaurant in the Banthatthong area. Whenever we passed by the restaurant, the usual scene will be a long queue waiting in front of the restaurant. Despite the long waiting times, customers are willing to wait and acknowledge that this is “worth waiting for”.

Muay Sae-Chua or Jae Oh will unlock the secret and principle to success through decades of journey in the food industry with obstacles and opportunities that turn her into a legend who receives praises from gourmets worldwide and a handful of awards.

History of Jae Oh restaurant and its relationship with Banthatthong

Banthatthong is an area that Jae Oh is connected with for a long time. She even said she does not want to move away because this place is where she was born, got married, and established a business. She went through thick and thin until she is successful today. From the small family that did business in the market, when she got married, Jae Oh had to be both housewife and employee at duck congee restaurant which is her husband’s family business. The restaurant sells duck congee as well as pot-stewed duck and boiled chicken for customers who want to buy this poultry to celebrate Lunar New Year Festival or Ghost Festival. Later on, Jae Oh took over the business. When her children were old enough to help, they expanded their line to the cooked-to-order restaurants and gradually increased new dishes. Nowadays, her children took over and sell “MaMa Oh Ho”. This boosted the sale of the restaurant even more and made the restaurant famous worldwide. There are customers from overseas including Chinese, Japanese, Singaporean, American, and European who visited the restaurant to try the dishes. When their business was doing so well that they could barely accommodate all the customers, Jae Oh decided to stop selling pot-stewed duck and boiled chicken during festivals. Still, the restaurant sells food that is cooked in large quantity such as vegetable soup and Chinese bamboo soup that is popular among Chinese descendants in that area. Some customers buy food in the evening and keep it for the next morning.

From then till now, it has been almost 50 years that Jae Oh pours her heart and soul into this food business. If we were to include the age of the restaurant since her father-in-law, Jae Oh to her children, the restaurant has been standing for more than 60 years now. Jae Oh passed down the cooking techniques to her children by herself. She showed them from starting the fire, preparing ingredients to season. Nowadays, Jae Oh restaurant moved from Soi Chulalongkorn 22 to the corner of Banthatthong Road, where Charatmuang Road cuts across. By the beginning of 2021, Jae Oh’s new restaurant will reach 6 years. Jae Oh said with a bright smile that “this new place…grows beautifully”. It is guaranteed with the length of the queue and there are many awards within and outside of the country such as Shell Shuan Shim, Bib Gourmand 2020 from Michelin, Bangkok’s Best Street Food Award, Wongnai Users’ Choice 2017, etc.

Life crisis –a test of fighting spirit

“If that day I decided to kill myself, I would never have a chance to meet my children and the success I own today” –Jae Oh shared as she thought back to 1986, the time she could never forget as the year that life hit her the hardest. The business went bankrupt due to internal problems. There were huge debts. There were times that Jae Oh thought about ending her own life. However, the responsibility of taking care of her 6 children made her shook that thought away. Her youngest child was really young. They were not even 2 years old. Jae Oh, thus, decided to take over the duck congee restaurant to start her life anew. Her older brother gave 600 000 baht to support her financially. She used 500 000 baht for the cost and 100 000 baht to renovate the restaurant. She focused on paying off the debts. She would not stop working even if her stomach was growling. For her, customers come first. During Lunar New Year and Ghost Festival, she had to stew almost a thousand ducks per day. Jae Oh had to carry the ducks out of the freezer all by herself. There were 6 ducks in one pack with a total weight of more than 20 kilograms per pack which is considered very heavy for one to carry. When she had to boil the ducks, she needed to get help because she could not complete the job in time alone. There were times that her body could not take it. She was hospitalized in the morning. When she felt better at noon, she had to quickly return to the restaurant to operate the business. Her big brother was worried about her because she overexerted herself. Nevertheless, with her tenacity and thought that she did not want her children to go through any hardship, Jae Oh could return 600 000 baht to her brother in only 6 months. At that time, there was nothing that could make Jae Oh happy more than being able to pay debts in less than a year. It was like a rainbow after the brutal storm. Things that she put her heart and soul into doing had shown results. Hard work paid off that cleared all her tiredness.

The life lesson she learned on that day brought Jae Oh to operate a business with cash. This is so that she could gauge her financial ability and be aware of her saving. Besides, she taught her children to save up and maintain cash flow. She taught them to never be careless about the unpredictable future. All of her children uphold their mother’s teaching. They use those wise words to lead their life and business. That was why, even though they had to close their restaurant for 2 months due to the spread of Covid-19, everyone could survive the situation without much trouble.

The beginning of “MaMa Oh Ho” –a menu that is popular worldwide

In the past, Jae Oh’s restaurant was located in Soi Chulalongkorn 22. The restaurant opened at 5 pm and closed at around 10 pm. After the restaurant was closed, her son would always watch football matches with his friends. There was a day that everyone stayed to watch football match until late at night and they felt hungry. At that hour, the kitchen of Jae Oh’s restaurant had already closed. Her son, thus, cooked instant noodles to eat with his friends. That table of tasty late-night meal was the beginning that Jae Oh’s restaurant opened to sell late-night meal later on.

Not long after moving to Charatmuang Junction, Jae Oh’s children felt that their restaurant closed too early. They could have opened for a longer hour. So, they took the instant noodles that were served for the group of football watchers that night to sell as a late-night dish which goes by the name of “MaMa Oh Ho”. The name goes along with the huge portion with lots of ingredients and authentic Tom Yum flavor. This menu will be served from 11 pm to 1 am. They initially thought that they would be able to serve about 20 bowls per day. However, when they put it on the menu, it was so popular that they could not catch up with the orders. There were both customers who praised for the taste and those who were not satisfied with the slow service. At first, Jae Oh thought of taking the dish down from the menu list as she did not want the long-established reputation to be ruined. However, a group of customers who were a fan of this dish would not want her to do that. Jae Oh, thus, had to plan everything out from the scratch. She invested in hundreds of pots and bowls especially for cooking MaMa Oh Ho. Until now, Jae Oh’s restaurant has become a restaurant that is under the list of Michelin Guide and is known worldwide. The restaurant is crowded with a long queue all the way to 11 pm. All sorts of media contacted to interview and film her including the instant noodles company. Foreign customers traveled across the oceans to try out her food, especially, during evening and night. This is because the food in Jae Oh’s restaurant is made from quality ingredients. All dishes are made fresh with savory taste such as stir-fried water spinach that is very popular among Chinese customers. Normally, she would only use 10 kilograms of water spinach but when more Chinese tourists visited her restaurant, Jae Oh used up to 25 kilograms of water spinach per day. Despite being popular with long queues, the price of the food is affordable. Take the price of stir-fried water spinach that was mentioned above as an example. It costs only 50 baht per dish.

Adjustment during Covid-19 situation

The restaurant that opens from evening until night, when faced with the spread of the Covid-19 situation and the government announced a curfew from 11 pm, had to change their opening and closing hours in accordance with the government measures by opening from 1630 – 0900. Until the spread of Covid-19 had become more serious, the government forbade dine-in for restaurants. Many food businesses had to adapt and made delivery services available. However, Jae Oh did not do delivery service as others did. Due to the shortage of labor at that time, Jae Oh felt that it might not worth it to make delivery. She thought that her business had been maintaining cash flow all this time without any debts left unpaid. If she closed her restaurant at the time, she would not have to worry about the sale and fresh ingredients that would be spoiled when left unused for many days. Therefore, Jae Oh decided to close her restaurant temporarily in a wait for Covid-19 situation to unravel. During the recession, Jae Oh would pay her employees 200 baht per day. If they got sick, she would cover for their medical bills as she had always been doing. As for fresh ingredients that had already been ordered, some were frozen for domestic use and the rest were given to her employees to share among themselves. Grocery that does not have to be frozen like drinking water, eggs, and instant noodles were placed inside the sharing box for people who needed them. Also, Jae Oh did not ask to lower the rent because she felt that everybody was affected and if there is anything that we could do to help one another, we must not hesitate. For good things, the more we give, the more we receive.

After closing for almost 2 months, Jae Oh’s restaurant had once again opened for business. Even though there were no foreign customers visiting, Thai customers were queuing up for her food as always. The restaurant opens at 5 pm but it will be closed at around midnight, not until 1 am. Another special thing during this time is that customers can order “MaMa Oh Ho” since the opening hour without having to wait till after 11 pm. Students, who did not get the chance to order as it would only serve late at night, can now order in the evening. For those who have never tried a delicious meal from Jae Oh’s or have not experienced the flavor of MaMa Oh Ho, now is your chance. Once you tried…you will ask for more.

Simple routine and happiness

On the long road of food business that Jae Oh led, from the time that her customers were only the locals to the point that she was known worldwide with new customers from all over the places, her happiness is simply to serve fresh and high-quality food that will suit the taste of the consumers. Despite the clearly stated operating hours, if customers came earlier and the kitchen was ready, they could order the food immediately or if it was the closing time but there were still customers dining in the restaurant, she would wait until they finished before closing the restaurant. For those who came after the closing hour but the kitchen was still open, she would take their order, so their trip to the restaurant would not come to a waste. When the restaurant is closed, employees will clean everything up and Jae Oh will oversee the big picture. The process would be done around 3 am. Then Jae Oh will rest and wait to send her grandchildren to school and go to bed at 6 in the morning. She will wake up at around 1 pm, shower, get dressed, and is ready for work with her children, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. Each and every one of them has its own responsibility. They receive income from working in the restaurant with Jae Oh dividing them equally. As for the future of the restaurant and where it will be heading, she always talks it out with her family but they have no plan to expand new branches despite the popularity. This is because Jae Oh felt happy working closely with her family. She shared that money can be earned any time if we have a healthy body and know how to save and spend.

Jae Oh in her 66 is even healthier than she was 20 years ago that she overworked herself. Nowadays, Jae Oh has her children to help to operate the restaurant that it has become so famous. She gets to stay with her family and see them every day. She has time to rest, eats well, and sleeps well. She has 8 adorable grandchildren and customers who will visit without leaving any break. Just that, Jae Oh considered it as a good life that is more than enough for her.

Running a business does not have fixed principles. Even if it is just a family business without branches, if one understands and evolves in compliance with the changing era, the business can stay strong in every situation.

Citation: SCB TV Series "Legendary Restaurants" Episode Jae Oh Khao Tom Pet by Jae Oh or Muay Sae-Chua on Friday 14 August 2020.