10 odd years ago, the bar game was fairly simple. Stick a few pretty faces in there, play some half decent music and show the main sporting events. Sit back, have a beer yourself and be happy.
A year after that and it was a different game. There had to have been 17+ bars that had opened up in the vicinity during that year and there weren't 17+x more visitors.
So we had to think about things. The resolution was to sell.
There are still many farang run bars that are doing very well and they were here before my time. It can be done, but it's not easy.