The Creation of "13 Coins"

  Somchai Nitivangul was born in the Silom area of Bangkok where he studied at Wat Sutti. As a young boy of 19 years he had the opportunity to go to the US as his mother who worked as a seamstress at home gave her son the 20,000 baht (about $800 US) she had been saving so he could purchase a plane ticket to go study in America. With less than a few hundred dollars of pocket money he arrived in Seattle in 1967 where he enrolled as a student at Shore Line College and Green River Community College in Auburn, Washington. 

It was more than a feat for Somchai, with very limited skills in English, it didn't take long for this young man of Chinese immigrant parents living in Thailand to realize he was not to get his education so easily. Finding work was just as difficult, but he found jobs mostly where people offered low paying labor-type positions, just to support himself while attending school working as a dishwasher and busboy at some of the cities best known upscale restaurants.

While working in restaurants in the Seattle area, Somchai quickly realized his real dream was to have his own restaurant. His formal education took back seat to what he yearned to learn at the restaurants everyday. It was still no easy task, he started working at the Sunya Restaurant in Chinatown where after his school day of 8AM to 2PM he would arrive to find the dishes stacked up like a mountain awaiting his dishwashing expertise, and of course, they were all to be washed by hand. He didn't complain as the $1.25 per hour he received working 7 days a week from 6PM to 4AM was how he ate everyday. Somchai then worked as a busboy for 41/2 years at the El Gaucho Steakhouse, one of the finest steakhouses in Seattle as well as the Windjammer, known to be the best place in Seattle for seafood. This was where Somchai moved up the ladder to work as a maitre'd and learned the responsibilities of assistant manager. Somchai always was hungry for any restaurant knowledge and he observed every sight and sound around him. 

Somchai took every opportunity to learn how to bake, fry, deep-fry, grill and cook the dishes of food the customers ordered. He also learned how to prepare the dressings, gravy and sauces that were made in the restaurants. This was not easy because Somchai was unfamiliar with many of the food items and ingredients that he used to prepare the food. He now had to learn what these items were and how they were supposed to taste. Coming from Thailand, where white wine, for instance, was unfamiliar to  most, he now found himself adding it to many dishes of food. He absorbed everything he learned like a sponge and recorded it in his head because he knew one day this vast knowledge was power.

	Most obviously, Somchai's biggest impact seemed to come from "13 Coins", an upscale restaurant in Seattle (at the time, a sister restaurant to El Gaucho)  where he worked from 1970 - 1974 and learned skills from dishwashing, being a busboy, working as a chef and most importantly the daily operations of running a successful restaurant. He appreciated the first class kitchenware & equipment and dreamed of being able to have a similar quality kitchen of his own one day.
Somchai also worked as a waiter at a restaurant in Anchorage for his last two years in the states to help save his small pot of gold which was the means for opening his first restaurant when returning to Thailand. He returned to Bangkok in 1976, after working in the US for 9 years, and prior to leaving Seattle he asked his boss if it would be O.K. to open a restaurant in Thailand and to call it "13 Coins" using the logo and some of its concept that he felt would help make his restaurant   a success. Well, his boss had no objection. Seriously speaking, he really did not think this poor young man from Asia would have a chance to open much more than a noodle stand let alone a lasting impact on the famous "13 Coins" of Seattle. If he only knew what this young entrepreneur was about to do with the "13 Coins" name.
Somchai returned home with about 500,000 baht that he amassed to open his first restaurant of 8 tables. He opened on Ramkhamhaeng Rd in Bangkok, working like a mule, wearing many hats as the dishwasher, busboy, chef, manager and host. He was rewarded by his customers as they were loyal and returned often as they liked the food and fair prices. After only about 4 1/2 years the restaurant expanded to twice its size and other branches were soon to follow.  Now with almost 30 units in Bangkok and one in Chiang Mai each new restaurant that opens seems to get bigger and better. The last 6 restaurants all have opened with hotels with lovely guestrooms. The latest ones are resort-style and include beauty shops, karaoke rooms, billiard rooms and the newest will include large swimming pools. The restaurants, of course, also get larger with the famous counters of lovely cushioned chairs getting longer and longer and offering even a better show. The dining areas in the new "13 Coins" have increased with large meeting rooms that can accommodate weddings and large groups and offering seating for more than 1500 persons.  There is certainly nothing like "13 Coins" anywhere else in Thailand and that is part of the reason they are opening so quickly. Yes, it has taken more than twenty years now but "13 Coins" is well-known by Thais and often visited by the who's who list of local people of importance and even the famous from Hollywood, like  Steven Segall have wandered into one of the "13 Coins. But the magic about these places is that with all the marble and comfortable upholstered couches & high-back chairs to enjoy the show at the counter and all the televisions that are mounted thru-out the dining rooms...the prices are still the same and are considered more than a bargain by most. My own personal note: This is a story that offers not only a tale about "rags to riches" or how a young man with all the odds against him proved to the world that he could achieve a goal, but it's an example of how one man's drive and love for a business can overpower all obstacles.