Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the problem faced by many Taiwanese restaurant owners who trying to set up their shops in Thailand.

Design/methodology/approach: Two surveys were conducted in this study. The first interview questionnaire was designed using the factors proposed by Parasuraman et al. (1988, 1991) and given to restaurant owners/managers who successfully set up shops in Thailand. The second questionnaire was constructed specifically for Thai consumers.

Findings: Gray relational analysis (GRA), theory of inventive problem-solving (teoriya resheniya izobreatatelskikh zadatch, TRIZ) and interpretive structural model (ISM) were used to identify potential difficulties and to determine the key factors impacting the shop establishment and development in Thailand. The results provide a set of strategic sequence when launching restaurant in Thailand.

Originality/value: A result of GRA determined 14 important factors that influence customer perception of quality service. A TRIZ analytic process provided 17 strategies when setting up overseas shop and the ISM class diagram shown the three phases needed to be considered before restaurant owners can set up shops abroad. The three phases are construction, operation and competition phases. These set of strategies sequence when launching a restaurant in Thailand.