About
Proprietor Jurairat Charoenchasri
Serving coffee, tea and desserts (including shaved ice), Jurairat believes her traditional recipes and methods at Be My Guest (named in honor of a friend’s business in Thailand) will stand out for customers. Originally from Thailand’s Samut Sakhon province, and now living right here in Thai Town, Jurairat learned to cook on her own and took a course at Kasetsart University in Bangkok to further develop her skills. She also took a small business course there and ran a café in a Bankgkok hospital’s food court from 2004 to 2007 before coming to the U.S., where she worked for 11 years as a massage therapist in Eagle Rock. “I wanted a business that I can pass down to my children,” said Jurairat. But her children were not interested in the massage business, and growing older meant that she was no longer strong enough to apply the pressure required to perform Thai massage. At the suggestion of a friend and fellow TTMP vendor, Jurairat signed on as one of the initial 12 small business eateries at the marketplace. “The Thai Town Marketplace helped me start my own business, and save money,” she says. “It would be hard to do this on my own without their help.” With her children and other family members as part of Be My Guest’s staff, Jurairat now has a family business she can grow and pass on to the next generation.