No More Ice Rink Thai? Siam To Go Restaurant For Sale

For 15 years, the hidden gem at the Nantucket Ice rink was its underrated takeout Thai food restaurant, Siam To Go. But the family-run operation - led by Bo Sasomsin, her husband Piya Phatthanaphuti, and their daughter Boya - is now up for sale.

The family announced on social media earlier this week stating the business - which it described as "turnkey, profitable, and ready for a new owner," was being put up for sale. In a message to the Current, Sasomsin further explained the decision.

"After 15 wonderful years in business, my decision to sell Siam to Go comes from a place of careful consideration and personal reflection," said Sasomsin, who came to the United States from Thailand during her teenage years. "While I deeply cherish the journey of building this business and serving our community, I believe the time has come to focus on my family with other personal and professional priorities. Siam to Go has been an incredible part of my life, and I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished over the years. I am hoping to find the right owner that will continue to deliver the same service that our customers have come to love."

The family will continue to run "Siam At The Hive," its new takeout restaurant business launched last year at Remain's new shared-use commercial kitchen facility and food business incubator that opened on Amelia Drive last November.

Despite its location off the beaten path and tucked away inside an ice rink, the popular eatery had carved out its niche in the island dining scene, serving up authentic Thai food, plus a whole lot more. While the average lifespan of a restaurant is just five years – and up to 90 percent of new ones fail within the first year – Bo and Piya found the formula to keep Siam To Go running for well over a decade.

In a recent profile of the business, the couple told the Current that there are pros and cons to running a restaurant out of a community ice rink, they said. While they’re difficult to find for people who’ve never been to Nantucket Ice before, they do have a captive audience of island residents who come to the rink for hockey and skating.

"We feel like we’ve become part of their families,” Bo said of the hockey players and their parents. “The hockey kids, we see them since they were three-years-old and see how they grow up and now they are in college. They graduate and they come back, and they still want the same food.”

On the flipside, Piya said, is the temperature.

“It’s always cold,” he said with a laugh. “Even in the summer, you have to wear a jacket. But it’s also a good thing. A lot of kitchens get really hot. We never have a problem with that.”

Bo is originally from northern Thailand, while Piya hails from the capital, Bangkok. Bo was just 15 when she came to the United States to study, and came to Nantucket where her aunt, Pat Thairatana, was running the former Lucky Express convenience store. She graduated from Nantucket High School, and got her first taste of the restaurant business on the island, helping out with the takeout food operation at the convenience store before it closed. But her culinary experience and the spirit of Siam To Go’s menu comes from her upbringing in northern Thailand.

After getting his green card at the age of 17, Piya came to the United States from Bangkok and settled in Virginia where he finished high school. He met Bo over the phone and the internet, and eventually made the trip to Nantucket to meet her in person.

Together on Nantucket, following the closure of Lucky Express, they were looking for the next thing. Family members urged them to look into a Thai restaurant, and with Bo’s connections at Nantucket Bank, where she continues to work to this day, they heard about the opportunity at Nantucket Ice to open a snack bar. The two concepts came together, and in 2009, Siam To Go was born.