The idea of entrepreneurship in gastronomy attracts many, if not all business immigrants. A low entrance threshold, a fast payback period and, in general, a cafe is a thing for the soul. Or would you say that you have never thought about a place where you can honour your friends with signature cocktails? Well, there you go. We thought it would be a good idea to prepare beginners for the opening of their own café in Poland, because in working with local people you can feel the difference in mentality. Fortunately, Inna Jarowa, co-owner of the Dobro&Dobro coffee chain, and Christina Podolian, co-founder of Wroclaw’s coffee house, generously share their experience in their blogs. We chose their key life skills for entrepreneur survival in this field:
- The only way to save on taxes and not to go to jail is to hire students – sums up Inna. The fear of Polish taxes from wages scares Ukrainians more than currency hikes, and there’s nothing surprising about it. Income taxes, health insurance, sick leave insurance, pension insurance, ZUS, social fund contributions – the list seems endless. But those who employ students and young people under 26 are exempt from a large part of the tax. “Beneficial” employees are also good – there is less demand for them if they work.
- You need an electricity generator and a dot. Be prepared that if your institution is left out of light due to an accident or bad weather, local services will not fly out to repair the damage on demand. Christina ‘trembles’ recalls how the lights went out in Wroclaw for 4 days (!), and their coffee shop was not ready for this. “In Ukraine, we had a generator. Here in Poland, they were completely relaxed and did not buy it”, she comments on the situation.
- Feedback on Google Maps is deciding. Motivate employees to sneak to satisfied customers that the best thanks for their work is a review of the institution on the network. “Set goals for the reviews and pay extra for them – share the idea of promoting Inna’s coffee shop. Let’s add from ourselves that with good reviews, of course, you have to work, because there will always be customers who put a completely unjust “two” a la “mustache waiter, and I like smooth hair”.
- Learn to speak. At first glance, it might seem that Poles are in a hurry all the time. How does our novice restaurateur reflect on such a client request? Speed of service. But often the salt of success lies not in hurry, but in human communication. A lot of customers come not only for a cup of coffee, but also to communicate. Develop the emotional intelligence and empathy of your employees – these investments directly affect the growth of loyal customers.
Of course, your own coffee shop or snack bar is a field of activity if you want space service. This business will always improve itself to survive. Ideal conditions for ambitious immigrants.
We would like to thank the girls for their help in preparing this material. If you are not yet subscribed to their Instagram profiles, sign – @yarova_inna and @podolian_kris. There is still a lot of useful information about gastronomic business in Poland.
