Restaurateur Olena Borisova: “Business in Ukraine now means working in conditions of total uncertainty, but also with great opportunities”
12 March 2024 14:01
Olena Borisova has 22 years of experience in building and developing businesses in the restaurant industry.
She has been CEO and Managing Partner of GastroFamily since 2014. Today, it is a network of more than 60 restaurant projects in Ukraine and the EU.
Thousands of employees, different concepts of establishments and constant challenges: first, the pandemic, and for the last 2 years, a full-scale war.
How they manage to stay on track, new business models that work in times of crisis, and whether it’s worth starting a restaurant business for Kommersant’s own project “War & Food: Challenges and Solutions for the Restaurant Business“, restaurateur Olena Borysova spoke about her experience in the restaurant business.
What is the restaurant business in Ukraine about for you? Is it about taste and unique food? Is it about traditions and hospitality? Is it about new business models that have worked?
The peculiarity of the restaurant business is that it should be about everything at once. You can’t have an interesting product but a weak business model. Or excellent hospitality service, but a weak menu. An establishment will exist only if it has all of these. And all of this must work as a single system that is extremely complex in its architecture. A guest’s impression is made up of hundreds of objective and subjective factors. Sometimes you need speed, bright taste, large portions, accessibility, and a funny inscription on a coffee cup to make a guest want to come back. Sometimes you need white tablecloths, attentive service, dishes with complex presentation or, conversely, served very simply, but with reference seasonal products, prepared with intelligence and love. Our company has dozens of restaurants in very different segments, and we work in all areas.
So, if we talk about the Ukrainian restaurant business in general, which is so different and multidimensional, for me it is about passion, stubbornness and love. Because this is the driving force that makes restaurateurs continue to work despite incredible challenges: to open coffee shops even in frontline cities, to experiment with formats, to constantly figure out how to surprise, entertain, and feed guests under any conditions.
Ukrainian restaurant business is about passion, stubbornness and love
Ukrainian restaurants are generally better than those in the EU in terms of price/quality/service. In Ukraine, people have low incomes (the situation has only worsened with the war), there is no established practice of eating out every day, so restaurateurs must offer a product of outstanding quality at an affordable price, because the Ukrainian market dictates such rules. And even in such conditions, we have extremely interesting concepts, talented chefs developing, and this says a lot about Ukrainian business in general.

Covid and the war. These two destructive forces have hit all entrepreneurs in Ukraine. And restaurateurs are no exception. But in this extremely difficult time, GastroFamily is growing, developing, and mastering the European market. What have been your key steps over the past 4 years that have made this possible?
Values, strategy and system are at the heart of everything, no matter how trite it may sound. We have determined that under any circumstances we will work in this area: we will prepare and feed people, even if we have to start from scratch.
During the pandemic, we launched our own delivery service in a week: now it is a separate business line that works effectively. As far as possible, we digitised all business processes. These solutions later worked when the full-scale invasion began: we had all the mechanisms for rapid response worked out, when any decision could be made and implemented in a huge company within an hour. on 25 February, we already had 7 volunteer kitchens operating, providing thousands of hot meals to everyone in need. We tested the gradual launch system and in March we started to receive guests again and increase our capacity. In another 2 months, we launched a global franchise to enable Ukrainians who were evacuated to start a business in partnership.
And the main thing is that our tactical decisions never contradicted the strategy, everything went on in parallel. We could grill steaks by flashlights during blackouts and at the same time plan new modules for the internal IT training system for employees. We cooked 1000 servings of shawarma for a military unit and thought about the menu for a dinner tasting with Ukrainian wine. We urgently changed the windows in the restaurant after another arrival, but opened the restaurant on time and welcomed guests.

Before the war, GastroFamily had 15 restaurants of different cuisines and concepts. Did all of them survive? And the main thing in this aspect is the personnel issue: how did you keep people?
Before the war, the company united more than 60 establishments. Some of them remained in the occupied territories, for example, Bilyi Nalyv in Mariupol. We don’t know anything about its fate. Other establishments are still operating. And many new ones have even appeared. There is an interesting case of our franchisee: his Philadelphia sushi bar was damaged by shelling. He opened a dark kitchen on the territory of the Bilyi Nalyv bar, delivered rolls until he raised money for a new small establishment. Now he has a chain of 5 restaurants: all new facilities in Kyiv were opened in the midst of a full-scale war. Our partner in Vinnytsia has also opened a second restaurant. In general, we open almost every month.
We keep jobs for our employees who are in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They should know that they can always come back
We are a very large company, with thousands of jobs. So now the key issue is not even job preservation per se (we have succeeded), but team support and development. Many of our employees are in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and we keep in touch with them, support them, and hold meetings. We save jobs “for later”. It is important for us that they know that in civilian life, if they want to, they can always return.

Western markets are usually a big dream and strategy for Ukrainian businesses. You are already in Europe today. Are Ukrainian restaurateurs waiting for you there? Is it harder to compete with local entrepreneurs there? And what should help our compatriots on this path?
So far, we have opened only two establishments: “Bily Naliv in Wroclaw and Little Sins in Berlin. Both are very successful. People anywhere in the world expect delicious food and drinks, great service and a gastronomic experience at prices that are comfortable for them. If you can provide this, the business will work. An idea, a product, and an effective business model work. You can’t build an effective business on “sympathy for Ukraine” alone, but you can create jobs for Ukrainians, communicate important ideas to the world through successful business and culinary diplomacy, and make Ukraine visible and interesting.
How has GastroFamily’s Ukrainian client changed during the war? After all, we have all changed, and a business that does not meet the new demands of society can hardly be successful.
People’s incomes have decreased and anxiety has increased. These are quite obvious general things. But every person and every family has their own experience of the war. In addition, there are different life strategies: some people refuse to go to institutions in principle, while others, on the contrary, want to live here and now. We have a lot of concepts with very affordable, but at the same time democratic food: from Bilyi Nalyv with oysters, cider and hot dogs to BPS with shawarma, whites and donuts, like in childhood. They are in great demand. In our classic restaurants, we try to make sure that the guest gets as many impressions as possible during each visit.
We organise tasting and musical dinners, stands with special menus, many charity events, etc. In addition, we regularly launch various interesting collaborations. For example, Kanapa is currently offering a menu based on Olga Franko’s recipes in honour of the premiere of the film Taste of Freedom.
Since Kommersant Ukrainian writes about business, in particular, we offer you a short blitz where you choose one of two answers based on your own business experience
If advertising, then with the participation of:
- – famous celebrities;
- – without unnecessary people in the frame.
If advertising, then with a delicious product in the lead role.
Collaborations:
- – with Western brands;
- – an important social mission.
If collaborations, then with Ukrainian brands and an important social mission.
If sales are falling, the problem is likely to be
- – marketing mistakes;
- – external risks.
If sales are falling, you need to change your marketing strategy. You should try to change only what you can influence.
And the last thing is honest advice from you. Is it worth starting or developing a restaurant business in Ukraine today? And if so, what should I prepare for?
You should start a business when you have a strategy, clear goals and resources for it. There will never be perfect conditions. Business in Ukraine now means working in conditions of total uncertainty, but also with great opportunities.
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