The 65-year-old started his own business and calls it a salvation from loneliness: he now earns a second pension.

I felt unnecessary

“My name is Irena, my last name is Pečiulienė”, this is how, introducing herself, a businesswoman starts a conversation in Kėdainiai, her hometown.

He tells us that in his youth he was a florist, worked in a botanical garden, and then started his own business, growing and selling tulips. Later, she also had her own grocery store, made and marketed ice cream herself, and sold this business recently, just before retiring.

“When it was time to retire, I thought it was time to rest, but, you know, I stayed home for a year, I retired, and that’s why I was scared. I’m very old during that time, I really lacked communication, ”he says.

The woman says she still received calls from former colleagues and partners in the first half of the year, but over time, the calls fell silent.

“I no longer knew how to be,” he says openly, explaining that it was when he was 65 and decided to dive back into business.

“And then I thought that the pension is not high, my husband and I are not so upset yet. We thought that we should become a small company, add a little retirement, interact with people again, be necessary for someone and thus start living again ”, says Irena about the very beginning of the idea.

Soon a food cart was built near his house, right at the entrance to his own backyard. When asked how she decided to start producing kebabs, the woman said she hadn’t considered it for a long time and the idea was spontaneous.

“We thought, ‘Which is more likely (produced-ed.)? Kebabs.” I had tried them, but I wasn’t a fan of it, “she says.

Then they bought the carriage with her husband from their personal savings, and due to the name of the business, they also did not turn their heads for a long time.

“The question arose of what name to give the cart. And we think so, and in a way, then we say what to do here, because I’m 65 years old, let’s be Food 65 and we’ll know when we start working ”, the woman recalls today and estimates that in September Being 2 years old, dedicate herself to this activity.

He was not afraid to take risks.

Irena says that she learned how to make kebabs from an acquaintance in Kaunas, but assures that there she only learned technical things, such as wrapping a plate, but everything else is the contribution of the hostess, and she was never afraid to start such a business. .

“Apparently he knew what he was doing,” he laughs. – I put a lot of myself, love. My goal was not to make a lot of money. It was a small contribution to retirement, but the process, the work, the activity is important to me ”.

Today, a woman has hired and two employees and, although she is said to be behind the counter and not standing up, she still supervises that the work goes smoothly.

“You make it demanding with age,” he adds with a smile.

Earn a second pension

The women’s business, as they say, also felt what a pandemic is, sales fell. According to her, there were no more students who normally stopped for lunch.

“Although now it seems that customers are starting to come back again.

Maybe spring, and the moms with children will come. Of course we survived, there was not a month left to survive, or to pay taxes or salaries, but that vitality was lacking, ”says the businesswoman.

In general, Irena remembers that as soon as she started a business, she regretted only once, at first.

“It was very difficult, I wanted to do everything very well, and there was no experience. I did the best I could, I ran during the day and then everything came in. <...>

But I recovered, the business saved me from loneliness.

Sitting at home, retired, I was more tired than now, ”she explains.

It is true that the woman in the second cart claims to be reluctant and unplanned, even though the investment paid off earlier than planned.

“I’ll say frankly, I didn’t expect them to pay off so quickly. I thought it would take 4 years, but I managed faster.

I don’t want to do business, I just want to have a business. I don’t want to be overwhelmed, “she says, and says that her husband, who helps her do business today, does too.

When saying goodbye, the woman adds that, in general, that decision to start a business was only for her benefit, and now she is also contributing to her pension.

“It happens, and I win the second, like a month, one stays more, the other less,” he says.

When asked herself if she still tastes their products, Irena jokes that she only eats one kebab a month now.

“Sometimes you don’t have time to do something at home, you run out and eat,” he smiles.