Firefighter Dalius opened a cafe next to the tallest observation tower, even turning on his own mineral water.

I remember when, while waiting for the bus to Kaunas, I first visited the cozy café “Little Italy” located near the Birštonas bus station. The blackcurrant tea heated up, and the conversation with the bartender who served it intrigued me: After escaping from the bar, he works as a firefighter. It turns out that it is compatible. At the time, I did not know that Dalius was the owner of “Little Italy”, often himself, as at the time of my visit, finding time to serve clients. Not only that, he also runs another restaurant in Birštonas – “Tastes Website”. It is said to serve some of the tastiest cold borscht in the country.

Birštonient, who has taken deep roots in his homeland, did you think? Ot, and no! Dalius Dulskas hails from the Kaišiadorys district, and was drawn to this complex by his love for the pure Gražina breed from Birštonas. After not seeing the prospects of big business in the small town for a while, he finally plunged so deeply into the restaurant business that it became one of the most important parts. Until then, he had pursued a career as a professional footballer, served in the military, devoted himself to car sales, tested the profession of a driver, a security guard; There is no real lack of determination to start something new for this personality.

– In part, you and your family currently own five objects in Birštonas: three cafes and two beauty salons. However, the people of Birštonas whispered that all this could not have happened: once you planned to become a professional soccer player and move in a completely different direction.

– Yes, in Kaišiadorys, as I come from Stasiūnai, I have been attending soccer training since I was 12 years old. It was a great dream, soccer player Pelé – Dios. After forming the Lithuanian national team, we went to Siberia, where a high-level soccer tournament of fifteen republics was held. We fell into such a stadium! We have never been in a game like this. We stayed for seconds, landing only for the hosts. I remember crying. The athlete’s career was interrupted by the Soviet army. At 18 years old, I found myself in Germany. There I continued to play for my own battalion, I kept fit. We played against the Germans and I wouldn’t say it was all in one door.

– Were you angry that compulsory military service shattered a teenage dream?

– No, I wanted to serve in the army, because the five brothers, I, by the way, the youngest, had served. I have three more sisters. Big family (laughs) I could not join the army because my mother raised us alone (dad died when Dali was the only one, aut. Past), the “mother hero” of the Soviet Union, but she was stubborn, she wanted to serve a lot. I stayed in the army for two years, I could stay in Germany, but I missed my home.

– He comes from such a large family, and you only had two children: a son Edwin and a daughter Brigita. How is it here

– AHA (laughs)

When he was young, he might have been intimidated by those customers with Motorola and guns.

– Didn’t you play sports again from Germany?

– I started working as a driver, but a friend who ran a cafe in the basement of the Kaišiadorys cinema offered to work as a waiter. Art people gathered there. I enjoyed chatting with bohemians. Everything hooked very tightly. A year later I went to Kaunas, where I worked as a security guard. Then I went back to bartender. I decided to finish my studies as a bartender. I always enjoyed experimenting with food too.

Then I got a job at the famous Kaunas “Margirio” restaurant. Banditry flourished in those days. I put up with just 1.5 years because I saw what kind of audience was gathering. When he was young, he might have been intimidated by those customers with Motorola and guns. The girls were terribly beautiful, but … The client gets drunk and the lady asks me what I will do after work. “I don’t know when I’ll be done,” I kept answering. We did not see the litas, clients paid only in dollars. “Terrible” pounds of money. He never looked at how much it cost. “Tell me how much?” He just asked. That asmug. We work, I remember, in four, this bartender managed to buy an apartment in a couple of years. He did not want to suffer for the money.

– And how did you find yourself in Birštonas?

– I came to the sanatorium for treatment. Maybe he was 27 years old at the time.

– And then you saw a long-haired blonde who changed your life forever?

– I remember that I left the dining room of the “Versmė” sanatorium, spoke to someone and saw her. Elastic, long blonde hair. Wow, for me she was something like that! She worked as a nurse at Versme. I started visiting her all the time, to measure the temperature (laughs) It was fun for her. We communicate and we communicate. Apparently, he was destined to appear in Birštonas. I worked as a security guard in Kaunas for some time, but my friendship with Gražina became increasingly serious. Perhaps 1.5 years after the acquaintance, the “Alongė” bar opened in Birštonas J.Basanavičius Square. Gražina offered to try to get a waiter there. I remember that I really didn’t want to go to Birštonas, but I decided to go. I spent about five years at Alonge. I connected. We organize the wedding. I’m glad I have a wife like that, it encourages me to keep going when I’m scared.

Gražina (joined the conversation with Dalia halfway): When we met, Dalius played that he was dizzy, his blood pressure went up. I said that there seemed to be too much oxygen in Birštonas to breathe CO2 (I laughed) I was single, where I would marry a man here, he went to Birštonas.

– Waiters receive a lot of attention from customers. Here, you said, Daliau, and about working at Margiris. Gražina was not jealous?

– I was jealous, and now I wasn’t that age. Such work Perhaps after 6-7 years, Gražina began working in a beauty salon. While working as a nurse, she rented premises in a sanitarium where she could perform as a cosmetologist. I suggested finding my own place. Then only one apartment on the ground floor happened to us.

– Did you buy an apartment for a beauty salon with the salary of a bartender?

– I was also involved in the automobile business. I bought faulty machines from Germany. During the week we collected a trawl or two, brought it to Lithuania and organized it, and to the market. Then Audenis, a hotel with a cafeteria, opened its doors in Birštonas. The owners knew that I was an experienced bartender, they started talking to work for them, helping me calm down. I did not agree, then they turned to Gražina (I smiled)

– Your current competitors in the business – Audenis owners, were they your teachers?

– Can you say that. I agreed to work until the Audenio bar enters. And so I stayed again for five years (laughs) I worked at the bar for a week, with cars for a week.

– The mayor of Birštonas has hinted that there are currently some 30 restaurants in the complex. You only have three coffees. The town is small, do you feel the competition? Are they so self-sufficient that they help each other rather than compete with each other?

– I don’t like the word ‘competitors’. We are colleagues. Do not hold other ends. I will always offer the customer to go and try something else with someone else.

– Then there was a fire in your life.

– A friend worked at a fire station, offered to join (I smiled) You work 24 hours a day, three days off.

– Birštonas is famous as an oasis of peace. What do Birštonas firefighters do during the day?

– Do you think there is nothing to do here? You think badly The Birštonas team does the same job as the paramilitaries, but receives wages … Minimum! We call this not a salary but a benefit (smiles) We belong to the Ministry of the Interior. People trust almost 90% of firefighters, and we are probably the most disadvantaged in terms of public finances.

– What the hell, even if you have your own business, you need it then?

– The work of a firefighter provides adrenaline. I mainly worked as a high speed driver, I had to transport my colleagues quickly and safely to the event. In total, we are 15 in Birštonas. Where do I get my adrenaline now? Of life.

Make sure that accidents and fires have occurred and will continue; it is inevitable, you will not change it.

– How often did you have to die while wearing the firefighter uniform?

– There were days when you answered 3 or 4 calls. As I recall today, a boy with a BMW crashed in an accident while driving in Prienai. We just got back from this accident, we got a call about another BMW stuck on a pole. We left, there was a fire elsewhere. Another fire later. After such a shift and for such a salary … It took me a week to recover. Pure thoughts, participate in something else so you don’t think, make sure that accidents, fires have happened and will happen; it is inevitable, you will not change it.

I have saved two people on my own. One came up at the Audenio bar. The next time a man went to the fire station while eating. He wanted to say something, get on the air, fall in love, pass out. Refreshed The worst memory: On the way to Vilnius, four guys with an Opel flew in four, jumped from the right, tripped and got under the tractor. Two were killed on the spot, one fell out of the window, doctors took him to the hospital, and the fourth was pressed alive in the car. We had to move the crane to get the car out. While we were doing that, the boy’s life was gone. Three bodies remained to be removed.

I still remember a case where an overturned man with a tractor was crushed. Unfortunately, the rescue failed. It takes a week to recover from such images. The shots keep coming back, but you try to erase the memory. If I did nothing, it might be more difficult, but other activities would make me forget.

– Having decided to establish its first catering venue, first, it appears that eight years ago you opened “Little Italy”, a café and a gourmet store in one. Why did you choose this particular model, not a bar that seems to be more in line with your experience?

– Before that, there was also a tea room here. We went on vacation to Spain, Italy. Fascinated. They also wanted to establish a cozy corner in Birštonas, to bring that Italian aura. There was nothing similar in the Prienai district at the time. He is said to have a great dream, it will still come true someday. It took four years. Before Little Italy, I had opened a kebab on wheels. Some of the members of the Birštonas municipal council did not like it very much, it was not in its place, as if it were standing.

When we opened “Little Italy”, I worked alone for a while until back work accumulated at home. About 20 percent. Clients visiting here: Clients from the bus station, waiting for the bus or who have just arrived in Birštonas. The room is small, so clients come here as if they were at home. Constant cozy bustle. Must listen, empathize, caress. As a doctor (smiles) The most important thing is comfort. I like to stand behind the bar myself.

What are the advantages of running a coffee shop in a small town? There is less competition, but fewer clients. The worst months with a catering establishment in Birštonas are November and February. Revenue then falls 40-50 percent. It would be possible to close the door and not work, but we are working. Here, we started baking even pizza this year.

– Across the street, in front of “Little Italy”, there is a “Gražina” beauty salon run by his wife. They did not run away from each other.

– “Gražina” beauty salon – 13 years, the “Egl Es sanatorija” office has been operating for four years. About 200 thousand were invested in the beauty salon. LTL. We joke that our main partner in business is the bank. Having had six loans (laughs) This business is difficult. Here’s a friend trying to open a restaurant and it closes after half a year. You have to believe and love a lot. And don’t be lazy to work for yourself.

– And when was the last time you invited your wife for coffee?

Dalius: I invite you every day.

Returns: Really, don’t lie. Especially pampering on weekends. He knows what I like.

– In part, how did you survive the quarantine?

– It was very difficult emotionally. We closed completely, we made repairs. I repainted the entire “Site of Flavor” (the second Dulskai restaurant open in Birštonas – aut. Past). With my son, I cleaned the equipment and prepared for pizza production in “Little Italy”. It was necessary to mobilize, to decide how to treat employees correctly. We do not save to keep all the employees so they are not disappointed. We spend them on paid vacations.

We joke that our main partner in business is the bank. Having had six loans.

– Did foreigners stop before quarantine?

– Occurred. American basketball players planned to eat at the Taste Site in Ballai 12 hours after the game (I smiled) My son and I went to open the door. He debated while sitting on basketball. Father Ball drank a liter of ice milk. Interesting person

– This year’s family investment is Tower Terrace, which opened in June. For how many years was nothing done in the ancient plot?

Gražina: My grandparents lived there before the Second World War, they worked in those lands. It was 7 acres. For three of their children, the land was returned and divided. We inherited 35 hectares from our mother. Next to the cousin it has 70 acres. We could never do anything there, not even build a viewpoint, a geomorphological reserve. Everything has changed due to the construction of the tallest observation tower in Lithuania. There are not many towers in Lithuania, you can see that people flock to them. Someone needed to provide what services to the object of interest.

Dalius: The municipality requested an interview. Gathered from the Ministry of Agriculture, representatives of the regional park, tower designers. It is suggested to think what to install, because our plots are the closest to the tower. The purpose of our cousin’s and Gražina’s plots changed in the detailed plan. It took 1.5 years from the idea to open Tower Terrace to its opening. How many more thoughts are there to do there? They wouldn’t be better (I smiled)

– His 23-year-old son, Edwin, constantly spins him in one or another family restaurant establishment. How did you persuade a young man to stay in Birštonas?

– It remained and will not remain (laughs) Graduated, received an internship in Spain, will leave, until autumn only helps. He always helped in the summers.

– And here is the daughter Brigita, who, after graduating from school, also promises to go abroad to study, will have mineral water in her name. How did the idea of ​​drilling a well come up on the family plot?

Gražina: We had to find a way out. After all, you won’t be able to catch how much running here with buckets from the Birštonas water. If we do something on the plot, it also needs water. We knew there was a spring in the mountains, but it was on private land. In the spring, it was difficult to enter the plot, because of the source: permanent pits and wells. We got stuck, the tractor was driving to pull. Now that you have built a tower and paved the way. When we began to discover where to drill, experts assumed that we would presumably discover mineral water.

DaliusA: And they were right. The first well was over 120 meters long. It struck the vein of Vytautas mineral water. It was very salty. And the second one seems to be running water. Pumped from a depth of 60 meters. Only by allowing more does the specific smell of mineral water begin to be felt.

Gražina: We joke that all the people of Birštonas have mineral water in the wells (laughs)

– In part, is it expensive to drill your own mineral water well on your land?

– More than 7 thousand. The euros are separated. We can extract about 8 cubes per hour.