From 3 million euro turnover to zero orders: after 30 years, the company had to innovate

From 3 million annual turnover up to 0 orders

Monika Čereškaitė, creative director of Delfi co-owner Taurakalnis, starts the conversation by saying that today the company she runs is probably one of the oldest catering establishments in Lithuania.

“In January, to be exact, we will be 30 years old. But after those 30 years, I am now a new beginner because, as I laugh, we are starting all over again because of the pandemic,” he says.

The company, as advertised on its website, offers food for buffets, banquets, conferences, weddings and outings, as well as catering service agreements and events in the Siemens and Panevėžys Cido stadiums, although more recently this entire bouquet has been added. of activities. A new service is take-home food, which you have to prepare yourself.

As Monika herself suggests, this is not the only thing that has been tried to save the company from potential bankruptcy due to dropped orders during the pandemic and the inability to operate. The businesswoman openly says that in order to keep the company and earn at least a minimal income, the cafe’s boundaries have been significantly widened and managed until then, and an outdoor space has been opened for the summer.

We have created a cozy outdoor cafe “Garden of the Rulers”, which was next to the Palace of the Rulers. We opened it right after the first quarantine, before there were only a few tables. It was the beginning of summer, everything was improvised, it was not planned, but we did everything possible to survive ”, Monika recalls the situation then and adds that, in general, the first quarantine for the company’s activities was a great shock.

“Our activities had completely stopped in a cardinal way, because there were no events even after the end of the quarantine. In summer we lived on conferences, weddings, outings, but we lost everything. Our only source of sustenance and survival was still a cafe.

Previously, our turnover was very large, large capacities, many employees, employment contracts at the Siemens Arena and the Panevėžys Cido Arena. This outdoor cafe was a new opportunity for us, ”says the businesswoman, who mentions that the company’s annual turnover before the pandemic used to be around 3 million. Eur, but after all the orders were postponed, the outdoor cafe helped the company make at least some income.

“You can’t say that the outdoor café ‘got us out’, but it gave us a job and added optimism,” he says.

The businesswoman says that before the pandemic, the company had a total of 170-200 employees, but now only 70 remain.

“We had to say goodbye to many employees. Some were the ones who left work themselves because they simply weren’t paid to remain inactive. We are very sorry for the people, because we wanted to keep them, we had a stable team, which has changed very little, but now it is Such a sad situation, ”he says, adding that currently around 50 of the 70 employees are off duty.

Now the only income received

As mentioned above, in an attempt to survive the pandemic, in addition to an outdoor cafe, the company has undertaken another new project: the creation of an online food store valgyknamie.lt, where customers can order food almost finished at home.

“I think we are a more unique project because our online store came out quite improvised.

At the last event, on March 16, an employee got scared and asked: “What are we going to do now, how are we going to continue living?” I somehow said that if the clients couldn’t come to us, we would come to them, but only then did I think what I said here.

I am an adrenaline rush when I get stressed, new ideas quickly come to me, I thought of a day when we would bring food to people at home, ”says the businesswoman, who says that only after telling her friends about the idea, soon they set up an online store. , began to build a brand.

This differs from regular food delivery, as he emphasizes, in that a person needs to finish preparing a meal on their own, burying a pot or pan. On the page you can buy sauce with meat for cooking zeppelins (8 pcs. – 18 Eur), pancakes (6 pcs. – 5.9 Eur), prepared pork ribs (0.5 kg – 8 Eur) and so on.

“During the first quarantine, people used that service. First because to help us survive, because we have a large customer base and friends, and then customers started using it because it is very convenient. Now acquaintances order food through acquaintances , the circle of customers is expanding, ”says the businesswoman, adding that when the outdoor café closes in September, this is currently the only income the company receives.

Summing up the current situation, M. Čereškaitė assures that the pandemic forced us to look at the business in a very creative way, and if new services and the opening of an outdoor cafe had not been tried, the company could have had to close.

“If we had not had these things, we would be completely closed. So we thought about what we could do to preserve at least our core, the potential of not degrading ourselves,” he says, recalling the crisis of 2008-2009.

“She was very cruel. So, I remember, all the events booked until then were taken from us in one day. Everyone started saving, maybe it was early December. Then we had maybe 20 calls a day and everything: December event cancellations. That impact was great.

It was a very difficult time, but at the time I was just thinking about what to do and now the situation is when you don’t even know what to do. Apathy and passivity have already begun. You don’t know what support you will receive, you don’t know when it will all end, “he says.