Ukrainian companies that founded or expanded in Central Europe after the 2022 Russian invasion have shifted their focus from primarily refugees to local customers as they become established, and some are now considering expanding further west. As the war closed off opportunities at home and in the East, including Russia, Ukrainian-run businesses sprang up in neighboring countries, initially targeting displaced compatriots with food and services.
In Poland, where the war has increased the Ukrainian population to current estimates of more than 1.5 million, Ukrainians will start one in every ten new businesses in Poland by 2024, according to Polish business organizations and economists. That’s what it means.
Andrii Halytskyi’s Lviv Croissant now has 12 stores in Poland since launching there two years ago. The company opened its first Czech store in October, which its founders say is part of a strategy to build a geographically diverse business by expanding beyond the west and diaspora.
“The Ukrainian refugee community in Europe is important, but relying solely on this customer base is not a sustainable long-term strategy,” Haritsky told Reuters.
Strong cultural similarities with Ukraine make Poland a natural base for Ukrainian companies. But many are also looking beyond emerging Europe’s largest economy to a much larger customer base.
“Initially, companies see Poland as a bridge or starting point to the European Union market,” said Dariusz Szymczyca, first vice president of the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“They… want to know the realities of operating in the European Union, the standards, the regulations, the rules.”
The Piana Vishnya chain of bars, which is themed around traditional Ukrainian cherry liqueurs, believes its main target is local customers, founder Andriy Kudo told Reuters. .
His !FЕST restaurant group has grown the brand, known in English as Drunken Cherry, to 15 stores in Poland, nine stores in other Baltic and Eastern European countries, and will expand to the West from February 2022. Kudo said the company is accelerating its expansion.
The group plans to open in Germany, Switzerland and France in 2025, as well as reopen stores in London, he said, adding that the bars were attracting new customers and were making a profit.
“Before the war, we were focused on Ukraine because our business there was developing rapidly. But the war made us look more westward, given the risks in Ukraine. ,” Kudo said.
Refugee support
Although Ukraine’s economy grew in 2023 and is likely to expand in 2024, Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko told Reuters in November that it is still 78% of the size it was before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. He said that it was nothing more than
With no end to the conflict in sight, companies like Kudo’s are forced to look elsewhere. This is also an economic reversal for neighboring countries, whose labor market tensions have eased with the arrival of Ukrainian workers.
A March 2024 Deloitte report estimates that refugees from Ukraine will add up to 1.1% to Poland’s GDP in 2023, and up to 1.35% in the long term.
“If they come to Poland, for example, to work or to start a business, this is from an economic perspective of improving consumption and labor supply,” Andrzej Kubisiak, deputy director of the Polish Institute of Economic Research, told Reuters. This will provide additional stimulus.” .
Another Ukrainian restaurateur, Olga Kopylova, said that before the war, she had no plans to expand the Czernomorka brand overseas, but now she has three restaurants under the name Czarnomorka in Poland, and two in Bratislava and Vienna. He told Reuters he was setting up a store.
Coffee chain Aroma Kava moved to Poland in 2022 and has since expanded to 10 stores, while Ukrainian ice cream and frozen products maker Three Bears acquired Polish company Nordis.
Co-founder Volodymyr Borowik told Reuters that Poland is now the second most important market for digital entertainment provider MEGOGO, which has grown by appealing to locals primarily through family programming. He said he was there. In 2023, it will enter Poland and Romania, two of Europe’s most populous emerging countries.
“A healthy Polish market not only motivates us, but also encourages other Ukrainian companies to enter this market with products created specifically for Polish consumers,” he said. said.
At the newly opened Lviv Croissant branch in Prague, staff serve a variety of people – tourists, locals and Ukrainians – who want to take a break from their busy holiday schedule and enjoy a cup of coffee or a sandwich. did.
Tatyana Melnyk, a 20-year-old Ukrainian student, said, “It’s my first time eating here, but it feels like home to me.”
issued – January 7, 2025 3:08pm IST
