It’s not just the delicious smells of freshly baked bread and pastries that attract tourists and locals alike. It’s also the warmth of the whole team which embraces you as soon as you walk into Artizán. This is a cafe with an easy going urban atmosphere, a cozy place in the winter, and then in the spring and summer, the tables and laughter spread out along the street. This is a place where you are greeted as if you are an old friend and where the staff seems to know many customers by face and by name. This is a place where it is not unusual to see the owner take a break from the busy lunchtime rush to sit and chat with customers. I finally had the opportunity to get the owner, Gergő Fekete, to take a break and sit down with me to discuss the subject of success.
ÉT: What was your dream as a child? And how have you made it come true?
GF: As a little child I never considered establishing a bakery/restaurant, but I always loved cooking and acting as a waiter at meals with my family.
After having finished high school I received the waiter qualification at secondary school. After a few years I moved to Scotland where I started with some basic tasks like baking potatoes as a way to build up my skills. However, after 1,5 years I became the leader of the kitchen of the TGIF grill restaurant in Edinburgh.
With those 12 employees, the daily 1000 main dishes were served when the peak periods of the rugby tournaments were taking place. This was an excellent opportunity to learn how to perform under pressure and deliver great results!!
But as I wanted to progress on the professional field he made the decision to work for free for a fine dining restaurant.
In this 2 Rosetta restaurant I became the 2nd level chef while at the same time studying at the university (HR and Hospitality).
Due to his unstoppable thirst for knowledge Gergő also learned to become a sommelier and his efforts finally led to him becoming supervisor at the George hotel, a very prestigious hotel in Edinburgh.
In the meantime, Gergő decided it was time to discover how to bake bread.
Our 30th birthday is a turning point for many of us and so it was for Gergő who took a week off to make an important decision; whether to climb the career ladder in hotel management or to establish his own restaurant/bakery business. After much consideration, he decided to start his own company which took almost 4 years of hard work.
But Gergő is no stranger to hard work. Not only did he spend his days off by working for free and gaining experience in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, UK, France, and the Netherlands but he was also writing a blog about bakeries & techniques.
All these adventures then led him back to Budapest and on March 15th 2015, he started looking for a good location for what was then just a notion in his head – Artizán.
’Once we found our current location for rent it was tricky to compete with the likes of Starbucks and another chain for the opportunity to rent the shop. Finally we were chosen due to the 40-50 page business plan which we have delivered on over our years in operation. We have a great relationship with our landlord who even buys his bread from Artizan – it’s a win, win!
ÉT: How do you constantly get inspired?
GF: In general what keeps me going is partly when people around me question my success.
When they see something as being impossible, then that motivates me to demonstrate exactly the opposite: that I can make this come true.
More specifically, when creating a new menu we always try to come up with our dishes based on what we find in the market and we work our menu around these. This means that our food is based on good, fresh, locally grown food that is seasonal. Afterwards we get inspired by events we are invited to such as to Israel last week. We also get inspired to a large extent by the Scandinavian trend-setters who always use the highest quality ingredients and are open to implementing the newest trends into their cuisine.
ÉT: What gives you energy?
GF: The fantastic team culture boosts me as they always maintain a constantly high quality product and service offering. My latest project also motivates me to a great extent: I plan to build my own house where I will grow my own vegetables in the Danube bend.
ÉT: How do you pick your people?
GF: I think my intuition is my most valuable asset here which usually works out very well.
On the other hand I ask the others’ opinion if an applicant comes along for some test days.
Sometimes in the past, I haven’t wanted to select a candidate but then my team persuaded me and then this person became one of the best contributors so it all worked out. For me creating quality and having a team-player attitude is much more important than just being quick
ÉT: How do you motivate your team?
GF: I believe strong culture can only be maintained if I participate in the daily tasks and I demonstrate the attitude I expect from others.
They can see that I also do every task (even the not so pleasant ones!) in order to complete our team’s goal: to provide constantly high quality bakery and food to our customers. We would never sacrifice quality for quantity.
Our basic value is that we believe everyone is strong at something (structured/high energy level/good customer care skills/etc.). These strong points need to be discovered and celebrated.
ÉT: Who has shown you this great example of being hard-working?
GF: My parents were both leaders: my Mother as an employee, my Father as an entrepreneur. Their hard work and the goal of meeting their expectations & receiving good feedback have always pushed me further.
ÉT: What are your future professional plans & perspective?
GF: Currently we produce as much as possible based on our location size. Soon, we will need to look for a bigger location.
But it’s also important that employees have a great time while they are here and also a good work-life balance. Hence, introducing the 4 working days per week is one of my future plans as well. And finally, I would never ask anything from my co-workers that I wasn’t prepared to do myself. It is all about the TEAM!
Cover photo by Denisa Haárová