The aroma of baked cheese and hot coffee is like a magnet attracting frozen people to the van. Wood crackles quietly in the oven and you can see how the cheese on the pizza boils and turns brown in a matter of seconds. Wood-fired pizza is the next level, restaurant business experts say.
We cannot take our eyes off the cooking process. The woman confidently and quickly rolls out the dough, smears it with sauce, appetisingly lowering the meat and cheese, cornmeal is poured onto the baking sheet and the pizza is already in the oven. It is the standard process for making pizza but the background to this story is anything but standard.
“To” Ireland
This is Victoria Voytsekhovska from Zaporizhzhia. Before the war, she and her husband had started and developed a large business. First — grocery stores, then a restaurant in Zaporizhzhia. Later, they expanded to the resort area of Kyrylivka, where they established recreation centres. There was a lot of work. After all, they created everything with their own hands, involved in every step of the process.
Victoria is the queen of restaurant cuisine. The queen, because she knows how to cook deliciously, elegantly, and homely. However we cannot call her a queen in the classical sense of the word, because she has always worked at the same level as all the employees, cooking, cleaning, and serving. Long hard days without rest, but in such a way that the visitors were always satisfied.
“We did not work according to calculated weights. Borscht, barbecue and dressings were never spared; this was home-cooking guided by passion and instinct. People travelled to us because they knew it was all homemade and of course very tasty. We were fully booked every day, there was a queue at lunchtime,” Victoria recalls.
February 24 changed everything. On this day, Victoria with her three children and her husband were in the Carpathians. For them, February is off-season, a time for family, because then there is only work. They had heard stories but did not believe that the war would start. So they had left home with a small bag of personal effects and a very small amount of money.
“They started calling us at night and saying that Zaporizhzhia is being bombed, the airport is gone, there are only explosions.” – remembers the family.
The Russians occupied Kirillivka on the third day of the war. It became clear: there was nowhere to go back to and you should also forget about business. But it was not easy to forget. Victoria’s husband, Mamuka, originally from Georgia, recalls over a joint lunch:
“We bought land in Kyrylivka and built a hotel complex there from scratch. We had a shop, a dining room, everything that people needed for recreation. At first, you know, the territory was one hectare, then it was cleared, built and expanded. Every year, 90% of everything earned was put back into construction. In time we had 16 cottages, two swimming pools, and a sauna. And so before the war because we did not believe it would actually kick off, we had begun construction of a 25-metre pool. We were 90% of the way to completion but then it was all taken away from us“
For many, this war is not the first…
Victoria’s husband came to Ukraine in 1994, when times were extremely difficult in Georgia. War, without electricity, water, food. He had to save his family and provide for it, so he wanted to open his own business. He had no money. He remembers how he sold his brother’s car, opened a kiosk in Zaporizhzhia, then another, then a store. So, step by step, they learned to build a life in a new country. Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine they would have to repeat this experience. But that’s what happened.
“The war started, and the next morning we moved from the Carpathians to Poland with our three children. Just wait a week, because everything will be over, Zaporizhzhia will not be bombed. And so the month passed.”
The birth of a new business and life
The family arrived in Ireland in April 2022. They hardly knew the language, especially for starting a business; an elementary level of English was not enough. And there were no ideas for business. As well as money. The problems seemed insurmountable.
“Pizzeria on wheels is a joint idea, we thought about it for a long time and decided. We understood that it is necessary to start with something small. From what we know and can do. The fact that I worked in the kitchen for a long time, Georgian dishes are not a problem for me, pizza is not a problem for me. When we were travelling in Italy, we became interested in wood-fired pizza”
In Kyrylivka, the family had a wood stove inside the restaurant. The man who built the furnace spent several months on it. Each stone was carefully cut and had to be placed correctly. Everything had to be built so that the temperature in the oven was correct, so that the smoke came out correctly.
“And that’s why this idea came here. We were thinking of either renting a place or buying a van and making wood-fired pizzas, says Victoria. – They were more inclined to buy a van, because it is mobile, you can bring it and park it anywhere. No need to pay rent and electricity. You do not worry that the location was not successful.”
The first obstacle was the purchase of a van for a pizzeria. The unequipped van cost plus or minus 10,000 euros. The family did not have that kind of money just for an empty van.
The second task was the electricity inside the van for the refrigerator, coffee machine, etc. The family purchased a mobile power plant. And then they solved the issue of water supply.
The stove was ordered from Italy. It was installed in the van by a professional. And then all equipment works – with your own hands.
“We redid everything inside the van. Everything was difficult at the start. Inspection commissions came and told them what to redo. Reworked. They collected all the permit documentation, registered the business. Everything was not easy.” Mamuka recalls.
They also constantly heard that there is no market in Ireland except for fries and burgers. But the family did not give up.
On this journey, they were supported by volunteers from the Ukrainian centre “Palyanytsia” – the two Olgas and Larisa, as well as Elaine McGrath from the local business development department of Cavan County. They provided information on how to collect permit documentation, take necessary training courses, helped with translation from English and much more, for which Victoria and Mamuka are extremely grateful. After all, without this support, establishing a business in a foreign country, Victoria believes, would be impossible.
“You know, the Chinese say that the most important thing is to have a goal and a task. And he who has a goal and a task has a fair wind. And it’s true. And as if God is helping and guiding you. And that’s why I always say that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,” says Mamuka.
The first customers
Victoria approached the town council of Killeshandra, where she lives. And received a positive response about selling pizza near a local park.
She has permits, such as registration as a private entrepreneur, documents from the health authority, insurance, a certificate of completion of entrepreneur courses, as well as courses on product safety. This is enough to start.
Her first client was in Killeshandra. The locals, mostly Irish, supported her, coming most days, sampling and buying more. She treated many to Georgian khachapuri. Everyone, of course, is delighted.
Killeshandra is a small village and ideas for business expansion were needed so they printed business cards and started offering catering. And they also started coming to Cavan with pizza.
“I made it my task to make it tasty. The financial side doesn’t bother me so much, primarily what I do so that people leave satisfied. I do not work according to costing. I put meat and cheese in such a way that it is tasty.”
Wood-fired pizza is top notch. In an electric oven, the maximum temperature is 300 degrees. In a wood-fired oven, the temperature can be raised to 500 degrees. The pizza will be ready in a matter of minutes and will retain its incredible taste.
From the outside, the whole process seems easy. Is it difficult to bake a pizza, especially in such a professional oven? But a lot remains behind the scenes. Let’s start with the fact that a large van must be connected to a large minibus. Victoria gets behind the wheel and drives off. Then you need to find a place and park the van, disconnect it and find a place for the minibus. Wood for the stove should not be just any kind. Suitable breeds and well dried. They buy firewood in bulk, which means keeping it dry in Ireland, where it rains every day, is also a task with an asterisk.
When the weather is sunny business is good. But on grey rainy days there are fewer people on the street. And such days in Ireland are the majority. So Victoria sees business development through catering and work during various festivals. Unfortunately, she is often refused permission to work at festivals. The licensing authorities explain they have enough of their own food producers, that is, there is someone to sell to.
Mamuka adds:
“We are very grateful to the Irish people. Imagine, we arrived, and they accepted us as relatives. They are very friendly. Sometimes you just wonder, if you were in their place, what would you do, how would you help? And sometimes you reconsider. And God willing, I assure the Irish people that their good will return with interest.”
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Text by Inna YAKYMENKO
Video and photo by hanna_vidna