Pavlova founders share their sweet story

Pavlova, is a delicious dessert. The meringue base is a soft soufflé with a crispy crust, and whipped cream and juicy berries on top. Pavlova Cafe founders share their sweet story with us in the Interview below. Olga Danilova and Snezhana Härma tell us how they filled the need for an authentic Pavlova cafe which is dedicated to the dessert.

1. How did you enter in the franchise business?

We both were running our own bakery businesses and one moment decided to unite our forces and do something special together. Two months after the cafe opened, we understood, that we created something really unique and we need to try and go further with it. So, we called Francorp and started franchise package preparation with them.

2. Where and how did the idea of your concept come from?

We both like Pavlova, but there are very few places (restaurants and coffee shops) were its done really well. So, we decided to do it ourselves.

This cake has to be served right after its made, so everything is made on spot in front of customer. No ready-to-go-frozen stuff!

3. What inspired the brand name?

Well, pavlova in dessert world is like a burger. Everybody, who loves sweets, knows what pavlova is.

Why complicate a simple thing? Pavlova it is 😉 We only added “sweet legend” to make sure people are not mixing us with ballet shop.

4. What is the story behind the brand’s logo?

Ballerina – light and beautiful had to be part of the logo, but we did not want to be confused with ballet school or shop. So, we added “sweet dream” to it.

5. What makes your brand different from your competitors?

We are not an ordinary cafe, where you can see 10-15 desserts on the shelves and never know, when and how its was made. In those cases, most of them normally come from deep fridge. We concentrate only on 1 product, but make it perfect!!!
Mono Product concept advantages:
– no need to promote/advertise what is the main product sold in cafe
– we can operate in smaller rooms due to fewer equipment (rent price)
– less personal needed due to fewer kitchen production hours
– smaller inventory variety means delivering fresher food and faster rotation with less leftovers and waste
– easily and fast trained personal (no need for long experience in baking)

6. What are the essential qualities that you look for in a franchisee?

– passion for sweets
– understanding how restaurant-cafe business works
– be ready to follow very high quality standards without any compromises

7. How long does it take, on average, for your franchisee to realize their investment?

Depends on size of format from 12 to 18 months.

8. What was the major challenge you faced in your career, and how did you overcome it?

We were not ready for great success of the the concept and struggled to meet the demand in first 6 months, working 12-16 hours a day.

We hired more people and trained them 😉

8.1. What is your best achievement?

When people in our city and country think about pavlova dessert, they think about our cafe! We set quality standard for the cake and everybody is trying to follow us.

9. How does your business day start?

Coffee and pavlova cake for breakfast 😉 then normal business routine: email, phone calls etc.

We still working in cafes ourselves sometimes: to understand processes perfectly you need to be the part of the one.

10. What was your best moment throughout your franchise career?

We think they are still ahead of us. We are just at the beginning of this path.

11. Where do you see your brand in the next 5 years?

When anyone in the world thinks about pavlova dessert, they think about Pavlova cafe.

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