«Would you like it spicy or not spicy? – Here or to go? – Cut it? – Wait five to ten minutes, and it will be ready. – Enjoy your meal!».
If you stay at the “Shaurmax” establishment for the entire working day, from 11 to 21 o’clock, you can hear a hundred or more such conversations. The place, opened in 2022 in Ivano-Frankivsk by Kherson native Maksym Honcharuk, is known and loved by the townspeople.
Maksym is a professional and experienced cook, but before “Shaurmax” he had no experience in preparing street food. He worked 12 years as a cook – a ship’s chef. He would have continued in this field, but the war and the Russian occupation of Kherson intervened. It was because of them that Maksym, like many of his fellow townspeople, had to radically change his life.
They offered to go to Poland
At the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Maksym did not plan to leave Kherson. He hoped he could wait out the hard times in his hometown. But when the Russian occupation began, it became clear that it was better to leave.
Employers offered to help the man and his family move to Poland, promising to cover all costs associated with it, but Maksym decided to stay in Ukraine.
«My partner Kostya (Kherson entrepreneur Kostyantyn Dudchenko, – МОСТ) and his family, – the man says, – left Kherson two weeks before us. They chose Ivano-Frankivsk and offered us to come to them, which we did».
Maksym decided to open an establishment that would prepare and sell shawarma because street food is one of those types of business that do not require very large startup costs and, if successful, allow you to get back on your feet relatively quickly.
“At first, – says Maksym, – we did not consider making shawarma as a serious business. We just decided to try and see how it would go. And – the first year, second year, third year… And it all, as they say, went, went, went… So we work in this direction. There are visitors, there is demand. On the busiest days we prepare up to 180-200 portions. We hope there will be an opportunity to expand.”
Shawarma with a “twist”
Of course, “Shaurmax” is far from the only place in Ivano-Frankivsk offering popular street food. But Maksym Honcharuk managed to develop his own recipe for the popular dish that appealed to the residents of Ivano-Frankivsk.
“We – the cook talks about his know-how, – prepare shawarma in our own way. We mix the filling into a homogeneous mass, and you will not eat the potatoes, meat, cabbage separately… Yes, you can’t say that this is shawarma in the classic, generally accepted form. It’s rather a kind of salad in lavash. But in this version the filling is a homogeneous mass. And when you eat such a shawarma, you get pleasure because it is not dry.”
Maksym says that the shawarma with this “twist” was liked by many Ivano-Frankivsk residents, and the place does not suffer from a lack of visitors.
Another feature of the treat from “Shaurmax” is the portion sizes. The largest shawarma they offer – “Shaurmax PROMAX” – weighs 1.4 kilos. The standard one is 530 grams, the signature “Shaurmax” – 700. The cook says he adopted this practice from colleagues in Odesa: “We decided to make shawarma so that you can eat a full meal, not just have a little snack. We saw how large shawarmas are made in Odesa and decided to adopt the experience. It turned out well, people like it.”
Of course, people’s tastes differ, and some do not like Maksym Honcharuk’s recipe for shawarma. The cook takes it calmly: “Every establishment has haters. We never set out to please everyone. It’s impossible. Every product has its buyer. It’s good that people have a choice: some come to us, some go to other places. That’s normal. If any client has a remark, we listen and try to resolve problematic issues.”
Our conversation with Maksym is interrupted by a woman entering the place.
“As usual for you: not spicy and cut in half right away?”, – the saleswoman asks her.
Lidiya is a local resident, a regular customer. She is one of those whose preferences the staff know well, someone who, when coming to the place, only needs to say: “As usual for me”.
The woman says that she and her son like the dishes from “Shaurmax”: “They always cook very tasty here. We appreciate that.”
Visitors repeatedly interrupted our conversation with Maksym and other staff members. And then the cook and his assistants set to work fulfilling the order.
“Hawaiian, please”, – asks a man named Andriy, who told us that he lives in Ternopil region, is in Ivano-Frankivsk for work, and when he has the chance – drops by “Shaurmax”.
“Because it’s very tasty here and not like everywhere else”, – he replies when asked why he likes this place.
Deceptive ease
Maksym Honcharuk admits that although he likes working at “Shaurmax”, it is incredibly hard due to several serious circumstances.
“When you cook for a ship’s crew, – says the cook, – you cook for a certain collective. During the work you learn the tastes and preferences of the crew members and follow them throughout the voyage. Now there are both regular visitors and occasional ones, and some people can be difficult: there are different reactions, wishes, complaints. You always have to be ready for something unexpected, and you always have to behave in a way that leaves the person without a bad memory of the place, because that’s our reputation.”
From the outside, it may seem that preparing shawarma is a relatively easy process: the technology and sequence of actions are unchanged, and once mastered, you can do everything on autopilot. But this impression of ease is deceptive.
According to Maksym Honcharuk, each working day (the place operates without days off) is fourteen hours of very hard work. The establishment opens for visitors at 11:00 and closes at 21:00. But the staff arrive at 7 in the morning to prepare everything.
“The components for shawarma, – Maksym says, – are only those prepared the same day. Anything unused after the end of the establishment’s work we dispose of, we leave nothing for the next day. Our product storage rules are followed strictly. Because we don’t want to lose a clientele built up by years of impeccable work over some single unpleasant incident.”
In addition to Maksym, two saleswomen work at “Shaurmax”: Natasha and Viktoriya. The latter is from Ivano-Frankivsk, and Natasha is a two-time displaced person. In 2014 the woman and her family moved from occupied Luhansk to Kharkiv, and in 2022 they were forced to leave there due to danger and chose Ivano-Frankivsk.
“I was lucky with the female employees, – says Maksym, – we work very well together. With the guys – a problem. We need cooks for making shawarma (it’s a male profession because it involves considerable physical strain), but so far we can’t find people who would stay with us for a long time. For now I am the main cook, and in summer – the only one.”
Currently, Ivan is interning at the establishment – a young man from Zaporizhzhia. If he continues to work, “Shaurmax” will have a staff member from another region of Ukraine affected by the war.
He wants to return to Kherson, but…
Maksym Honcharuk says that he was able to place his establishment so successfully that many displaced people from Kherson region live or often visit this part of Ivano-Frankivsk.
“Before, – he says, – many such people used to come in, now – somewhat fewer. Maybe some have moved. But Kherson residents are still frequent and welcome visitors.”
Soldiers are a very respected category of visitors at “Shaurmax”. According to Maksym, a special discount system has been developed for them: “We have good discounts for soldiers, for medics, for the police, for the State Emergency Service. Soldiers sometimes order 100, 150 portions for the training ground. Delivery of such orders is free.”
Speaking about the development of his business, Maksym said that at the beginning of his work in Ivano-Frankivsk he opened two establishments, one of which was on a grant received from the Danish Council. But that place operated for a short time. The owner briefly explained the reasons for its closure: “We were unlucky due to the human factor.”
Now Maksym Honcharuk receives offers from potential partners to finance turning “Shaurmax” into a chain of establishments. But so far he does not dare to do this. He says: “In time, maybe that will happen. But now I want to consolidate the existing success. Without a good ‘rear’ you can lose even what you have. For example, I have not yet found a person able to fully replace me in this establishment so that I could work on the chain.”
During our conversation we, of course, talked about Kherson.
Maksym says he really wants to return to his hometown: “I really want to return when the security situation allows. However, other factors must be taken into account. It’s no secret that Kherson will be rebuilt and restored for a long time. So from a purely practical point of view, in my opinion, it’s hardly worth rushing back. Maybe we will open another place in Kherson when the situation allows, but we will not curtail activities here – in Ivano-Frankivsk.”
Maksym notes that the city that took him in gave him not only work. New friends have appeared here, a certain circle of communication has formed. And overall life in the new place is to his liking. And the situation in Kherson does not set a tone for certainty. So he prefers not to think about such plans for now. But he does not rule out any development of events.