It’s especially difficult to leave your hometown, abandoning not only your home but also your own business. Despite the trials awaiting after the move, entrepreneurs Alisa and Vyacheslav Proniny did not abandon their business in the field, but revived their realization of healthy eating ideas with a fresh lease on life in Kyiv.
Before growing to large scale and nationwide production, Verde’s story began with a dream. Founder Alisa wanted to create a place where people would drink coffee not only with pleasure but also for the benefit of their health. Hence came the idea to make healthy sweets the establishment’s hallmark. Thus, in 2017 the first Verde Espresso Bar opened in the city center with menu offerings of coffee and desserts without sugar, made only from natural ingredients.
Alisa conducted her first experiments with healthy candies and desserts in the family kitchen, and then they, with a small team, moved into a café and a small production workshop, from which Verde’s assortment grew year by year. Alisa’s idea was quite innovative for Kherson. At that time sugar-free desserts were not so popular, and Verde became one of the first establishments that did not have a single item in the assortment containing sugar. Kherson residents responded to the idea, so the place had regular visitors from its opening, and within a year it was ripe for expansion.
“As at the beginning of our story and now, Verde has been the soul into which much effort was invested, and from which we received an enormous return. Probably this enthusiasm from people particularly contributed to our development,” recalls Alisa.
In 2019 the brand’s first expansion began. Then Verde appeared in the Fabrika shopping mall, from where more and more people learned about the brand. Both cafés were successful, the variety of desserts became increasingly wide, the fans of these establishments grew day by day, but for the Proniny family this was not a reason to stop. So a year later they implemented the idea of Verde Salad Bar.
There were no predictions for how customers would perceive the idea of healthy fast food. An establishment without restaurant pretension, but with full offerings of breakfasts, salads, bowls and vegetarian dishes — another novelty on the city’s streets. The opening took place in the post-COVID period, but despite these difficulties it was successful. Verde very successfully managed to integrate the idea of healthy treats in its hometown, but one crisis was followed by another — February 24, 2022. The establishments had to be closed for an indefinite period, and the founders’ family moved to the capital.
“Right now we don’t have establishments, but our sweets are always available for online orders, and they can also be purchased in many supermarket chains and at gas stations across Ukraine. However, after moving from Kherson it took us a lot of time and effort to understand where to go next with our business,” says Alisa.
The owner says that the full relocation was by no means an easy step. For her this move to Kyiv was not the first, but for Verde it became a significant challenge. In Kherson everything was established: from production, which was located in the now-occupied Oleshky, to the operation of the cafés. Healthy eating, sugar-free coffee, convenient locations and Kherson’s ease ensured a constant flow of customers and stable operation of the establishments until the start of the invasion.
After the de-occupation of Kherson in November 2022, two Verde establishments in the city center resumed their work. Under the leadership of Alisa’s father, Verde Salad Bar and Verde Espresso Bar continued to operate until mid-2023. The workshop that supplied Verde’s production on the left bank of the Kherson region was destroyed. Currently its restoration is impossible. Since the establishments are located close to the red zone of hostilities the security situation does not allow resuming activity. Thus Verde’s operations in Kherson are currently suspended, with no further plans at the moment.
“At home everything was easier. In the new city we had to face changes from all sides at once. This complicated our path with Verde, but it was already part of our family, and we did not want to abandon it as we had to abandon our home,” says Alisa.
Things became more difficult with Kyiv, as the big city brought significant challenges. In the capital Alisa and Vyacheslav tried to reopen a café of the same format as the Verde Espresso Bar that operated in Kherson. Competition from venues with similar concepts, which had long been serving Kyiv residents healthy sweets, forced them to think of new ideas.
“We later realized that what worked in Kherson operates by different rules in Kyiv, and if we want to continue, we need to adapt. Kyiv is an opportunity, but you have to fight for it. So we finally closed the cafés in Kherson and our establishment in Kyiv, and Verde became a brand of healthy sweets — and that’s where it took off,” shares Alisa.
The brand now has plans for scaling. They have repeatedly encountered inquiries about exporting their sugar-free sweets abroad, which gives a special impetus to increase production capacity. Over almost 10 years of operation Verde has gone through many transformations and changes, including relocations, which have ultimately led to its distribution across Ukraine today.
Karina Stryzhak