President of the Association Voice of Entrepreneurs (UGP) Hrvoje Bujas is extremely dissatisfied with the slowness of city bureaucracy and the general attitude towards entrepreneurship.
– I think we are still miles away from the city authorities that would let us work, create, open new jobs, because for that there must be clear rules of the game, the same for everyone, and bureaucracy must function for us entrepreneurs. After all, we pay them, and they are here because of us. They should roll up their sleeves – Bujas is typically sharp.
His colleague, co-founder of UGP Dražen Oreščanin is equally critical:
– The business climate in Zagreb is catastrophic. When I look at cities that should be our competition in the region for attracting jobs and talents, such as Budapest, Bratislava, or Ljubljana, we are decades behind. It would take me about three days to list everything that is wrong and upside down in Zagreb, while in those cities it is good. The only advantage that comes to mind is reasonable rental costs, everything else – taxes, surcharges, utilities, endless procedures – is a complete disaster.
However, the leading figures of UGP, despite their stance on the poor climate for opening businesses, are launching new projects. We ask Bujas what motivated him to launch the first robotic restaurant Bots & Pots. Isn’t his engagement in other companies (the most notable being Pravi klik, which is behind the group buying portal Crnojaje.hr) and UGP enough?
– Apparently not – he replies with a laugh and explains that an entrepreneur is indeed a person who always strives for better, creating new values and new challenges:
– You simply do not stop, you must not – claims Bujas and describes his first experiences with the restaurant on Vlaška Street:
– Bots & Pots is the world’s first robotic restaurant of its kind, cooking ready meals from raw products, we started in April in the center of Zagreb, with the aim of franchising in the EU and beyond. Our first Bots & Pots is conceived as a kind of showroom, where we will test the concept. We are satisfied with some things, while we are improving others. We are pleased with the work of the robots and the food they create, we are not satisfied with the slowness of bureaucracy – Bujas returns to the criticism directed at the city authorities. He illustrates this with the fact that they have been waiting for more than three months for a solution for the terrace they need to optimize their business. Therefore, he once again appeals to Mayor Tomislav Tomašević 'to speed up the extremely slow processes'.
