Antonela Perušina, Bota Šare Restaurants: Ensuring Equal Quality Across All Locations Was a Major Challenge

In a family business, the hardest part is separating personal from professional, but Antonela Perušina, an entrepreneur and manager of the Bota Šare restaurant in Split, believes that it has more advantages than disadvantages. Together with seven other family members, she owns not only the Split restaurant but also establishments in Mali Ston, Dubrovnik, and Zagreb. The Bota-Šare restaurants are part of a larger family business, namely the Pagar company based in Zagreb, which operates in hospitality and tourism. It all began in the 1980s when Antonela’s parents decided to venture into entrepreneurship in Mali Ston. – In a monumental building, a medieval salt warehouse, they opened their first restaurant Bota, and the foundation of our offer was and remains the natural wealth of the Mali Ston Bay and southern Croatia – says Perušina. In the family, there are six children in addition to the parents, and as the business developed over the years, they also became involved in the work. Together and each their own Two decades ago, in 2003, the restaurant in Split was opened, three years later the one in Zagreb, and in 2010 the fourth family restaurant was opened in Dubrovnik, one of the first sushi bars in Croatia, opened by the oldest brother of the Šare family. – He implemented sushi into the traditional hospitality fish story, which he was thrilled about during a trip to America, where he concluded that we have the ideal foundation for this type of cuisine that was already very popular worldwide at the time, which is impeccable ingredients, fresh Adriatic fish. His business move elevated the offer of our establishments to a higher level, which we have successfully continued to develop, so today we have Bota fish restaurants and Oyster & sushi bars – explains Perušina, adding that the parents are now gradually stepping back from the hospitality business, so each of the six children is responsible for the operation of their establishment, although certain segments of the business such as procurement and marketing are still developed together. Regarding family relationships within the business, she emphasizes that the family bond keeps them together and pushes them to strive a little harder because they have a greater responsibility to perform their part perfectly since ‘with your work and actions, you represent the whole family and the business from which we all live.’ This ‘extra effort’ is necessary when opening a chain of restaurants because, as she confirmed, a major challenge in starting it is ensuring equal quality across all locations, as all business sectors must be harmonious for the story to function. This is difficult to achieve due to many external factors that often cannot be influenced, but, she claims, the quality of ingredients is their strong point since they also engage in fishing. Year-round operations The Šare family restaurants employ about 60 permanent staff, and during the season, there can be up to a hundred. However, they are particularly proud of the fact that they operate year-round because while the highest traffic is on the Adriatic during the summer, during the winter, their restaurant in Zagreb generates the most revenue. – In Dubrovnik, the restaurant is located within the city walls, where there is little circulation of tourists in winter, as well as local residents. Ston is a small place without excessive content, and that is truly challenging. It would be easier to close during the winter period. Fortunately, we have a strong local clientele that visits and recognizes us – she explains, noting that despite the current situation in the market where there is a significant shortage of quality labor, especially in tourism and hospitality, they find it easier to retain employees because they provide ‘stability and security’ given that they operate year-round and have a four-decade-long tradition, which suits employees who seek a stable work environment and do not want to change jobs frequently. – Our bigger problem is unfair competition, restaurateurs who open seasonally or those who pull labor from colleagues by offering short-term better conditions. I believe that such moves harm themselves, their colleagues, the workers, and the market. In any case, constant and continuous investment in education is necessary, as well as facilitating production processes in terms of investing in equipment and new technologies, so that working conditions are easier, workers are more satisfied, and establishments are more productive. We were among the first to open our doors to foreign labor, which greatly facilitated our business organization, but we still mostly rely on domestic workers – notes Perušina, adding that their main guests are domestic tourists and ‘locals’ who have been visiting the restaurants for years, although foreign tourists have also learned that the best quality is where the locals eat, which is also their best advertisement and lure for foreign guests. She emphasizes that their revenue in 2022 was better compared to 2021 and 2020, during which the coronavirus pandemic lasted and thus the work ban. Last year, their revenue increased by 25 percent, and profit by 10 percent, which is about 50,000 euros. However, she claims that this is a slightly smaller growth than in the years preceding the pandemic, which is expected given the rising costs as a consequence of inflation.

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