By Michael Kahn and Anna Koper
PRAGUE/WARSAW (Reuters) – Ukrainian businesses that set up or expanded in central Europe after Russia’s 2022 invasion are shifting their focus from mainly refugee to local customers as they become more established, with some now eyeing a move further west.
As the war closed off opportunities at home and to the east, including Russia, Ukrainian-owned businesses sprang up in neighbouring countries, initially targeting their displaced compatriots with food, drink and services.
In Poland, which has a Ukrainian population swelled by the war to more than 1.5 million at current estimates, Ukrainians opened every tenth new business in 2024, according to Polish business associations and economists.
Andrii Halytskyi’s Lviv Croissants now has 12 shops in Poland after launching there two years ago. It opened its first Czech outlet in October, part of what its founder says is a strategy to build a geographically diverse business by expanding westward and beyond the diaspora.
“While the Ukrainian refugee community in Europe is significant, relying solely on this customer base is not a sustainable long-term strategy,” Halytskyi told Reuters.
Strong cultural similarities with Ukraine have helped make Poland a natural base for Ukrainian businesses. But many are also looking beyond emerging Europe’s largest economy to a much bigger pool of customers.
“Companies initially view Poland as a bridge or springboard to European Union markets,” said Dariusz Szymczycha, first vice president of the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce.
“They want to learn … the reality, standards, regulations and rules of operating in the European Union.”
The Piana Vyshnia chain of bars is themed around a traditional cherry liqueur from Ukraine but sees local customers as its main target, founder Andriy Khudo told Reuters.
His !FЕST restaurant group has grown the brand – known as Drunken Cherry in English – to 15 locations in Poland and nine in other Baltic and eastern European countries, ramping up westward expansion since February 2022, Khudo said.
The group plans to open in Germany, Switzerland and France in 2025 and relaunch a venue in London, he said, adding that the bars are attracting new customers and are profitable.
“Before the war we focused on Ukraine because our business was developing there so quickly. But the war kicked us to look more west because of the risk in Ukraine,” Khudo said.
REFUGEE BOOST
Although Ukraine’s economy grew in 2023 and is likely to expand in 2024, Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko told Reuters in November it was still only at 78% of its size before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
