Steve Gravy started Ethnik, a quality food-over-the-counter shop, near the European Commission in Brussels a few month ago. He was accompanied by IntoTheMinds for the realization of his project. We come back with him today on his project, its joys and difficulties, and the lessons he learned from it. A good starting point for any would-be entrepreneur in the HORECA sector.
IntoTheMinds: Â What were the three main motivations for becoming an entrepreneur ?
Steve Gravy: First, you should know that my parents were also entrepreneurs; they’ve managed a bookstore for 30 years. So I was bathed in this entrepreneurial environment since my childhood .
Secondly, I would say that the freedom of being my own boss was also a big motivation.
It may seem to some people an additional pressure due to the risk of failure (strengthened further by the context of economic crisis) but the desire to develop my project was stronger.
ITM: Describe briefly your three biggest challenges to start your business ?
SG: The three biggest problems were in order: funding, funding and funding.
More seriously, and as it was already mentioned on this blog, if you are a newcomer without previous achievements that can impress banks and that you don’t have many assets, you can forget about having a loan from a bank even with a solid business plan validated by competent people (coach from the local economy desk, consultant in marketing and market research, accountant, …).
ITM: Who helped you throughout the creative process?
SG: My coach from the local economy desk in Saint-Gilles was of great help in the early development stages of the project but it soon became necessary to make a real market research.
I followed a training at the Brussels Enterprise Agency [now Impulse Brussels] where tools and techniques to realize a market study were presented by IntoTheMinds.
I was impressed by the clarity of the presentation and it motivated me to learn more.
So I made an appointment within a few days after the training and we could discuss at length about my project and my goals.
A coaching over five months followed which has been crucial to the development of my project. Multiple iterations were required to finetune the project.
The subsidies granted by the Brussels Region were very important to access this coaching.
ITM: Besides the mere fact of having started, what are your top three reasons for self-satisfaction ?
SG: Despite the extra work that generates self-employment, the self-fulfillment that it brings is immense.
One important thing also are the exchanges we have with customers.
Another great pleasure is seeing a customer we know returning with someone else to whom she/he explained our concept.
ITM: How do you see your personal and your business future?
SG: In the short term, it is first necessary to make our business sustainable. After two months of operation, we have not yet reached the break-even. Our main goal is to offer new dishes that appeal to potential customers and bring back those who already know us.
In the long term, it is clear that if the concept works, the aim is to copy / paste it and franchise it.
We will first focus on the first year and we will see what our needs are for the future.
ITM: What would be your three advices to a would-be entrepreneur who want to start a venture in the HORECA sector ?
SG: The first advice is a general one. Regardless of the sector, pugnacity is important. It is normal to go through moments of doubt when certain events do not go as they were planned and it would be easy in these times to give up. But you have to cling to it and find the energy you need to overcome turbulences.
As far as the fast-food, restaurant sector is concerned now … It is true that the sector is in the firing line of banks as statistics on bankruptcies are not very good in the sector.
So I will focus on two key points:
- finding a good location is essential.
- It is necessary to differentiate from the competition through an distinctive concept, an image, an identity or even the nature of the products .
Posted in Entrepreneurship.
