Plum brandy roads lead from Rakia Bar - Expansion of franchise network of cafes and traditional gift shops

When the citizens of Belgrade or visitors of the capital city want to find a traditional, unusual gift, they go to Gift Shop at 42 Terazije Street. When they want to try some of 150 Serbian brandies and traditional foods in a pleasant atmosphere, they go to Rakia Bar. When they want to learn everything about rakia (brandy), they go to Rakia Fest or join the small school of brandy. And when they want to visit all the places in Serbia where this drink is traditionally made for centuries, they join the tour "Paths of Plum Brandy".

All these wishes of the lovers of the traditional Serbian drink are fulfilled by Redesign, the company that promotes Serbian tradition in a contemporary way through various activities.

The person responsible for this interesting promotion of our tradition is Branko Nesic. Although he has been living in Dobracina Street in the downtown of Belgrade ever since he was a kid, he started the brandy business when he turned 20.

- Just like everybody else, my brother and me wanted to open a cafe in our neighborhood. It was called Vesela Dolina and it was situated in the cellar of the building where we lived. We wanted to gather our friends from the neighborhood, but that was not a good business move because people later started moving out of the city center. My wife Lena, who was my girlfriend at the time, told me I should do what I like, but she also said that I should get into the business more seriously. When I said that I liked brandy, she suggested we should open Rakia Bar - Branko Nesic, the Director of Redesign, speaks for eKapija about the beginnings of the business.

(Branko Nesic)

Traditional, exclusive, experimental

Although he first thought that brandy should be drank only in a tavern, he liked the idea to present the Serbian drink in an unconventional way.

- We have furnished Rakia Bar in Dobracina Street by ourselves, boldly using pink and brown colors. We later protected our intellectual property rights in the country and abroad and started working on standardization of operations...

When the first Rakia Bar was opened, it did not have the target group of guests. At 5 Dobracina, 4 Kralja Milutina and 21 Strahinjica Bana, which are the addresses of all Rakia Bar facilities, guests are mainly students, professors, diplomats, athletes, that is, "all those who want to spend time in a pleasant atmosphere while sipping a brandy".

The accent at Rakia Bar is placed on top-quality brandy and food served with it, but guests can also drink both alcoholic and soft drinks, just like in any other bar.

- By promoting Rakia Bar, we are promoting the economy of Serbia. Our offer includes about 150 different brandies made by manufacturers from all around Serbia. We are doing our best to choose top-quality brandies and show the world that we have a top-quality drink. The brandy we sell is controlled by a consulting company that we have hired to constantly check the quality.

Although he is of the opinion that rakia is a Serbian traditional drink, the owner of Rakia Bar also wants to offer his guests as many different brandies from other countries as possible. For the time being, the offer of Rakia Bar includes brandies from Italy, Macedonia, Greece, Slovenia, and, as Nesic announces, brandies from Austria and Hungary will soon be included in the offer as well.

Although the owner of Rakia Bar prefers plum brandy and recommends it to all, guests mainly drink quince, honey and apricot brandies.

Rakia Bar franchise

Some cafes "falsely represent" themselves as Rakia Bar, but Nesic says that they have not bought the franchise.

- We offer the Rakia Bar franchise to people in the country and abroad, but we are of the opinion that it will be more attractive to people abroad – says Nesic.

Our interlocutor points out that a Rakia Bar franchise is one of the cheapest in the market, but he also says that the biggest obstacle to expansion of the network are high criteria of promotion, as well as the fact that domestic pop and folk music is not allowed in the facility.

- We do not have any special requests when it comes to the franchise. Our franchise costs EUR 5,000. Franchisees also later need to pay the fee in amount of 5% of the monthly gross revenue. Investments in the equipping and furnishing of a Rakia Bar are the same as for any other catering facility of the kind – says Nesic and adds that they are negotiating on granting of the franchise in the country and abroad, that they are shortlisting the candidates, as well as that full realization is expected in 2011.

Rakia (brandy) is Serbian brand

The brandy worth 1,000 euros, the brandy drank by Marko Kraljevic, Partizan's brandy were some of the innovations at this year's Rakia Fest, which was held under the slogan "Rakia is Serbian brand" on December 11 and 12 at Continental hotel and was organized by Rakia Bar and the "Strongest Flavors of Serbia" association of natural fruit brandy manufacturers.

- We launched Rakia Fest in 2007 as an emotional idea to present rakia (brandy) in the right way. It has later developed into a serious manifestation whose aim is to present rakia as a brand of Serbia, as well as a drink of the Balkans - says Branko Nesic.

The festival gathered about 50 manufacturers from Serbia, Macedonia, the Republic of Srpska, Montenegro, while the guests of the festival were Italians, Hungarians and Germans.

Rakia Bar Selection

As the interlocutor of eKapija announced, Rakia Bar will soon start making a brandy for FC Partizan. Golomeja cellar in Surdulica operates as a separate unit of the company Redesign and that is where liquor, plum, quince, pear, apricot and honey brandies are made.

- We are making cherry and raspberry liquors "MaLena", which we pack in bottles and tubes. We also have a specific product - "Rakia Bar Selection", which we make with the aim of promoting the best brandies from small cellars of Serbia under one brand. We control the quality and bottle brandies, while buyers can read the label on the bottle to find out which cellar has made that brandy. That is how we solve the problem of small manufacturers that make quality brandies but cannot sell them directly in the market. Since this offer is limited and it does not include artificially produced brandies, the buyer can be sure that he has bought a quality homemade brandy – Nesic explains.

Chocolate-brandy combination and other gifts from creative workshop

Wines from selected small cellars, special types of chocolate, fruit preserves, jams, ajvars are part of the offer of Rakia Bar Gift Shop, half of shoppers at which are foreigners.

- Rakia Bar was only a trigger for our idea to work on the redesign of traditional Serbian products, that is, to create a contemporary presentation of Serbian tradition, which can be best seen in the offer of Gift Shop that we plan to enrich next year.

Here you can find chocolates and pralines filled with brandy and liquor that Rakia Bar makes in cooperation with the company Adore. Nesic also announces MaLena dragees with liquor, a product of the cooperation with Art Ival.

(Rakia Bar Gift Shop)

- We have various souvenirs in the shop, of which offer also includes salty snacks, marinated mushrooms, and we will soon enrich it with meat products and selected cheeses, dried fruits, fruits topped with chocolate, etc.

"Srpsko Budjenje" (Awakening in Serbia) will soon become one of numerous creative articles in the shop at Terazije. According to our interlocutor, it will be offered in two versions: oriental - coffee, Turkish delight and brandy, and traditional - coffee, fruit preserve and brandy.

Nesic announces expansion of the Rakia Bar Gift Shop network in 2011, for which a franchise is granted as well. At the beginning of the year, a big shop will be opened in Novi Sad, while the company Redesign is searching for a location for the new shop in Belgrade.

For those who would like to buy an unusual gift for a dear person or give something traditional to their business partners, Gift Shop is preparing special gift baskets.

Nesic says that they have been making gift baskets to order for nearly all ministries and numerous companies. Among the latest special gifts is a special brandy for the Davis Cup that has recently been held in Belgrade.

Paths of Plum Brandy

For all those who love the traditional Serbian drink and want to see where brandy is made and in which way, the association Strongest Flavors of Serbia will start organizing the tourist tour "Paths of Plum Brandy" in spring 2011.

- If it is a one-day tour, it will include visits to all places that are in connection with brandy making in Valjevo, Kosjeric and Arilje. If the tour lasts for two days, it will also include visits to Cacak, Kraljevo, Kragujevac, Jagodina - Branko Nesic announces for eKapija.

He also announces that the tour will include a visit to the distillery of Nenad Jezdic, a member of the "Happy Jury" at this year's Rakia Fest, situated in the vicinity of Valjevo.

Sticking to the old rule that one who wants to meet a city and the people living in it must try its authentic food and national drink, Rakia Bar has organized the Belgrade Rakia Tour in association with the Tourism Organization of Belgrade. While tasting quality brandies and appropriate foods, the tour participants have an opportunity to hear interesting stories about the history of brandy, its contemporary presentation and the way of tasting.

- We have had about 20 tours this year. Our clients are mainly people who want to organize something unusual for their guests from abroad. The tour starts at Vracar and goes across the old town to Dorcol, while the guide can tell stories in Serbian, English, French, German or Italian language.

Small School of Brandy

Rakia Bar is going to organize "Small School of Brandy" for catering staff in 2011.

- So far we have organized two test workshops. One was held on the occasion of Rakia Fest, while the other was organized with Bar Kultura for about 20 bartenders. We have a small distillation apparatus that we use to distillate quince brandy and show them how to produce that brandy. Since there is plenty of artificial brandies, those who work with brandy should know how to recognize the real brandy and to know which brandies to serve with which foods, at what temperature, etc. – says Nesic.

For those who would like to warm up in these cold days, Rakia Bar has prepared an innovation - boiled brandy to go.

S.O.