English man looking for work in Poznan

GingaDaveThreads: 1 Posts: 1 Joined: Mar 17, 11 ♂	Mar 17, 11, 23:41 #1
Hi all Im thinking of moving to poznan with my polish wife (poznan) and im looking for a job. im willing to give anything a consideration. unfortunatly i dont speak a lot of polish, a few words is all. im 34 white male from england, uk currently a publican (in trade for 16yrs) email me or leave reply or pm thanks

♂

Mar 18, 11, 11:29 #2

Hi,
In your case opening a classic English pub may be a nice option in Poznan. You would make a distinction from other bars and pubs by forming one of meeting points for expats and other foreigners. That'd be core client group.
Delphiandomine here lives in Poznan and might know a lot of useful hints for you.
I'd definitely visit a nice English pub, with foreign beer on the tap, English cusine and music...

alexw68

Mar 18, 11, 11:38 #3

Olaf:

You would make a distinction from other bars and pubs by forming one of meeting points for expats and other foreigners. That'd be core client group.

Hmm, that's a market that a) isn't that large and b) is well catered for. Which is not to say, that you couldn't be catering for it a helluva lot better. Come over for a week and do some market research first!

Be aware that rents/commercial rates are very high in the centre of Poznan, comparable if not higher in some cases (around the Stary Rynek, for example) than even Warsaw. That cash flow projection is going to be the key to how successful your enterprise is.

Anyway, good luck and if you need an electroswing band to pull the punters, shout.

EnglishpoznanThreads: 14 Posts: 152 Joined: Apr 21, 09 ♂	Mar 18, 11, 12:01 #4
Olaf: You would make a distinction from other bars and pubs by forming one of meeting points for expats and other foreigners Believe me this would be a sure way to fail especially if you made expats your main focus. This has been tried before and failed. Like Alex says this market is not very big and there are not enough expats here to keep a bar going.

♂

Edited by: Olaf Mar 18, 11, 12:02 #5

alexw68:

Come over for a week and do some market research first!

A week?! My liver is not as young as yours, perhaps. I used to live in Poznan for years! Researching a lot there. Has anything changed significantly in the last 3-4 years? I knew some good places that closed down...
There are still great places, no question to that. But are there any proper English pubs? Besides, the target clients I mentioned is one thing, and who's to say that locals wouldn't like to frequent it for a change from a typical Polish - style bar?

alexw68:

b) is well catered for.

Please name one or more pubs for foreigners, preferably owned or staffed by foreigners or at least perfectly English speaking staff, with a culture, music, food and beverage from England. I will go there next time I'm in Poznan (some day in April) to... research a bit;)

alexw68:

Be aware that rents/commercial rates are very high in the centre of Poznan, comparable if not higher in some cases (around the Stary Rynek, for example

I know it all, I used to own one place like that on Wozna.

alexw68:

Anyway, good luck and if you need an electroswing band to pull the punters, shout.

Let us enjoy some link, some mp3 or video!

alexw68

Edited by: alexw68 Mar 18, 11, 12:09 #6

Olaf:

A week?! My liver is not as young as yours, perhaps.

I'm sure it is. Rumours of my eternal youth are just a tad exaggerated. Stick to the don't-mix-beer-and-vodka rule and you'll be all right. (Easier said than done, I know)

Olaf:

But are there any proper English pubs?

No, not really. Most theme pubs here are a bit half-arsed when it comes to actually delivering on the theme. That said, we may be dealing with a false positive here. In English cities, can you find any proper English pubs these days? Yes, but they're outnumbered 15-to-one by the other sort.

Olaf:

Let us enjoy some link, some mp3 or video!

Working on that. Will keep y'all posted ;)

OlafThreads: 8 Posts: 1,369 Joined: Oct 29, 09 ♂	Mar 18, 11, 12:14 #7
alexw68: Most theme pubs here are a bit half-arsed when it comes to actually delivering on the theme. Exactly. alexw68: I'm sure it is. My liver counts age in dog's years. alexw68: Just stick to the don't-mix-beer-and-vodka rule and you'll be all right. (Easier said than done, I know) Anyone ever called you Sir Mix-a-lot too? Hahahah I was Frank the tank.

♂ [Suspended]

Mar 19, 11, 13:05 #8

GingaDave:

currently a publican (in trade for 16yrs)

My advice would be to save as much money as you can (enough to open a bar, anyway), then come here and get a job in a bar for a year, just learning about how the country works and how the mentality is. It might sound dull, but you'll save yourself a lot of tears and trouble in the long run - the Polish mentality is quite different from the UK, and you'll get to experience the paranoia first hand that causes a lot of trouble here.

Olaf:

Delphiandomine here lives in Poznan and might know a lot of useful hints for you.

I think the best hint is to come with a decent amount of cash behind you and to work "on the ground" to get a real measure of the market. I'm of the opinion that in Poznan, there are really only two types of bar -

- the student bar
- the yuppie/"theme" bar

There's really nothing else - Poznan's cafe culture is quite strong, so a lot of those cafes take the business from what would be a more traditional boozer, especially where the 40-something crowd is concerned.

There are some exceptions - I'd recommend arranging a meeting with the owner of "Kriek", the Belgian bar here. I can also sort out a meeting with a German restaurant owner here. And a meeting with the EnglishPoznan bloke posting on this thread wouldn't be a bad idea either - he knows the market here much better than I do.

I've always thought that a proper British pub could work - but it would need to be in a good location ($$), be ridiculously tacky (pictures of the Queen and Union Jacks everywhere) and have a decent advertising budget behind it.

Mind you - *if* you want to take a risk, then you could try opening a bar in one of the suburbs or satellite towns. There are nearly none - my local pub is in a bloody shopping centre, for instance.

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