Interview with Lynn Kontor
“Fräulein Kontor” a small confectionery with café in Elmshorn, opened on 20.06.2020
We are fascinated by entrepreneurs who take risks in a crisis and the founding of a small pastry shop shortly after the second lockdown is one of them for us. This made us curious and so we interviewed Lynn Kontor, the owner, about what made her do it.
- How did you come up with this business idea?
I’ve always wanted to start my own business. My mother had dreamt of opening a pastry shop and I grew up with fresh baked at home. As a result, I was almost born with an awareness of food and aroused the desire to work with food, and therefore came up with the idea to focus on regional products/ingredients and to pay attention to recycled packaging.
- How was it for you when you were able to open shortly after the first lockdown?
We didn’t do big advertising but opened up very small in the circle of the family and put ourselves on word of mouth and Facebook Leave /Instagram. Our impression was that the mood of our audience was quite relaxed – “Finally Corona is over and finally “go out and treat yourself.”
- And how did you feel about the lockdown again?
After the already bumpy start I thought “I can do that too” and “the head will not be stuck in the sand.” And so, we switched to the “to go” business. We feel great support from our customers, and I have the impression that they like to buy cakes from us to do something good for themselves during this time.
- What do the regulations mean for your business model?
Currently I can only offer “to go” products and not use the café. I used the time and took care of a permit for outdoor seating, so that after the lockdown I could set up a few tables and offer outdoor dining.
- What was the biggest challenge for you?
To make my customers understand that I cannot expand my offer infinitely and not implement all wishes in the short term. For example, I can only make a few individual cakes a day.
- Is there anything that helped you in particular?
At the same time, a friend has become independent and the exchange with her, as well as with another confectioner friend, is a great support. In particular, the exchange helped me when I couldn’t move forward and so I was able to counteract quickly.
- Were these days in that time when you wanted to give up and what kept you from doing so?
No. Founding is like a test of how important the dream is to you because hurdles are pre-programmed. That is why it is very important to have a dream/a goal in mind.
- Looking into the future à Want You’re enlarging?
We decided on a small offer due to the small premises (café and kitchen) and my own capacity. And in the end, I’m very happy to run a small family business.
- Is there anything you would recommend to others?
It is enormously important to have perseverance and self-motivation. And at the same time to know when a limit is reached and then to get help.
#business creation #simply paint #New ways forward #positive in the crisis #joint-synthetic
