Viola Kim is vivacious. Her bubbly effulgence and energy coupled with her genuinely exotic good looks and personality makes for and entertainer. And to see her in action at any of the six venues that she and her well-known partner and husband Eric operate in Kyiv is to understand this. Prior to May 13th I had known Viola only by acquaintance, seen over or through a crowd at one of the establishments or a nod of semi-recognition on her part on the street or passing in the airport. In each case though a smile or wave followed and made a more personal connection. And that, I suppose, is but one secret of her success. Patrons as well as her closer friends must all feel comfortable as well as enthused around her. And she and Eric are certainly entrepreneurs of the first order as has been demonstrated in their years in Kyiv and as can be evidenced from our UO interview. It was with pleasure and some anticipation that I approached this interview on that Tuesday afternoon at "Viola's Bierstube." I was accompanied by Nazar Kudrevskyy who among his many duties as an assistant editor at the UO adds that of sometimes translator. After greetings the interview began in Russian in the comfortable atmosphere of the bierstube but lapsed frequently into English. Viola requested a translator though in hindsight I'm not sure it was necessary but do believe that Nazar enjoyed our get together as much as I did. Herewith excerpts from the interview.
Interview
By Glen WILLARD, Nazar KUDREVSKYY
- We would like to find out a little bit about your background, where you are from?
- I was born in Tashkent and have been living in Kyiv for nine years. I came here nine years ago with Eric whom I met in Tashkent. And before coming here together we were working in one German company. After one year in Kyiv we thought about having a bar, some small bar, and opened our first place on Maidan Nezalezhnosti. It was our first bar...it was in 1996. And then we started to grow. It happened so that we occupied the middle market niche because at that time, at the beginning of 1996 the situation in Kyiv was like this: there were either dives or very expensive restaurants. So, we were the first in this middle niche, we were lucky that we caught this "wave" and we won on three words: "Thank you", "Please", and "Good-bye". At that time this was new for Kyiv middle class. And in half a year we realized that this place wasn't enough, Kyiv needed more places like that and that's why we started to expand. That's how our story in Kyiv began, a very difficult, complicated story.
- Let's go back to Tashkent. You said you and Eric worked in one company.
- No, no, I worked in a restaurant in Tashkent, the owners were Japanese. So I think that was a very good school for me. Actually by profession I am a mathematician. I finished at a university and worked in a secondary school for two years, but after two years I decided that it was a small salary and the situation in school for young teachers was tough. Because older teachers were taking away lecturing hours from younger teachers in order for the former to keep their jobs. Naturally, I had minimum working hours at school and my salary was lower accordingly.
- So, you started in a restaurant with the Japanese and learned the business?
- Yes. First I worked as a waitress, then as an administrator. Then I met Eric and half a year later we came here to Kyiv.
- What company did he work for, what did he do?
- It was a German company selling women's bijouterie. I was also hired by this company to work as a sales manager. I learn everything fast. Eric told me, "Why do you have to work as a waitress, you can help me more at this company". Eric was a president, a representative of this German company in Tashkent and Kyiv.
- How did you meet? Did he come to the restaurant?
- Eric used to come to our restaurant where I served him as a waitress.
- And he said "Ah, hallo!"
- Well, he says that it was love from the first sight, I sort of don't believe in this. (Viola laughs).
- Well, O.K., you learned the restaurant business, Eric was in another business, you started to work together, but who taught... did you teach Eric the restaurant business?
- No, it was an unusual situation. How we came to such a decision (to work in restaurant business - UO). We were talking all the time that when we would get old we would like to have a small restaurant. Eric also wanted this, and since he was a military person, he served seven years in the East German army, but seven years later he realized that this wasn't for him. I can't understand in general how he could serve in the army for seven years having such a temperament, such a soul. After the army he worked for two years in a theater. It was like a complete 180-degree turn-around in life. They toured a lot around Europe, so on one of the tours he met his future boss who was in this bijouterie business. He offered Eric to work at exhibitions because Eric is such an outgoing personality.
- O.K. What was Eric's job in the theater?
- He was an actor.
- What kind of productions?
- Those were comedies, mostly comedy performances. He understood that his life must be like this, somehow connected with the stage, and when we were talking about a small restaurant - it's also working with people. It's also a small stage, where one also needs to perform. One always has to have good mood. So, we understand that his actor experience and my experience in a restaurant, all this worked well for our union. Eric said that it's a good team for this business.
- But did you teach him the restaurant business?
- No, I told him things I knew. But regarding creative, how to make a place look like - this comes out of his soul. Plus what also helped was that he traveled a lot around Europe, he saw what people might like. And my sphere is service.
- You make things work?
- Well, perhaps mainly this is so, for example, Eric sets the direction and I implement it, realize it.
- Well, it seems like the two of you almost "act" together. I have seen you in Al Capone's, both of you were entertaining the people.
- Yes, and it happened so that Eric communicates more with foreign people and I communicate with Ukrainians, so these are the two kinds of public that are both needed by us. So, it's like our areas of work have separated, but a good final result appeared.
- O.K. I never thought about that. You are making the effort and appealing to both groups, both expats and Ukrainian people. So, that is an objective that you set.
- No, it's not an objective, it just happened this way. It's not a secret that if there is a foreign manager at such kind of a place, then foreigners feel themselves comfortable there and they feel more protected, but it doesn't mean that expats for us are like "Vow!" (expresses excitement) for us, we equally treat Ukrainians and expats. I am better in communicating with Ukrainians, I think this is because of the language, I know these people more, their mentality. But such a goal was reached: we taught Ukrainians culture of drinking, well, culture of drinking at least at our places increased over the period of seven years that we are working. Earlier it was like this: vodka, beer. Now it is more a cultural process. I think this is both thanks to Eric and me.
- I know both you and Eric work very hard and both are very busy. This is your interview, we are interviewing you. What do you do for recreation, for rest or do you work all the time?
- I do sports. I travel to other places, I have a one-year Schengen visa and when I get tired completely, every three months I try to travel to some place in Europe. Like for four days, like long weekends. I take my girlfriends... we buy tickets. It's my free time.
- And Eric doesn't have much time to take off together with you?
- Two times a year all my family, we have two children, we have family vacation for one week.
- Is your family still in Tashkent?
- No, nobody. Well, my brother lives here, but my parents are deceased.
- You mention a brother; do you come from a large family, small family?
- Oh, yes, before. Well, in general, my mother had two children, but my mother had four sisters and two brothers and my father had four brothers and two sisters. So, it was a big family, but now we are only with my brother and Eric's parents.
- Does your brother work in the business here?
- Yes, he works with us. And he has a small daughter, she's eight.
- And Eric and you have no children?
- We have two.
- Two? I didn't know that.
- Two girls. We have two girls and first, she's fifteen, and second, she's five.
- Fifteen?
- Veronica is from my first husband, and Rebecca is five years old. So, we managed to have kids and to work. When I delivered the baby, in a week I started to work again.
- I am surprised you weren't serving people ...
- (laughs). I like my job very much, but there is only thing minus, is that I have very little time left for my children. We have a nanny.
- So, you and Eric, this is pretty much of a community thing, you can't say that you've got a good division of labor, but it's a joint effort and all these things you've been involved over the last few years.
- Yes, like we have now six places and we...
- What's the sixth place?
- "Nuts". It's a small bar at the end of Krasnoarmeiskaya.
- Oh, that's the one I don't know.
- The hip thing there is that you are served nuts all the time free of charge and you can throw shells on the floor. You can throw nuts at each other. It's a fun place.
- You spend most of your time at this place and "111".
- Yes, and now at "ArtClub 44". Yes, of course we have a system of management, but as a rule our visitors are so accustomed to personal contact with us, let's say, for any visitor it's pleasant if you come up to him/her and give some attention, these are such minimal things, therefore we try to be everywhere, but mostly I work here and "111".
- So, what you have now is you and Eric are like here and you have a layer of management here? (GW points to the top of a piece of paper and then a little bit lower).
- Yes, at every place we have a manager. We have managers whom we train, we tell them about our requirements.
- So, that allows you then, you and Eric, to have the time to go and give the personal attention?
- Yes, it allows us to devote more time to our visitors...(pause). But in our system, without our permission no one is dismissed or hired. So, this necessarily goes through us. Each person who is dismissed or hired here passes through us.
- So, you and Eric, one or the other will pass on if somebody's fired or hired, it's your decision?
- Yeah. ... (pause). Because personnel is a very important part of our business and this comes from my experience with Japanese owners of that restaurant.
- Was the Japanese restaurant a chain of some kind?
- No, it was just one restaurant. The owners there were also a wife and a husband. They always told me that it all starts from personnel.
- Without giving away any secrets, are you all, you and Eric, planning on generally more expansion?
- Yes.
- You want to expand ...
- Well, you know, as to me I would stop already because, well, it's tough, but Eric being a man, he wants to realize, like a conqueror, it's like a machine is already working, but he wants to realize more.
- Eric is not tired yet?
- Well, once a place opens, first three months it's tough, but then it runs smoothly. And I say, "Well, that's it, we are tired already, we've got six places." And he says that we are still young, we need to work. And me being 34, I have to participate in disco entertainment, work all night.
- When I saw you here a couple of months ago, you had just come back from a skiing trip, and... you were working out, you work out? I know I've seen you on the dance floor and all that. Do you do this to stay in shape or...
- Yes, of course, to be in a shape.
- Are you strong? (kidding)
- ...(unclear)... I do scuba diving. I like downhill skiing a lot.
- When are you going public? I mean Friday's has 200 or so restaurants. Maybe you want to have a franchise?..
- No, it will not work out. I understood what you are asking about. Because Eric and I, if we open a place, we know that we will appear there necessarily, but to open a place and not to be there, that seems unsuitable for us. And we were offered before to have somebody join our system, to have a franchise, but we don't want that.
- So, you are going to more or less confine yourself to Kyiv?
- Yes.
- You don't think Eric is thinking about maybe Odessa? (again kiddingly)
- No.
- Do you have any personal ambition or something you really want to achieve?
- Well, my daughter was very ill for two years. You know this situation?
- No.
- Rebecca had a big problem in brain and we had therapy in Germany, tumor. And now every ninth week we have one-week therapy in Germany. Either Eric or I fly with our daughter for this therapy. It's a very complicated disease of brain and we couldn't get our daughter diagnosed for a long time. But now we can say that it's all O.K. So, I think that my goal in life was achieved.
- So, she will grow up ...? normally?
- Yes.
- O.K. That's sad, but interesting and ...
- This situation hardened me and Eric very much. After this we know that in any situation we will survive, we will find a solution.
- So, this brought strength to the relationship.
- Yeah.
- Either of you, Eric or yourself, are particularly religious, have any particular faith?
- Of course, we support all these Catholic traditions, but not so...
- But it was more of the two of you surviving, working with your daughter that led you through that crisis with your daughter, like relying on your strength?
- Sure, sure.
- You say you traveled around Europe. Is there a place that you haven't been that you want to go?
- Japan. It's my dream.
- Have you ever been to that other hemisphere, the one that's got the United States and Canada?
- No.
- You don't want to go?
- I want, but my dream is Japan. If I have time and enough money for this trip, then it would be Japan. Because Eric was in Japan with Falk. You know Falk, owner of Arizona?
- Oh, yeah. O.K.
- They were there together last year. And when he came back he was like this, "Oh, Japan!" (expresses excitement).
- Yeah, but he was with all those geisha girls.
- (laughs): But I will find a geisha man.
- Is there anything else you want to tell us?
- Yeah, I would like to emphasize Kyiv's ability to give an impetus for life. So, it's Kyiv with its people. Because here in Kyiv at the beginning there were many pitfalls. We were being cheated, we couldn't find for a long time Ukrainian partners. You know, what was the situation with foreigners, ...some mafia maybe. Or like a small place, we opened it, we invested in it, it started to grow and then we were cheated. Well, like it was with "Al Capone". We worked for one year, everything was fine, and our partner told us that he was tired to divide everything by half. And nevertheless, if we were weaker, then we would have left everything and we would have left Kyiv. But it would have been the easiest way out.
- But you just kept coming back.
- We start again, we start again and Eric always said that we are a team, we can, we must, love people. It's really like a good provocation to work. The whole situation in Kyiv, the environment, our team - all this provokes to work.
- So, like gives strength.
- Yes.
- Let me ask you this: you and Eric are very well known in all of Kyiv. How do you feel being a celebrity?
- (amazed): No, what celebrity you are talking about?
- I think so.
- Maybe for our visitors, yeah, they know us.
- Anyway I think you are very well known in town.
- Eric got some prize last year?
- "Choice of the year". "ArtClub 44" was voted the best art-club (music) of the year and "111" was voted the best nightclub. The award ceremony took place in the Ukraina Palace. Voting was done on the Internet. We considered this to be a good evaluation of our work.
- O.K. Well, you've got six places: which do you like best?
- "111". It's my temperament, character. Of course, I like bars when I am talking, I find out more about people, but "111" is my emotions.
The conversation ends with Viola's invitation of Glen to "111" for a party.
- Thank you for your time.
Epilogue:
My invitation from Viola was to the "Cocktail Bar 111" celebration of its second anniversary of a most successful two years of operation. My name was left at the door due to Viola's good graces. All reports are that it was a super party. Unfortunately, I must have mentioned Viola in a little to "affectionately inappropriate" manner (or something). I had a peaceful night at home contemplating the virtues of Ukrainian wives. The species is, of course, well known and appreciated for their total dislike, even abhorrence I'm assured, of that emotion known as jealously. (Aside: See you at "Nuts" Viola.)
Visit Viola and/or Eric at "111", "Art Club 44". The Cave, either "Eric's Bierstube" or "Viola's Bierstube" as well as Nuts; venues noted for dining, entertainment and collegial meeting places (seeing and being seen) for expats and Ukrainians.
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