Reviving of ancient traditions of cheese manufacturing and confiture: how entrepreneur Solomiya Bratakh develops her own business in a village in Lviv region
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Discover the unique journey of entrepreneur Solomiya Bratakh, who revives the age-old traditions of cheese manufacturing and confiture in a quaint village in the Lviv region.
Developing business in rural areas is always a challenge. Entrepreneur Solomiya Bratakh successfully runs a business in rural areas and restores old recipes of cheese making and production of rose confiture. In Solomiya's story - read about the peculiarities and challenges of running your own business in rural areas.
Solomiya Bratakh is a young entrepreneur from Lviv region, who lives with her family in the small village of Malovanka. She was born and raised in Lviv, has a specialized musical education; her husband has a medical education, works as a dentist. This unique blend of skills and experiences led them to a path they could not have imagined in 2018-registering their own business and subsequently working in three areas: the production of jam from rose, the production of cheeses, master classes, and excursions. The business is located in an old Austrian school in the village of Milchitsy, which the family cleaned, repaired and even preserved its old decoration. The building was divided into two wings, in one - they make rose confiture, and in the other - cheeses.
It was challenging to start. The family cared for goats for cheese production, but a unique variety of roses f had to be sought. Solomiya and her husband traveled to remote villages and bought rose seedings from residents. While trying to buy an accommodation in a neighboring village for cheese production, a woman encountered a hostile local community. The legal disagreements had lasted more than a year; at this time, the family rented the building and had already begun major repairement activities at their own risk. When it was possible to prove that the building would be used for good purposes, the family received a permit, and they continued to repair the accommodation from the inside, but subsequently faced neglect: the locals considered the owners too young for business and were not delighted with the new neighbors. As the locals decided - they could enter the unfenced territory, drink alcohol in a garden nearby or cut down trees, because "it still belongs to the village." The problem was solved by hard work, friendly attitude and building trust in the products and its owners.
The space where cheese and confiture are made. Credits: UN Women Ukraine
Reviving of ancient recipes
Rose confiture - a delicacy that appeared a long time ago in the Lviv region; older people remembered confiture in conversations, and those were memories from a deep childhood - young people did not know at all what that was. According to Solomiya, 'the sweets were an element of the local rural culture, but it began to be eradicated, most likely due to Soviet influence.' Therefore, for the Bratach family, rose confiture is an important issue related not only to business, which they love very much, but to 'restoring the traditional recipe, national awareness and promoting a natural useful product.' The importance of restoring these traditional recipes is not just a business venture, but a cultural mission that the Bratach family is deeply committed to.
