PEOPLE BEHIND BARAKA • •
Leora and David sharing the path of the route… Vol.1
“Since opening Baraka in 2001, we can say that our concept has changed over the years. We are constantly learning about the business, our customers, and how Budapest’s culinary scene is evolving. One of the most important things lately that we have learned is, even after all these years, how much we still have to learn.
Budapest’s wine culture has really taken off over the past 10-15 years, almost coinciding with the boom of restaurants opening all over the country, many of them fine dining establishments. We have come to realize how much more there is to learn with maximizing our wine potential as part of the experience for our guests and as part of the business. This is why we are paying special focus lately on boosting our wine program here at Baraka.
We are truly lucky to have such skilled sommeliers on our team. Their aim is to create a well balanced wine card which goes well with our French-Asian cuisine. Not as easy as it sounds, with all the complex flavors that each dish brings. This is but one small, but important part, of the wine program. We as owners must look at this from the other side as well. The wines are as important as the food when it comes to sales in the restaurant.
There is not much literature written for restaurant owners on how to maximize wine profit, how much of total revenue should come from wine sales, or how many international and local wines the card must contain for a prestigious fine dining restaurant such as Baraka. These are topics that we are in the process of figuring out, even after all these years of operating our restaurant. Our goal is to have one of the best wine cellars in the city, which might take 5-10 years. Just as wine gets better with age, so does Baraka.”
