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Building Discipline in QSR Supply Chain & COGS
In QSR, margins are not lost in big strategic mistakes. They usually disappear quietly, somewhere between a supplier invoice, a delivery note and what actually gets used in a restaurant. For a long time, we treated COGS as a number you calculate after the fact. Food cost reports, variance checks, monthly reviews. Useful, but always…
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Why I Write Semiannual Letters to Koykan Shareholders
A while ago, I made a conscious decision to start writing semiannual letters to all Koykan shareholders and investors. Not updates. Not announcements.Letters. At first glance, this may sound like a formal obligation. In reality, it came from a much more basic realization: if a company is not 100% owned by its CEO, then shareholders…
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Koykan & Private Equity: Why PE Cares Less About Stories and More About How Businesses Behave
As we prepare for deeper conversations across different types of capital providers, including PEs, RBF investors, family offices, VCs, HNWIs, banks and other institutional investors, I keep coming back to one question: What do PE funds actually seem to look for when they invest and why do some founder-led businesses appear to fit that way…
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Building the Communication Engine for 350+ Investors
Koykan today has more than 350 shareholders and investors. That number still amazes me. These are people who opened their doors, trusted me and my team, and decided to back a vision we are building day by day.That level of trust creates responsibility — and with it, one essential question:How do I keep every single…
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The Rare Ones Who Push the Business Forward
Anyone who has ever hired people knows this challenge:we never truly know who we’re bringing into the team. Once someone joins, we usually discover two types of people: 1) Those who work.2) Those who push the business forward. Both groups matter — the first forms the connective tissue of the company.But the second group… they…
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Running a Business the Outsider Way
Over the past year, I’ve gone through dozens of books on management, scaling and finance. Most of them boil down to the same thing: broad statements, generic advice, plenty of theory — very few practical tools.And then I picked up The Outsiders. The book profiles eight unconventional CEOs who — without grand speeches, flashy strategies…
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Opening Koykan at Černý Most, Prague — A Small Win With a Big Meaning
Some moments in this journey feel simple, but important. Opening our second Koykan store in Czechia is one of those moments — a quiet confirmation that the work in providing premium food with fair prices makes sense. With Černý Most location now live, we close this year’s expansion across three countries. Koykan grows to 8…
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Bonds and how they help SMEs
I recently took part as a speaker at a conference on bonds for the SME sector. The atmosphere was excellent – you could feel a bit of that pioneer spirit around what Koykan is helping to build in Croatia’s corporate bond market. FearThere was a lot of talk about fear – both on the side…
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365 Weeks: The Journey Begins
I’m not a chef, even though my teenage daughter insists on calling me one.I’m not an influencer either, despite spending far more time with journalists this past year than I ever expected.And I’m no longer a corporate manager — that chapter closed back in 2022. I’m just someone building a company, learning along the way,…
Exploring hands-on CEO challenges and the realities behind growth.