Ukrainian refugee Yelyzaveta Tataryna battled the odds to open a vegan cafe in the heart of central London by herself within months of her traumatic departure from her homeland. This is her story.
The 23 year old had been saving money to open a patisserie in Kyiv, but things changed dramatically for the worse after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Forced to risk taking out a loan, she was determined to realize her dream elsewhere.
Cream Dream vegan cafe on Bedford Street, Covent Garden, is impossible to miss. The pink design stands out against the background of other nearby restaurants. In the middle of the cafe, Ukrainian music is constantly playing and there is a fragrant flower smell of Carpathian tea. There is a large map of Ukraine on the wall and all staff members are also refugees from that country, proudly wearing small blue and yellow collar badges on their aprons.
Yelyzaveta herself is always in the cafe and has been working 16 hours a day since February 14, Valentine’s Day - a fitting date to first open the doors of her dream patisserie to the people of London. In the month before the opening, she regularly worked without sleep.
With no prior experience in hospitality or business, Yelyzaveta opened the cafe within four months of her arrival in London completely independently. She first developed the idea two years ago, but it was never her plan to open a vegan patisserie in London.
A young Ukrainian woman from the small city of Kryvyi Rih, in eastern Ukraine, she studied mathematics in Kyiv in 2020, where she began her hobby: baking vegan cakes. She learnt her first recipes from YouTube tutorial videos.
Friends were impressed by her work and began to buy cakes from Yelyzaveta to order. She invented new recipes for cakes and began to dream of creating her own pastries. For two years, Yelyzaveta saved money for her patisserie, which she planned to open in Kyiv in the spring of 2022. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022 changed her plans, as it became unsafe to open a new cafe in Kyiv. At first, the Russian army terrorized the city, and to this day the capital is the target of Russian missile strikes.
When the invasion began, Yelyzaveta abandoned her dreams of a patisserie in her home country and went to Poland, where she volunteered in a centre for refugees leaving Ukraine, providing them with humanitarian aid and helping them find shelter.
At the end of the summer of 2022, she returned to Kyiv with the hope of staying in Ukraine. At that time, the media wrote about a possible attack from Belarus every day. After the emergence of increased tensions and the constant threat of missile attacks, Yelyzaveta decided to leave Kyiv again and go to London. In October, she rented a room in London. Yelyzaveta did not work, as she lived on her savings, hoping that the situation would change and she could return to her home in Ukraine. But that hope failed to materialise, and by the end of the year she decided that it was time to move on and realize her ambition in her new location.
Said Yelyzaveta, “I developed the concept of the patisserie and the menu in Ukraine. I didn’t know anything about opening a cafe in London. I just Googled where is the best place to open a vegan cafe, how to find a building to rent and how to legalize my own business. That is, Google became my assistant in opening my patisserie.”
The young Ukrainian quickly found a place to rent - a building near Covent Garden which used to be a kebab shop. Yelyzaveta did not have enough savings to rent a building in central London, and for a month tried to get a loan from a Ukrainian bank. In the meantime, she found an anonymous Ukrainian businessman who invested 30% in his fellow countrywoman’s new business. Yelyzaveta explains, “It was scary to take such a large loan - it is a big risk. But I had no doubt. I dreamed about it for years.”
She researched the legal details of the rental contract on the internet. There were no problems with the landlord and Yelyzaveta was also able to register the name of Cream Dream cafe online with no difficulty. She hired an accountant to handle tax issues and received the keys to the former kebab shop on December 24th. Yelyzaveta signed a lease for 12 years – which she simply described as “ very very expensive.”
Her first impressions of the property were not inspiring. She remembers, “The building was in terrible condition after the previous tenants and the ceiling on the second floor was leaking. There was a lot of work that needed to be done and I was a little disappointed.” The previous kebab shop was blue, and she wanted a pink colour scheme with a more sophisticated design. She recalls, “On the first day I went to the hardware store to buy paint and started working. I decided that, in order to save money, I would renovate the cafe myself”.
Yelyzaveta had not used social media before then, but she decided that it could help her in the buildup to the opening of the patisserie. She created Cream Dream’s TikTok and Instagram accounts, and documented her 30 day journey to opening her London café. These were short videos updating viewers on the progress of her upcoming patisserie. Yelyzaveta’s videos began to gain thousands of views, as she created a community of volunteers who came to help her during the renovation.
Said Yelyzaveta, “I was alone on this journey and I needed someone’s hand. So a British girl first came to me to help, and later Ukrainian girls. At the same time, I had time to order equipment and products for baking cakes.”
The opening of the Cream Dream cafe was planned for February 14. But a few days before that, Yelyzaveta had a challenging problem – the major British banks refused to open an account for her business. Fortunately, one of the lesser-known banks eventually agreed. Against expectations, her Valentine’s Day opening saw some five hundred customers buy all the cakes she had prepared to sell during the first week. Most of the customers were Ukrainians who brought her flowers, supporting her endeavours. It was a successful start.
“I am very grateful to everyone who supported me online and offline,” says Yelyzavata. “It’s sad that my first cafe was not in Ukraine, but in London. It’s still really amazing that so many customers came to support me on the first day, and they loved my pastries, our teas and coffee. I got very positive feedback.”
Yelyzaveta also wants to support talented Ukrainians. On the walls of the pastry shop are the works of Ukrainian artist Ula Patoka, and the paintings are available for sale. Yelyzaveta plans to create a social community of Ukrainians on the second floor – where there is space for holding conferences and training. Helping refugees from Ukraine is one of her goals.
“Before the opening, I decided that I wanted to hire Ukrainian staff,” she says. “Many refugees from Ukraine find it difficult to find a job in London, mainly due to a lack of language skills or high competition.” Two pastry chefs and three baristas now work in the cafe, all refugees from Ukraine. Yelyzaveta adds, “The girls have seen first-hand what war is like, and I am happy to provide them with a workplace that will remind them of a safe home.”
You can find a variety of vegan desserts at the Cream Dream cafe, they are completely gluten and sugar-free too, but they are not suitable for those with nut allergies. The cakes on display change every day. Pistachio, tangerine and raspberry tarts, cherry chocolate cake, and peach rose cakes are popular. Yelyzaveta is vegan, and all her cakes are unique because she is the creator of the recipes and bakes most of the cakes herself.
The biggest challenge facing the young Ukrainian may be homesickness, and missing her family. Yelyzaveta’s mother Tetiana and younger sister Margarita stayed in Ukraine - and although they were able to visit after the opening, they will not stay in London.
“My mother works as a railway engineer, she helped evacuate civilians from dangerous areas. She understands that Ukraine needs her knowledge now,” says Yelyzaveta. “My sister recently graduated from school and plans to enter a Ukrainian university. Sadly, we see each other less. I see my future in my free Ukraine, but for now, I have many plans for my Cream Dream cafe and I think that’s what I have to do now, move on and not give up, despite the war in Ukraine.”
It is early days, but in spite of all the challenges presented by war and business in a cost-of-living crisis, the young Covent Garden cafe owner has shown that dreams can still come true.
