High Street Hero - Business & IP Centre
Fancy a coffee? Meet this week’s #HighstreetHero Mario Spiridonov, co-founder of Santa Sofia, a Gold Star winning coffee brand from Sofia, Bulgaria, via Yorkshire.
During his experience working in the UK hospitality industry, Mario realised that the traditionally tea-drinking nation lacked awareness of coffee blends and preparation techniques. Santa Sofia’s mission is to spread knowledge and passion for coffee to all its customers – whether they are coffee connoisseurs who can distinguish their 100% Arabica from their Robusta or hospitality businesses that want to offer their customers a quality selection of coffee blends.
“My name is Mario Spiridonov and I came to the UK from Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2006. I have worked in the hospitality industry since I was 18 and loved it. Having worked in many restaurants, pubs and cafes, I gradually became aware of a lack of knowledge of coffee and its preparation. I decided to start a coffee brand that would spread knowledge and passion for coffee across small independent hospitality businesses.
After months of planning, researching and experimenting with different coffee beans and roasting levels, we finally created our blend and we named it Fede (Faith), which was followed by sister blends Speranza (Hope) and Amore (Love). Santa Sofia is named after my hometown Sofia, Bulgaria, and we finally launched the brand in December 2019, just months before the first national lockdown.
When the pandemic struck, I realised that I needed to change my forecasts and invest more in market research. Browsing on Eventbrite, I signed up to the Reset. Restart webinars with Business & Intellectual Property Centre - #BIPCLeeds Central Library and I also received support with market research. I just can’t put into words how grateful I am for the help I received from the BIPC.
A book that has had a great impact on me is Drinking from the fire hose, by Christopher J Frank and Paul Magnone. Nowadays, we are constantly bombarded by information and data. This book helped me focus on the data I need and leave the rest aside.
I don’t have much spare time at the moment. I enjoy what I do and I try to do it all the time. Being able to trade has been amazing and I wish more people were able to do what they love. It can be stressful at times, but if it was easy, everybody would be doing it.”
