Jumpstart grant for Borsch To Go delights Cambridge Ukrainian team
Borsch To Go, the city’s first Ukrainian food takeaway service, is delighted to be among the beneficiaries of a Jumpstart grant ahead of its launch next month.
The Jumpstart initiative is run by the Business & IP Centre Cambridgeshire & Peterborough (BIPC). To qualify, new businesses pitch to a panel of judges for funding opportunities. The winners were presented with their prizes at a special ceremony at the Old Bridge Hotel in Huntingdon on Friday (December 2).
The platinum winner and recipient of a £10k grant is Jonathan Strauss of Cambridge-based Glasshouse Gardening – a garden maintenance business operated by a professional gardener, currently also working as a gardener at Emmanuel College.
Speaking after receiving his prize, Jonathan Strauss said: “This feels fantastic! I’m very honoured to be here tonight and to get this award is amazing, it’s still sinking in really. Gardening is my passion and having won this award I can look to drive my business forwards, so I’m excited for the future.”
The gold winner and recipient of a £6k grant is Dexter D’Apollonio, of Mill Road-based Get Weird Garms, which sells second-hand streetwear/vintage designer clothes through its website, online and physical shop.
The silver winner and recipient of a £4k grant is Toby Gardner of Cambridge-based Gigin, a website making gig-booking fast and more cost-effective for musicians and venues.
Borsch to Go was one of five winners of a bronze, along with a £2k grant.
“The takeaway service starts in January,” says Liliya Pochkun, whose business partner is Olena Sydoruk.
Liliya, who is living in Cambridge and co-founded a still-going diner in Kyiv called Modern Kiev Cuisine, will reveal the exact location of the new service in the new year. Their Ukrainian-food menu has already proved popular in the city.
“I started planning in the spring,” Liliya says of the origins of Borsch To Go. “It’s a takeaway business at the moment, possibly we’ll do delivery later. Customers can stop in and have a coffee, wraps, cakes, and get a takeaway for lunch or have it for dinner.
“Also available will be a borsch set menu, which is borsch, a main course salad and drink. It’s all healthy food, freshly cooked in the morning, with no chemicals or additives and natural spices.”
There’s a wider plan of course.
“We want to create a franchise for all over the world to make borsh as popular as pizza or sushi,” Liliya says. “It’s a social enterprise, and 50 per cent of the net profit will go to rebuilding Ukraine – this is the main mission of this project. Ukraine will need permanent help to rebuild as well as one-off donations. So you’re eating borsch and providing one brick or block to rebuild Ukraine.”
The ambition is to set up ten Borsch To Go trading points across Cambridge in 2023.
The BIPC Jumpstart programme was developed by The Business & IP Centre Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, part of Cambridgeshire Libraries. The programme was launched in November 2021 – offering grants, resources and support designed to help start-up businesses get set and grow.
