American desserts serve Estonian palate

TALLINN - Starting a new business is always exciting and uncertain, but for pastry chef Heidi Park, starting her own  dessert bakery business in Estonia has had an additional challenge. Park is an American living in Estonia, so navigating the paperwork and the legal steps involved in setting up her business was more difficult. However, Estonia is fairly transparent when it comes to the requirements to set up a small business, and the necessary financial and legal paperwork is not insurmountable.

Foreign persons legally residing in Estonia can start a business here with relative ease. There are three categories of business incorporation, distinguished mainly by size and scope of the operation. Proof of availability of funds is required, and the amount of funds available to the business determines the category into which it falls. Businesses registered as ‘AS’ must show a minimum capital availability of 400,000 kroons (25,600 euros).  Businesses that can demonstrate a minimum availability of 40,000 kroons are registered as ‘OU.’ Incorporation time is about three weeks. The smallest, an owner-operated business registered as an ‘FIE,’ like Park’s, is the easiest and least risky venture to set up. The business can later be expanded and re-registered if the capital base increases. For foreigners legally residing in Estonia, like Park, there are no barriers to entry, which accounts for a significant presence of British and other European-owned businesses, especially in the center of Tallinn.

“I have an Estonian-sounding name,” says Park, who is second generation Korean-American, “so people are always surprised to see a Korean face.”  Park was trained as a pastry chef in New York City, and worked there at the prestigious L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon at the Four Seasons hotel. She came to Tallinn with her Estonian partner, whom she met while he was completing a Masters Program at Columbia University, two years ago. “I worked at a boutique hotel in Old Town for a few months,” she said “but I didn’t fit in.”

Park decided to start her own business, and began baking at home. “Quality and freshness of ingredients is very important to me,” Park says. “There are challenges with supplies in Estonia, and I have to order some things from abroad.”  As Park specializes and differentiates her business by offering American desserts, she occasionally has trouble finding American staples. “Dessicated coconut, corn syrup, select fruit purees, and bourbon vanilla extract are not available in Estonia.” While a large part of the clientele is comprised of cafes that focus on organic goods and parents purchasing children’s birthday cakes for Park’s elaborate decorations, traditional American pastries such as brownies, cheese cake and apple pie are very much in demand. There are some cultural differences and modifications to be made, though. “I use about half the amount of sugar now than what my recipes require.” Park says. “Estonians do not like things to be as sweet as Americans do.”

Expansion poses further concerns. Advertising is costly and difficult to target towards the desired audience. Luckily, Park has been able to rely solely on word-of-mouth, which is strong in a relatively small city like Tallinn. As business volume has steadily increased, it has become increasingly difficult to fill orders by working from home, even with a hired assistant. “Rental spaces are available, but Old Town cafe and restaurant spaces still command very high rent. A space with a glass door front, which would be ideal for a cafe, also adds a lot of cost in utilities due to the harsh Estonian winter temperatures,” says Park. Additional difficulties include meeting government guidelines for ventilation and safety. There are empty store fronts ready to be rented or converted, but unless the space was previously used for industrial food service, ventilation systems would have to be installed so as not to disturb any tenants that may live above the shop. As pleasant as the aroma may be, it is still necessary to disperse it. Ideally, Park hopes to have an adjacent parking lot to accommodate quick order pick-ups by customers.

Overall, she says that she has found the process of starting and running her own business to be fairly transparent and easy to navigate. Of course, there are difficulties associated with such an endeavor, but these difficulties would be present in the U.S. as well, she feels. “In a sense, it’s easier than it would be in New York. Here I can better compete, it’s a smaller city and Estonians are so curious to try new types of pastries.” Park’s pastries can be sampled at NOP in Tallinn, or custom cake orders can be made at www.kondiiter.ee.