Secrets To Restaurant Success With Brazer Bozlak of Basta

BASTA! Urban Italian serves between 1000 – 1200 dishes a day in Stockholm alone.”

For a casual dining restaurant with full table service, that’s crazy. I asked founder & CEO Brazer Bozlak about his vision and approach.

“Our business idea is simple: hire talented people and give them an opportunity to grow with the company.”  Today Basta runs 6 restaurants, and Brazer is looking to open 8 or 10 more in 3 to 5 years.

That’s not all, next year will also see the launch of his new concept Florentine.

At first glance, Basta is a popular Italian restaurant with great food and service. Sounds like most other Italian restaurants? Basta is different. 

Why? Basta is a brand. It’s recognisable, vibrant and has the potential to grow big. 

How? Founder & CEO, Brazer Bozlak talks about the Basta-way-of-doing-things:

📖 Menu — Unlike many Italian eateries, Basta doesn’t lean on the traditional menu with lots of meat or pizzas. “I saw an opportunity to do something different. We add a twist to those traditional menus with healthy, organic and high-quality dishes served in a cheeky but elegant atmosphere.” 

✨ Experience — “I believe future generations won’t prefer chains for evening dining. They want an experience. We create unique restaurants, more casual, without compromising on quality or elegance.” 

👨💼Full table service — Remarkably for a growing restaurant, Basta is casual dining. “Yes, we offer full table service. Our operations are quite complex. Our pace of scaling is slower, but we compete with the best restaurants at every location.”     

💶 Finance focussed — “We are expanding entirely on our own capital. We have no loans, outside investors or franchisees. Our expansion is fully funded by our own money.”   

👩❤️👨 Company culture — This is without a doubt the pillar of success for Basta. The group invests time and energy in its staff. “We aim to hire talented people and give them an opportunity to develop their skills and career within the company.” 

🔧 Processes and systems — To do what Brazer and his team does, you have to be well organised. “We work hard to set up efficient systems and processes to streamline the work. 

📲 Digitalisation — “We want our restaurant managers to focus on the guests, not on admin. Everything is digitalised from sales to bookkeeping, and everything in between.”  

Basta more than deserves its spot in our article: ’47 Scaling Restaurants In Scandinavia To Keep An Eye On (Because They Are Awesome)’ See what other concepts & brands made the list: 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇳🇴 Norway, 🇸🇪 Sweden and 🇫🇮 Finland 👇