About

Originally from Almaty, Kazakhstan, I left my country when I was 8 years old to follow my diplomatic parents around the world. I have lived in the US, UK, Spain, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. While studying in the UK, I met my now husband and a while later, in 2009, moved to Switzerland permanently. I fell in love with this beautiful country immediately, but not its food. Back in 2009, Zürich`s food scene consisted of sushi and pasta. I had dreamed of being self-employed and moving here, opening up a new chapter in my life, was my chance.

It took me one year to write my business plan and another year to find the perfect location. In January 2012, on my birthday, I opened up my first restaurant Simply Soup in the heart of Zürich. I did not have external financing. My investors were my family. Two years later I had the chance to open a second location, and two years after that, the third one.

Over the years, Simply Soup has had a food truck, a shop in shop, a pop up. We have tried pretty much everything we could. Through a lot of trial and error, I have now built a successful, profitable restaurant with delivery and catering services as well as a webshop.

Having gone through my journey, I can tell you for certain that there are mistakes I am glad I made and there are mistakes that I know I could have avoided, if only I had the right guidance.