Old-school masters - company "Višnjica" cherishes tradition of Belgrade's coffee shops for nearly six decades

- People usually feel cheerful in the nature. That is why the wedding parties at the confluence of the Sava and Danube are the most cheerful of all. By marrying at the confluence, the bride looks at Kalemegdan and "Victor" monument, which depict her emotions and symbolize the vision of the future, while the groom watches the river and the bridges that represent the link between his former bachelor life and current happiness - the CEO of company "Višnjica", Žarko Ratković, starts telling the story for "eKapija".

That company owns restaurant "Ušće", situated in the most beautiful part of Belgrade, on the left bank of the Sava, in the vicinity of the Museum of Modern Arts.

The work by Stojan Maksimović entered the textbooks on architecture as the first public facility of modern architecture. That restaurant with long tradition and acknowledged reputation still defies the invasion of floatind restaurants.

Wishing to preserve the charm of old Belgrade's coffee shops in the capital city, company "Višnjica", which has 25 facilities in Belgrade in its possession, the most famous of which are "Ušće", "Ima dana", restaurant "Devetka" and "Tošin bunar", focused on catering business and making it possible for the people to experience pleasant moments in nice interior, with music and everything that is served on the table.

- Restaurants have always been the places for meetings, business negotiations, accidental meetings and intimate hopes, good meal and tasty drink, leisure time and discussions about politics, the time we live in, gossips, the stories of the cities we visited, the people we met, good and bad years - says Ratković and reminds that the coffee shops have always been the places where the governments are brought down, the places where the artists who became part of the history of Serbian culture waited for the dawn.

Looking back to the history almost six decades long, "Višnjica" today has the amibition to preserve the tradition, as well as adapt the service to fit the taste of the new consumers.

Because the profit is, still, the most important.

- Every idea makes sense if it is profitable – Ratković quotes Radomir Lukić, a professor at the Law School.

Catering company "Višnjica" was founded in 1951 and it owns about 25 facilities at 7,000 square meters. The fact that it has been registering profit and paying dividends to its stockholders every year since it was founded, even in the difficult 1990's, sounds almost incredible. Maybe the magical formula is the fact that only 4 people have been running "Višnjica" during the period of almost 60 years.

- Our business mission includes three goals - responsibility towards the state, towards the workers and towards the stockholders. We transformed the management and the ownership system in the 1990's. We introduced the system to delegate authorizations from higher to lower rank, so that every restaurant became an economic whole. We motivated the managers and educated the chefs and the waiting staff. We are among the rare companies from former SFRY that kept all people and facilities.

Take your wife to 'Jakarta' and buy her beer on March 8th

("Tošin bunar")

"Take your wife to 'Jakarta' and buy her beer on March 8th" was the message published in newspaper "Ekspres politika" after the press conference on March 7th, 1996, for promotion of restaurant "Tošin bunar" into ale house.

People say that there is no student who did not have at least one drink in coffee shop "Tošin bunar", which is situated in the vicinity of dormitory "Students' City" in New Belgrade. That coffee shop was also the favorite place of the students from Indonesia, so that the first President of Indonesia, Ahmed Sukarno, visited "Tošin bunar" during his stay in Belgrade, which was occasioned by the Summit of Non-Alligned Countries in Belgrade. He liked that coffee shop so much that the people called it "Jakarta" because of him. Ale house "Jakarta" remained the gathering place of students, former and current ones. This is the facility for all categories and all statuses.

More coke and less wine is drank nowadays

(Restaurant "Devetka")

- Out of 4,200 registered catering facilities in Belgrade, 3,300 are coffee shops where coffee and coke are served, and no meal can be obtained. A modern guest in Belgrade goes out in the night, and you know that it is not the time for eating, at least from the viewpoint of biolgical needs. We are not part of that world of coffee shops, but we definitely strive to satisfy the needs of consumers. We wish to preserve the beauty of an age. Just like wine that is good when it ages a little, we also try to preserve the spirit of old Belgrade's restaurants.

- The best wine is the wine you like the best - says Ratković and points out that the customers can choose between about 92 types of wine in restaurants "Devetka" and "Ušće".

In addition to the best wines from local and world-famous wine cellars, restaurant "Devetka", which is situated in the heart of park-forest Košutnjak, offers national old-city cuisine - meat and vegetables under pastel, old Serbian ready-made dishes and monastery specialties, roast meat, steaks and medallions, as well as international offer of the world's all big cuisines.

Guest is always right except in one case

- His Excellence guest is always right, except in one case when he or she is to pay. We have made an exception and our guests will be completely right for the New Year's Eve because they will not have to take their wallets with them to the celebration.

"Višnjica" organizes New Year's Eve parties in restaurants "Ušće", "Devetka" and "Ima dana".

Time when Mayor forbidden coffee shops to be open until theater plays were finished

Belgrade had coffee shops much before Paris, Vienna and many other European metropoles. In early 19th century, the Mayor of Belgrade forbidden the coffee shops to be open until all theater plays were finished because no one was interested in going to the theater.

The coffee shops has always been the gathering place for lawyers, witnesses, it was simply the place where the city life takes place, where theater plays were prepared and performed, where the concerts and balls were held, as well as the meetings of sports organizations, political parties, National Parliament, etc.

("Ima dana")

The coffee shop was the place where significant works of literature were created and the place for literary discussions. Many music compositions that are still famous were made in the coffee shops as well.

Old, bohemian part of Belgrade, Skadarlija, was created at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, when its coffee shops were the gathering place of the most famous people from the cultural sphere of Belgrade. Restaurant "Ima dana" in Skadarska Street is in the center of Belgrade's spiritual, cultural, musical, economic and political events. The restaurant was built by architect Uglješa Bogunović in the location of old residential house where poets (Tin Ujević), singers, painters, bohemians and rebels were used to live, and he got the interior and the spirit from academic painter and the greatest modern bohemian Mario Maskareli who painted his predecessor (tenants and regular visitors) and made them eternal for the sake of tradition, memory and inspiration for new generations, the lovers of that street and that restaurant.