The war took away Tetyana Zaporozhets' native Dobropillia, and with it — her beloved work, home, and familiar world. But it could not take away her ability to create warmth and flavor in life, even when it seemed impossible.
Tetyana is originally from Dobropillia, where she opened her café, DOBREMISTO, in 2018. She designed the interior, searched for ideas online, created the menu, calculated costs, developed technical specifications, and created a children's room. Her cafe quickly became a favorite place for meetings, children's parties, and family gatherings — with the aroma of baked goods, children's voices, and the warmth of home.
The DOBREMISTO café operated in Dobropillia until the very end, but after the Russians launched a powerful air strike on the center of Dobropillia, Tetiana Zaporozhets' family moved to Horishni Plavni in the Poltava region.
"My team was scattered all over Ukraine. I started looking and found a place. My employees arrived: one from Ivano-Frankivsk, the other from Dnipro, and we got down to business," says Tetyana.
This is how the DOBREMISTO cafe was reborn in Horishni Plavni. The concept remained the same—a family cafe where both adults and children are welcome. It is cozy and smells of coffee and desserts. The cafe began hosting its first master classes, where participants learned to make burgers and pizza and decorate gingerbread cookies.
"Both local residents and displaced persons attended the opening. It was very gratifying—an unexpected and powerful wave of support," says Tetiana Zaporozhets.
Her story is about how the taste of home cannot be destroyed by an explosion. You can take it with you and recreate it wherever there are people ready to live.
The Ukrainian people are hardworking and unbreakable!
Together to victory!