business / nils jebens
the gourmet revolution
Restaurateur-to-the-stars Nils Jebens tells Sterling how he built a fine-dining empire in post-communist Prague.
words by Sav D’Souza
When Norwegian businessman Nils Jebens first arrived in Prague 15 years ago, he wasn’t sure what to expect. “I had been in Warsaw for almost a year and was not happy about my transfer to another former Eastern Block country,” says Jebens. “But when I came to Prague, I was flabbergasted. The beauty of the city and its people soon made me feel very at home, and I decided to stay.”
This proved a good move. Today, 45-year-old Jebens is one of Prague’s most successful restaurateurs, presiding over the Kampa Group, which runs the swankiest fine-dining establishments in the city. The group has a multi-million euro turnover and sees some 400,000 customers wined and dined annually, looked after by a staff of 350 employees. Kampa Park, the group’s flagship venue and the first of Jebens’ five restaurants, is particularly popular with A-listers passing through the Czech capital: Brad and Angelina, Johnny Depp, the Clintons and Arnie Schwarzenegger to name a few.
Before he opened Kampa Park, Jebens had little experience of running restaurants. Born and raised in Oslo, he first worked as a demolition diver for the Royal Norwegian Army before going to Austria to study business and economics. Next, he began a management career in the casino industry, which would take him to Copenhagen, Warsaw and Vienna before he was sent to Czechoslovakia, as it was called then. Once settled, it didn’t take him long to spot a gap in the market. “After 40 years of communism the whole service industry had fallen behind, and there were a lot of greenfield opportunities in all sectors. I was evaluating the possibility of opening an advertising agency with an American graphic designer or a restaurant with a Swedish friend, Tommy Sjoo. It was 1994 and there were no good restaurants in Prague with modern international cuisine – the Czech traditional cuisine was very heavy – and we decided to try our luck in this industry.”
Jebens’ flagship Kampa Park
So Jebens and Tommy Sjoo set about the task of bringing haute cuisine to Prague. As Jebens explains: “I’m a decent hobby cook and had some experience through my casino career, but I was no restaurant expert. The learning curve was steep. Some early mistakes cost us a lot of money but we managed to find our own style of operation. After a few years, we had it down almost to perfection. In the beginning there were two main obstacles. Firstly, to build up a team of capable people around us who knew how we wanted things done – when you have that core it is easy to multiply. And secondly, the supplies were inconsistent at best. Sometimes raw materials wouldn’t arrive or they’d get stuck in customs.
Indoors at Hergetova Cihelna
Novelty was a factor in Kampa Park’s early success. “When we first opened, we were the only show in town,” says the restaurateur. “It turned into a kind of country club, where all kinds of business people would gather for food and fun, and I was the conductor.” The image of Jebens as conductor is instantly recognisable to anyone who has been to one of his lavish opening parties.
Following on from the huge success of the Kampa Park restaurant, Jebens has gone on to set up four other high quality establishments, each with their own distinctive offerings, from Mediterranean at La Provence to creative Czech at Hergetova Cihelna. The latest is the Cowboys steakhouse, which is marketed as ‘steak and cocktails’.
But the road to success for Jebens has not come without the odd puncture along the way. A massive jump in VAT and the major floods of 2002 were huge setbacks.“In our industry where a margin of 10% to 14% return on revenues is considered great, it is quite clear what happens when the government decides overnight that the VAT is to be increased from 5% to 19%. Apart from the big hotels, nobody dared to increase prices, so it all went from the bottom line, until we slowly, over years, could increase prices,” he says. “And after the floods there was only one thing to do: fight every battle and build it all up again. My staff were fantastic, gave great moral support and physical help, and even though Kampa Park and Hergetova Cihelna were closed for seven months, only one employee resigned.”
outdoors at Hergetova
Cihelna
Jebens sees his own self-belief as crucial to success. “From business and my time in the military, the most important lesson I learned is that you are capable of far more than you think when you put your mind to it,” he explains. Often described as a playboy bachelor, Jebens admits: “I have prioritised work before family, but would probably have married if I thought I’d found the right one. Conversely, would the right one have wanted me… Still, I won’t give up the search and sometimes the journey is the destination.”
When he is not jet-setting around the world on research trips, checking out new dining experiences, Jebens still makes time to go back to his native Norway and tells how being an expat has not hindered his fortune. “I do go back quite a bit. I have a summer house by the sea with my sisters in Lyngør, 200km south of Oslo, and we try to spend two to three weeks there together every summer. There are lots of kids, so there’s not much relaxing, but it is nice. I also went to Lofoten in June on a climbing trip with a bunch of friends from Oslo.”
nils jebens’ tips for success
Taking Czech food up a notch
at Hergetova Cihelna
1. If you can’t count, don’t do business.
2. Confrontation management is extremely important in business, so don’t postpone any unpleasant phone calls and encounters.
3. A bad decision is often better than no decision.
4. Always make proper legal agreements, whether it is with
partners, builders or leases. There are so many potential problems out there that you don’t think about in the euphoria of making a new deal.
5. Keep your private life outside of business.
Jebens adds: “Czechs are quite prejudiced when it comes to foreigners, [they think] the Americans lack culture, the British are hooligans, the French are snobs and so on. The good thing about being a Norwegian is that we are too insignificant for anybody to dislike us, so being one has worked out well.”
Friends close to Jebens testify to his business shrewdness and no nonsense attitude, but the man seems to see himself as a jack of all trades and master of none. “In terms of my abilities, I think that the secret is that I am good enough at everything to understand what needs to be done. I am an OK chef but not great, I am an OK sommelier but not great. I am an OK marketing executive and an OK accountant, etcetera. This also means I know my limitations, and when and how to find qualified help.”
For more Jebens’ Kampa Group, see www.kampagroup.com
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