UKRAINIAN ROOTS. A MUNICH HOME.
From a small stall
to the heart of Munich.
I’m Taras. Today we make Ukrainian shawarma in Nußbaumpark. It began very differently: a fresh start in Germany, a small tent and the wish to build something of our own.
Taras & Team SHAWARMINO
- 01Landshut · Our first tent
- 02French hotdogs
- 03German street-food culture
- 04Bratwurst on the grill
- 05Ukrainian dishes join the menu
- 06Dachau · Where SHAWARMINO began
- 07Our foodtruck in Dachau
- 08A new trailer for Munich
- 09Our name, painted by hand
- 10Nußbaumpark · Today
01Before SHAWARMINO
An entrepreneur since childhood.
Our story didn’t begin with shawarma or with a modern foodtruck. For me, it actually began much earlier.
I started selling mobile phones when I was 13. Later came electronics and bicycles. As a student I was a class representative and was involved in my college’s student parliament and the city youth committee. At university I organised table hockey tournaments and rented out table football.
In the years that followed I tried many things: transport, construction and labouring jobs, renting out holiday homes by the sea, and my own café. For almost ten years my brother and I also ran a gift and homeware business. We imported goods, developed and produced our own products and sold a wide range.
They were very different kinds of work. But looking back, they all had one thing in common:
It was always about people.
Over many years I learned to listen, to take responsibility and to understand what good service means. A good product alone isn’t enough. The person who comes to you has to feel welcome and feel that you care about what they get in the end. That belief is still with me today.
02A new life in Germany
There was so much to learn again.
A few years ago I came to Germany from Ukraine. A completely new chapter began:
- A new language.
- New rules.
- New authorities.
- A different business culture.
Much of what I knew from Ukraine worked differently here. I had to learn a lot again – and honestly, I’m still learning every day. But from the start I knew one thing:
I want to work. I want to build something of my own. And I want to create something I can be proud of.
Quite early on I was self-employed again, selling handmade board games online to customers in many countries. But at some point my path led in a completely different direction: into food.
03By my side · From the start
I didn’t walk this path alone.
My girlfriend was and is by my side. I don’t just mean that she believed in me or supported me morally. She worked with me. She was there at every stage of our small business, got through long working days with me, lived through changes and moves, and supported me in difficult times too.
Anyone who is self-employed knows there is often a very different reality behind the nice pictures of a business: long days, exhaustion, worries, setbacks, decisions you aren’t sure about. And sometimes moments when your own strength simply runs out. Those were exactly the moments when she gave me strength and helped me carry on.
I couldn’t have achieved much of what exists today without her. That’s why SHAWARMINO is not only my personal story. It is part of our shared story.
And someone else was there from the very beginning: my colleague Ilya. The idea of going into food originally came from him. Ilya was part of this project from day one, put an incredible amount of effort into it and still works in our team at SHAWARMINO today.
04Landshut · Our first stall
It all started with French hotdogs.
A friend suggested opening a small French hotdog stall together. We bought the equipment, sorted out the permits – and immediately faced one of the hardest questions in mobile food: where are we actually allowed to sell?
After some searching we found a spot in Landshut. I was living in Fürstenfeldbruck back then and, for some reason, thought it was a good idea to drive about 100 kilometres to Landshut every day. We didn’t keep that up for long: after about ten days, that chapter was over.
But those ten days were incredibly valuable. We met wonderful people and got honest feedback. People were curious, happy to try something new, and they liked our food.
For me it was clear: we keep going.
05Ottobrunn · From tent to foodtruck
A piece of German street-food culture.
A simple tent was no longer enough for a new location – we needed a proper sales trailer. So we first rented a foodtruck and moved to Ottobrunn. Bratwurst, currywurst and other dishes joined the French hotdogs.
Again and again, guests told us that food stalls like this used to be a much more common sight on German streets. Some older guests even said:
“There used to be one of these on every corner.”
Over time they had become rarer and made way for modern fast-food concepts. That touched me. I had only just arrived in Germany – and in my small way I could carry on something many people connected with memories. I came here with my own story and, at the same time, got to know the stories and traditions of the people here.
06Our first foodtruck of our own
An old fish trailer for €2,000.
After a few months I realised it made no sense to pay rent for a foodtruck every month. For €2,000 I bought our first trailer of our own. It had been used to sell fish. It wasn’t modern, and a large fridge took up a big part of the inside. But for the first time we had our own foodtruck – and I was proud of it.
Step by step we expanded what we offered: potato salad, coleslaw, fried eggs, meatballs, hot meals, fries and hot and cold drinks.
We didn’t just want to sell something quickly. We wanted people to leave full and happy.
We worked there for almost a year and gained experience no textbook can teach:
- How do you organise a tiny workspace?
- How do you prepare for the rush?
- What do guests like – and what doesn’t work at all?
- How do you make someone want to come back?
Over time it became clear that the old fish trailer wasn’t right for our next stage. So we sold it. It was time for the next step.
07A meeting that belongs to our story
Hasan.
At that time there was a Turkish shawarma stand right next to us. That’s where I met Hasan. Hasan is a wonderful person. He showed me a lot, taught me many things and is still my friend today.
For me, this meeting is a beautiful example of what food can be: people from different countries meet, talk, share experience and learn from each other. And sometimes something new grows out of different culinary traditions. That experience later played an important role in our story too.
08Dachau · Our own way
This is where SHAWARMINO was born.
Later we had the chance to move to Dachau. We bought another foodtruck and rebuilt it practically from scratch. It was a new stage – and not only technically. We wanted to bring more of ourselves and our culture into what we served: pelmeni, varenyky, special hotdogs with Korean-style carrots. And finally the dish that would change our story: our Ukrainian shawarma.
- Thin Armenian lavash.
- Juicy grilled chicken.
- Homemade garlic sauce.
- Korean-style carrots and pickled cabbage.
- Fresh vegetables and crispy fries.
- Our own way of preparing it.
Different culinary influences meet in it. Yet for many people from Ukraine, exactly this kind of shawarma is a taste they know and love. We watched our guests’ reactions, listened, improved our recipes – and at some point understood: this is what makes us special.
We didn’t have to try to be just another ordinary snack stand. We wanted to show how we know and love shawarma. Slowly, a foodtruck became something of its own: its own idea, its own identity. SHAWARMINO.
Behind the scenes
Taras tells our story · 1:25
A personal look back at Dachau. This film shows an earlier location and the menu we served there.
watching.
Video transcript
Hello! We are building a small business in Germany: a foodtruck serving prepared food.
We have good news. We replaced our foodtruck and sold the old one. I’ll tell you later about the challenges of buying and transporting the new truck. More about that later.
We have moved to Dachau, near REWE. The biggest news is our new menu. We now make Ukrainian shawarma. With our cabbage, carrots and meat. Wrapped in lavash, grilled and served with our garlic sauce.
We have improved our hotdogs too: more classic, with carrots. We still have pelmeni with different fillings.
The truck currently has a Chicken Wrap sign. Later we will change it to Shawarma.
Follow us! We will share what is happening. And show you what we do.
09Almost a year for Munich
Food brings people together.
While we were working in Dachau, I was also talking to the City of Munich. The talks, preparation and necessary steps took almost a year. In the end we got a very special opportunity: to become part of a pilot project in Nußbaumpark, in the heart of Munich.
It isn’t just about giving a foodtruck a place to sell. The project aims to bring the park to life, make it a nicer place to spend time and help make this public space more attractive for the people of Munich. Besides the chance to serve our shawarma in central Munich, we can make a small contribution to something bigger together with the city.
Of course, a single foodtruck can’t solve every challenge of a public space. But I believe food can make a difference. Where people eat, meet, talk, laugh and spend time, life happens. A place you just walk through becomes a place where you like to stay.
For us, Nußbaumpark isn’t just an address. It’s a place whose future we’re allowed to help shape a little.
10Starting again for Munich
The result of our whole journey.
With the go-ahead for Munich a new chapter began. The Dachau foodtruck had done its job too; we sold it. We took a new foodtruck and once again rebuilt it practically from scratch. This time we could use everything we had learned:
- Landshut.
- Ottobrunn.
- The old fish trailer.
- Almost a year of daily work.
- Dachau.
- Thousands of orders and countless conversations with guests.
- Mistakes we made – and things that worked.
So the SHAWARMINO foodtruck you see in Nußbaumpark today isn’t simply our next trailer. It is the result of our whole journey so far.
Our foodtruck today
Our name. Painted by hand.
Artists offered to work on our foodtruck. We chose a hand-painted sign. This footage shows an idea becoming a visible part of SHAWARMINO.
watching.
11Today · Nußbaumpark, Munich
Not an end point, but a new beginning.
Today we welcome our guests in Nußbaumpark in the centre of Munich. We are proud of that. And even today, not everything is perfect yet.
For example, we are still working on a full power supply at our location. That’s why we can’t yet offer some Ukrainian dishes that need extra electric kitchen equipment – including pelmeni, varenyky, syrnyky and chebureki. We really hope to solve this technical challenge soon, because we want to show you much more of Ukrainian cooking, step by step.
12A piece of Ukraine in Munich
Honest, generous and with an open heart.
It makes us happy when someone tries Ukrainian food for the first time. It’s even better when that person comes back a few days later.
For us, Ukrainian cooking means more than recipes. It means hospitality, warmth and generosity. Back home, hospitality also means that a guest should never leave hungry. Maybe that explains our portions a little.
We don’t want to stage our culture artificially. We want to pass it on the way we know it ourselves.
13We aren’t perfect
But we care.
SHAWARMINO is a young business. We learn every day, try things out, improve how we work – and yes, sometimes we make mistakes. We won’t claim everything always runs perfectly. But we can promise something else: we care.
If something isn’t right, we want to know. If a guest has criticism, we listen. If we make a mistake, we want to learn from it.
Because there’s no anonymous corporation behind SHAWARMINO. There are people:
- who prep, chop and marinate in the morning,
- who grill, roll and hand out orders,
- who serve every guest as quickly and well as possible in the lunch rush,
- who clean, tidy and prepare in the evening – and start all over again the next day.
Sometimes it’s hard work. Very hard work. But we love what we do.
14Every guest counts
Not as an order number.
Of course, a small business has to work financially too: paying staff, buying food, investing. But money alone would never be enough to get me up every morning to do all this work. Other moments make me happy:
- When someone bites into their shawarma and smiles.
- When a guest says: “I’ve never eaten anything like this.”
- When someone brings friends or family.
- When we see a familiar face in front of our foodtruck again.
- When someone tries Ukrainian shawarma for the first time and wants to know more about our cooking.
That’s why every guest counts for us – not as an order number, not just as revenue, but as a person who chose to trust us.
15Trust means responsibility
Earned anew every day.
Whoever orders at SHAWARMINO gives us something you can’t buy: trust. Trust
- that we handle food carefully and work cleanly,
- that we use good ingredients,
- that we treat people kindly and make an effort,
- that the food tastes good,
- and that we take responsibility if something doesn’t go as it should.
We never want to take this trust for granted. We want to earn it anew every day: with honest work, quality, respect and responsibility.
16Thank you
No business is built alone.
Above all I thank my girlfriend. She walked this path with me, worked with me, supported me, believed in me and gave me the strength to keep going, especially in difficult moments. Much of what SHAWARMINO is today, I owe to her too.
I thank Ilya, whose idea started it all and who has been on this path from the beginning – and is still part of our team today.
I’m grateful to people like Hasan who shared their knowledge with me. I’m grateful to the people in Landshut, Ottobrunn and Dachau who ate with us, talked to us and gave us honest feedback. And to everyone who supported us and gave us a chance.
Thank you, Munich. Thank you, Germany.
I came to Germany as a Ukrainian and had to start again in many areas of my life. It wasn’t always easy. But Germany gave me the chance to rebuild my life through my own work. Today I can run a business, create jobs, realise my ideas, learn from others – and show people here a piece of Ukrainian food culture. I’m sincerely grateful for that. I thank the City of Munich for its trust and for the chance to be part of the pilot project in Nußbaumpark.
And above all, we thank you, our guests: for every visit, every kind word, honest criticism, every recommendation to friends and family, every photo and video you share – and for everyone who comes back.
SHAWARMINO
Our journey continues.
Germany gave us the chance to build something new here. We want to give something back: through honest work, responsibility, respect for people, our small contribution to the life of this city – and a piece of Ukrainian food culture.
A few years ago we didn’t know that a small tent with French hotdogs would one day become SHAWARMINO in the heart of Munich. We don’t know yet where this path will lead. But we know how we want to walk it: with hard work, love for what we do, gratitude, responsibility and an open heart.
Thank you for your trust. Thank you for being part of our story.
Taras & the SHAWARMINO team