We took into account the mistakes of Gala Baluvana. How Alla Teliha's new franchise is developing

The founder of the Galya Baluwana brand, Alla Teliga, has announced sales launch a new franchise, the Tsiberek cheburek restaurant. The restaurant positions itself as a family cheburek restaurant with restaurant-style service and affordable prices.

The entrepreneur founded the new project with Inna Vertsynska, a former franchisor of Halya Baluvaniy from Khmelnytskyi. There have been no first franchise sales yet. The partners are currently negotiating with potential partners from Lutsk, Rivne, and Lviv.

The project was launched more than six months ago.

"We took our time and weighed everything. First, we looked at how much Tsiberek earns and what its profits are," says Alla Teliga.

How will the new franchise work? After working on Halia Baluvana, what mistakes did the entrepreneur take into account when launching the cheburek restaurant? She told us about it LIGA.net.

No hurry to sell

The first two Tsiberek locations were opened in December 2024 in Lutsk and in February 2025 in Khmelnytsky. They became test cases for further business scaling. The entrepreneurs used their example to estimate the required investment and payback period. The result: to open an establishment, you need at least $60,000, and you can break even in about 2.5 years.

The establishment requires premises from 150 square meters.

They are not in a hurry to sell franchises, and this is the first difference from "Galia Baluvana" as Alla Teliga calls it. The choice of partners is more balanced. It is important not only to sell, the entrepreneur explains, but to find a partner who is ready to develop the business.

Unlike Galya Baluvana, the Tsiberek franchise was "packaged" before the start of sales. It has a brand book, a book of standards, a launch team, and a sales specialist.

At Halya Baluvaniya, all of this appeared in response to daily challenges. In the beginning, there was no understanding of how to "pack" and what should be included, Teliha says.

The Galia Baluvana franchise began to develop rapidly, the entrepreneur recalls. From one to six agreements could be signed every day. New partners were told how to get started: what location they needed to find, what they needed to have, and what the technical conditions for the premises were. They also showed the production and explained the specifics of its organization.

"My partner listened, came home, and called me: let's start all over again, because I've already forgotten. And I started telling him again," Alla Teliha recalls.

In the case of Halia, the explanation took six months. At the same time, the entrepreneur was developing her own outlets in Lutsk. When she realized that she was simply drowning in the flow of operations, she wrote the rules for launching a franchise.

Created launch teams

At the beginning of Halia Baluvana's work, the entrepreneur helped each entrepreneur design a production facility.

"I would sit down with them and show them how to place the equipment so that it was interconnected and there were no unnecessary movements," Alla Teliha recalls.

Tsyberek has a separate project manager who will help entrepreneurs open establishments. Moreover, they have created launch teams that will travel to the location and help launch the cheburek. Galia Baluvana had one, too, but it didn't appear immediately.

"We go directly to the location, even calculate its passability," says Alla Teliga.

She has also developed video tutorials for potential partners on how to start a restaurant and how to prepare recipes. In the future, the entrepreneur plans to switch to a centralized supply of raw materials to the entire chain. This is how the Wesoła Pani chain, developed by her daughter Diana, works in Poland.

Currently, the recipes clearly specify the ingredients for the dishes, including the brand name and even the percentage of fat in the cream. When Tsyberek increases the number of establishments, the entrepreneur plans to negotiate with food producers for more favorable supply terms.

Clarity in relationships

We also worked on the franchise agreement. In Gala Baluvaniya, it initially did not include many important clauses.

"It was two pages long and we changed it every year," says Alla Teliha.

The entrepreneur also took into account the history of her relationship with her former business partner Volodymyr Matviichuk. They had a conflict, a lawsuit, and now they became competitors. Matviychuk launched his Multi Cook chain of convenience foods. The partners, who had been working together since 2018, stopped cooperation in early 2025.

Now Teliga has spelled out the terms of the partnership more clearly. A corporate agreement will be signed between the partners.

The entrepreneurs did not fully disclose the terms of cooperation. Alla Teliha will remain in charge of production, while Inna Vertsynska will be responsible for franchise sales.

Co-founder Inna Vertsynska sees the key to the success of the new project in the niche they have occupied.

"It is important for this business to be close to people, understandable and profitable at the same time. Tsyberek combines these features," she says.

The founders of the franchise plan to enter foreign markets. But after they develop the network in Ukraine.

Project prospects

Tsiberek cheburek has a chance of success due to its concept of combining a low check with restaurant service, says Artem Chornyi, co-founder of MOST Franchising agency.

Until now, the fastest-growing establishments in the HoReCa market have been those that sold shawarma. They developed, among other things, through franchising, he says. The peak of development was in 2022-2023. The reasons for the growth include the mass migration of women abroad and the growing demand among men for ready-to-eat food.

Among the advantages of Teliha and Vertsynska's project is a low entry threshold of just $60,000. A full-fledged restaurant requires investments of more than $100,000-200,000, says Artem Chornyi.

"That's why I think Ciberek is the best format for investing in this business," he says.

Another positive aspect is that Alla Teliga honed her business model at test establishments before launching the franchise, says Artem Chorny. This allowed us to see how it works in real life

In general, the Ukrainian franchise market is dominated by two areas: retail and HoReCa. These are the segments where most establishments open. Therefore, it is not surprising that the founder of Galia Baluvana moved from one segment, where she already had experience, to another, concludes the co-founder of MOST Franchising.

Chebureks are the new hot dogs, says Olga Nasonova, founder of the company "Restaurant Consulting", who has been creating restaurant businesses for over 20 years.

"A small window with chebureks from Musafir in Podol (a restaurant serving Crimean Tatar cuisine – ed.) recently opened. And there was a queue right away. I think the prospects for such an institution are good," she says.