We recently connected with Cenk R. Girginol and have shared our conversation below.

Cenk R., looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I received a job offer 23 years ago and entered the coffee industry in Türkiye. Coffee wasn’t this popular in 2003. People’s and companies’ knowledge of coffee was more limited. It was more difficult to access information. In those years, I wanted to learn more about coffee. I already liked drinking. Unlike many people in Türkiye, I never liked drinking tea, so coffee is an advantage. I completed my education in Italy and Switzerland for 3 years. As I learned more about coffee, I was thinking about how I could teach more, and I started giving coffee training in Türkiye. I took part in the installation and development of coffee operations of large brands at the company I worked for at the same time. In 2010, I decided that all this knowledge and experience should be passed on to others and I started writing a coffee biography book that had not been written before in Türkiye. It is a very detailed and long topic with its process from the date of coffee until it reaches the cup. It took 6 years to convey this to the reader in a complete and understandable writing language and to do the research. My first book ” Coffee: from the soil to the cup”was published in 2016. It was translated into English and Chinese and published in America and China a year later. It won the Best in the World award from the Gourmand Awards, the most prestigious gastronomy award in the world. Afterwards, it was awarded the biggest award, The Best of The Best, which is the best of the last 30 years. Two years later, my second book, From the Cup to the Taste, Ahde Vefa, which describes Turkish Coffee in full detail, was published in 2021. Both of these books won the 2019 and 2021 The Best in the World awards from the Gourmand Awards. I won 14 international awards in total for 3 books. At the same time, I continue to work as a coffee consultant for the most important brands in Türkiye and brands in America, Canada and England. Our family company, Bloom Coffee Roastery, has been roasting coffee and creating special blends for sixteen years and continues to be the solution partner of many brands. After doing many important and successful works in the field of coffee throughout my career and taking part in projects promoting Turkish Coffee with my beloved Gizem Şalcıgil White (Turkish Coffee Lady) and Mikroart Artist Hasan Kale in America, we have achieved something that has never been done in the world this month. On the same stage, we combined the stories of Classical Music and coffee in the lives of world-famous composers with my dear friend, pianist Oğuz Kasap. In this sense, Symphonic Aromas is the only format that offers gastronomy and art to people in the same format. This year, Jazz and Classical Music and Symphonic Aromas is a global project that will continue to bring coffee and gastronomy together with people on the same stage.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Actually, I explained it in detail in the previous section. But the real reason why students follow me and people in the industry are inspired is my love for my job and my desire to do things that have not been done. Coffee and gastronomy is a very detailed subject. But coffee is the most important beverage that every person from every country drinks. Also, I am a Turkish and Turkish Coffee is our culture. The first cafe in the world was opened in Istanbul in 1554 and spread around the world from there. It is the first beverage to be included in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List and coffee is very important to us. With this motivation, explaining coffee to people and sharing it with people is both very valuable and conveying it using a language they can understand increases interest. The fact that the three books I wrote about gastronomy and coffee, a specific field, have sold more than 100,000 copies and attracted attention proves this. The details of the brands I consult as a professional job and the details we show when roasting and blending coffee in our company..

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

You always have to set a goal when doing something. This goal must be achievable. You should continue to make your goal bigger every time you reach it. When I was twenty-three years old, I first set a goal to start my own business and I achieved it. I chose the difficult path, but in the end, success was mine, not someone else’s. I experienced many difficulties on this path. Both work and finance were against me and I did not give up. I wrote 3 books. I have won the most important awards. I am currently writing my fourth book and I am working hard to win again as if it was the first day. I motivate myself. It’s like that in life. Failure or bad moments are the beginnings that prepare you for success and good moments. I think seeing every negative thing as an experience and knowing what you want from life is the only thing that will make you happy. For example, I am now 46 years old and all the experiences I have had have taught me what I want in this life and what makes me happy. I’m in love now, and I know that life so far has taught me that she has everything I dream of. Like teaching me how to be happy and what I want.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

In the beginning, of course, money and financial capital are required. I started my own business with very little capital. This was a huge risk. But I also trusted the people who trusted me and did business with me. I knew my competitors well. I knew their advantages and disadvantages well. I ran my business based on this knowledge and experience. I developed by loving my job and making sacrifices in my private life.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://cenkgirginol.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cenkgirginol/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cenk-girginol-249466277/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cenkrgirginol

Image Credits

Cenk R. Girginol, Syphonic Aromas