Starbucks, the Czech way

Every business is risky, and to reduce the risk to minimum, one should bet on certainties. This, however, does not offer much room for original ideas. But there are exceptions, such as Martin Šampalík and Jaroslav Stuna, who built their project on certainty while using a unique approach. What is a certainty in the Czech Republic? Beer. And what is an original idea? A pub where you pour yourself a glass of beer without having to leave the table. This alone would not suffice: their venue is unique because the overall concept is based on a game. They opened their first beer bar three years ago, and have expanded their chain by another seven restaurants since then. And their idea is already drawing serious attention abroad.

Hurray, we're in the lead

At first sight, the beer pub run by Šampalík and Stuna in Plzeň is not different from other stylish basement bars and pubs. We pass the tap and continue further down by intuition. We walk through a short arched red-brick hallway and find ourselves surrounded by tables. This is where guests may start to feel insecure. Each table is equipped with a polished tap and a small rectangular screen. This is a computer originally designed to monitor consumption, but it called for a more extensive use.

At first, the owners compared how much beer guests at the tables consume, using a computer program to keep…