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This is a story about a Polish milkbar and a stubborn woman running a business that springs from another time. Danuta has a mission to serve healthy and cheap meals. Look at Mc Donalds what kind of food is that? Danuta says, they are all over the world! Why can’t there be milkbars all over the world?

Milkbar English synopsis 50 words.doc 0.02MB

"Look at McDonald’s, what kind of food is that?"

This is the story of two stubborn ladies running a Polish milk bar, a business from another time. The bar serves well-cooked traditional food. The prices are low and the customers many. But can a concept from the communist past survive in today’s society? Out of Poland’s 25 000 milk bars, only 140 remain.

After communism fell, Poland’s milk bars flipped from being government-owned to privately operated. Danuta Dzius grasped the opportunity and took over Bar Bywalec. Together with her sidekick, Dzitka Monasterska, they try to hold off the liberal market that stampede just outside their doors. Bar Bywalec cannot survive without the state subsidies but the imposed regulations are strict. Danuta and Dzitka sit side-by-side in their tiny office and calculate the maximum profit allowed for each dish. They quarrel like an old couple, smoke cigarettes, drink endless cups of tea and make orders on this, that and the other.

In Bar Bywalec, homeless people sit alongside middle-class families. Old ladies share tables with construction workers. Danuta and Dzitka treat all customers equally and they seldom raise an eyebrow. Danuta wants to renovate the bar but it’s costly. The kitchen equipment is old. Some say time is running out for milk bars. But Danuta begs to differ.

 

"Why can't there be Milkbar's all over the world?"

Milkbar English synopsis 300.doc 0.02MB