COLORADO SPRINGS — Mika's Pierogi Kitchen opened up its doors in December of 2020 and has since rocketed to the moon in terms of business.
From the time the new Polish restaurant started through the current date, co-owners and married couple Dominika Mills and Zachary Short report a doubling in staff and food output.
"We knew that the food would be popular, but we weren't expecting the amount of volume that we've done," commented Zachary.
"It has happened rapidly," stated Dominika, "I think I like it that way. I like to be thrown into deep water and get busy right away and bring on the challenges and take it a day at a time."
The dream of creating a restaurant that utilizes her family's recipes is something that Dominika has dreamed of for quite some time.
While opening in the midst of a pandemic certainly posed challenges, both Dominika and Zachary also saw the opening as an opportunity to provide employment to several people who had lost jobs due to the changes in every field brought on by COVID.
"We were seeing a bunch of other businesses shut down, we saw it as an opportunity to be able to employ some of those laid off people," said Zachary.
This is more than just food," continued Dominika, "this is people coming together, building, [and] empowering each other, growing as individuals and professionally. This is family. They're all friends and a wonderful, wonderful staff and team."
The entire endeavor, according to the owners, has been carried forward by the support of the Colorado Springs community.
"Absolutely, it wouldn't be possible without the wonderful community of Colorado Springs and surrounding areas," said Zachary.
Because the Kitchen has been so successful so quickly, the next step in this nine-week-old enterprise is moving to a new location which will allow for more jobs and more production.
"Again, [we feel] just super, super blessed and honored by the amount of support we've received from the community, and [we're] looking forward to being able to accommodate more of their needs," finished Zachary.
Looking further down the line, Zachary hopes to open a second location at some point, reaching those in Castle Rock or perhaps Denver.
To learn more about Mika's Pierogi Kitchen, visit their Facebook HERE.
