We live in a time where you can order almost anything by using a website or an app. However, it was not always like this. Back in 2013, the only way to order food in Split was by directly calling the restaurant whose food you were craving.

Furthermore, few restaurants had websites where you could check the menu. Basically, you had to know exactly which restaurant served what unless you wanted to call and then have a lengthy conversation with a restaurant employee about the menu. So, ordering food was exactly what it should not be: time-consuming and a hassle.

“We were frustrated with ordering food over the phone as this was the only food delivery system available in Split back in 2013.

We wanted to change and improve the food ordering process.

This is where the idea for ​​establishing the dobartek.hr platform came from”, says Nebojša Veron, one of the dobartek.hr founders.

This frustrating experience prompted him to join forces with Mislav Tomić and initiate the startup journey of dobartek.hr, an online platform for ordering food, that very same year. The dobartek team now has six employees who tirelessly work to provide us all with the opportunity for easy food ordering online.

From the time the company was founded, dobartek went through all the expected ups and downs and learned numerous lessons from those experiences: “In the last eight years of business, we have encountered many obstacles such as bureaucracy, lack of funding, etc. However, perhaps the biggest obstacle to overcome was the initial one and had more to do with ourselves: to decide to tackle the development of the company and the full-time-operating platform and transform it from what was once a student project into a serious business.”

Nebojša admits that they were sometimes too tentative and perhaps too slow, so he has an important lesson to share with all of you: “Our biggest mistake was the lack of courage to do things sooner, rather than later.

Time is precious, so one should dare to try to realize things that could make a difference as soon as possible.

Therefore, my advice for anyone beginning their startup journey is this: dare to try things you think are good sooner!”

Through lessons learned and hard work, the dobartek team now has a solid online service that is acting as a successful intermediary between the restaurants and the end-users (read: hungry patrons). Therefore, not all of their startup journey was full of bumps in the road: “What I love most about working in a startup is the freedom and agility for pivoting.”

Many in our startup ecosystem have already brought attention to this freedom and ability to be creative in their day-to-day work, but we were wondering about the community aspect and is Split truly a city for startups:

“Split offers a great blend of the stunning natural environment and rich tech community full of intelligent people willing to help, so I think it is exactly the right place for a startup to be born.”

We would like to thank the dobartek.hr team for their insights and wish them continuous growth and success in the future. As for our readers: the next time you are hungry, you know exactly which food-ordering platform is the best!