A Ukrainian café in Poland, Czechia or Slovakia: your own ordering website
How a Ukrainian café in the EU can take orders directly: website languages, online payment, delivery, aggregators, and what to check with an accountant.
Vitrina team5 minute read
Contents
In short
A Ukrainian café in the EU feeds two circles of guests: fellow Ukrainians looking for a taste of home, and locals curious about Ukrainian food.
The website should speak the local language, Ukrainian and English, and ingredients and allergens are translated precisely.
The aggregator is for new guests, your own website for regulars: that way the commission doesn’t take a cut of every repeat order.
Before you start selling online, talk to your accountant and lawyer: every country has its own rules.
Two circles of guests
A Ukrainian café abroad feeds two circles of guests: fellow Ukrainians looking for a taste of home, and locals curious about Ukrainian food. The first find you through friends and Telegram channels, the second through Google, aggregators and your shop window. Your own ordering website matters to both circles, but you need to speak to them in different languages.
4.43 million
people who fled Ukraine because of the war had temporary protection status in the EU on 31 August 2026
Source: Eurostat
36.5
such people per thousand inhabitants in Czechia, the highest in the EU; 27.7 in Slovakia and 9.8 across the EU
Source: Eurostat
Where most people with temporary protection live
- Germany1,294,555
- Poland939,395
- Czechia398,360
A website in the local language and in Ukrainian
A local guest won’t order if the menu is only in Ukrainian, while a Ukrainian guest will be glad to see their own language. So the website should show the menu in the local language, in Ukrainian and in English and offer each guest the language of their browser.
Online payment the way guests are used to
Guests in the EU are used to paying by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, and in some countries with local methods, such as BLIK in Poland. Payments should go straight to your account, through a payment provider you have a contract with yourself.
Delivery: your own, a delivery service or an aggregator
Aggregators take a noticeable percentage: published rates when the platform’s couriers deliver are around 30% (Uber Eats in Poland, Wolt in Slovakia and Czechia). Your own courier or a delivery service for a fixed fee is cheaper for regular guests, and the aggregator is best kept for new ones. How to combine both channels is in the article “Your own ordering website or an aggregator”.
What to check before launch
Every EU country has its own rules for cafés. Before you start selling online, talk to your accountant and lawyer.
Three questions for your accountant and lawyer
How to document online payments and payments on receipt.
Which legal texts the website needs: terms, a privacy policy, cookies.
Which allergen labels are mandatory.
Staff and language
If your team speaks Ukrainian, the venue’s admin panel can be in Ukrainian while the guest website speaks the local language. Staff who work in another language (Polish, Slovak or Hungarian) choose their own: the panel’s language is the person’s language, not the country’s.
How Vitrina does it
In the EU, Vitrina is your own ordering channel: a website on your domain in up to 7 languages (Ukrainian, English, Polish, German, Slovak, Czech and Russian), online payment through Stripe straight to your account (we verify the connection together with the first venue in the EU), delivery and pickup, a QR menu in the dining room and loyalty. Prices in euros are in the pricing section, and how your own website works is on the online ordering page.
Frequently asked questions
Which languages should a Ukrainian café’s website in the EU have?
The local language, Ukrainian and English: a local guest won’t order from a menu that is only in Ukrainian, and a Ukrainian guest will be glad to see their own language. How to translate a menu without funny mistakes is in our article on menu translation.
Is it worth working with aggregators?
Yes, to find new guests. Move your regulars to your own website: published aggregator rates when the platform’s couriers deliver are around 30%. Put your own numbers into the commission calculator.
What should I check with my accountant before launch?
How to document online payments and payments on receipt, which legal texts the website needs and which allergen labels are mandatory. Every EU country has its own rules: your local accountant and lawyer have the answers.