Introduction

The cafe ‘Timur’ is considered to be one of the first cafes in Osh City to have emerged just after the 1990 riots in Osh and Kyrgyzstan's independence in 1991. The owner of this cafe, a man named Murat, acquired some land as private property in the city of Osh in early 1991. This plot of land was strategically located in a lively part of the city centre, close to the central market. Murat decided to enter the catering business by constructing a cafe and not a restaurant because the official requirements for constructing a restaurant were very high and would have necessitated considerable additional expenditure. Apparently, in the early 1990s, opening a restaurant was a difficult and financially risky endeavour. This was mainly because: a financial infrastructure was only just beginning to form in the new country; ordinary people lacked the means to purchase even bread; and, finally, a restaurant would attract attention not only from state fiscal and law enforcement bodies, but also from organized crime. Being relatively small, cafes do not generate profits as high as those of the bigger restaurants. Indeed, even when Murat's financial situation stabilized and improved, he still considered the financial risks associated with building up a restaurant business as too great. Despite his opting for less risk, Murat used to collect and keep all the documents and certificates in case they would be needed in future.

Another challenge for Murat was that the allocation of land, the cafe's construction and general cafe operations were all inexorably linked to corruption. The decision to allocate land for the construction of the cafe was taken at the level of the mayor of the city and the governor of the region, who expected a certain ‘reward’ in return. In Murat's case, this reward, or bribe, amounted to several thousand US dollars. Local Uzbek businessmen, like Murat, are often indifferent to the problems of documents and permits. However, Murat had been carefully collecting all the required documentation (related to selling, borrowing and buying the land, cattle and other goods) for 20 years to help him secure his business from arbitrary decisions by various government authorities.