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Banking on Relationships - Beriz Nukic and State Bank lender, Amira Kujundzic 

 Most restaurateurs probably spend some time tasting, sampling and fretting over their menus. But few are as thorough as Beriz Nukic.

The south St. Louis entrepreneur puts careful thought - and relentless hard work - into everything he does.

When creating and refining his menu for Berix Restaurant in south St. Louis, Nukic didn’t just sample local cuisine. He traveled the world, visiting restaurants in countries like Germany, Bosnia and Turkey where he’d order and sample the entire menu to gauge whether dishes might suit his customers back home.

Then he’d return to St. Louis, bringing ideas and recipes back to his immensely talented chef and wife, Dzevida Nukic.

Beriz Nukic’s insistence on building an eclectic menu of hearty and delicious southern European dishes, combined with his wife’s gift for creating every dish from scratch, has resulted in a devoted multicultural customer base at their restaurants.

From homemade tzatziki sauce and bread for gyros to goulash and cabbage rolls, south St. Louisans of Bosnian, Mexican, Albanian, and German descent flock to the restaurant at 2201 Lemay Ferry Road.

The Nukics make everything in house daily - and insist on quality, scouring the United States, and the globe if necessary, for just the right ingredients to make their food taste as delicious as it looks. Nukic is equally fastidious in developing his business relationships.

He says his long relationship with State Bank Vice President and Relationship Manager Amira Kujundzic has played an important role in his business success, in part because they have a mutual understanding of their shared culture.

“I’ve known her for 20 years,” Nukic says. “I can believe what she tells me. So I’m happy to work with State Bank and Amira. If I don’t know something she explains it to me.”

“It’s open communication - all based on mutual respect and honesty,” Amira added. “It means delivering what you promise.”

Beriz and Dzevida Nukic immigrated from Bosnia and Hercegovina in 1999. After a brief stint as a truck driver, Beriz decided he wanted to bring Turkish coffee to the growing Bosnian community in St. Louis.

Less than two years after they arrived in St. Louis the Nukics started a small coffee shop at 4620 Morganford in south city. Before they opened, Beriz carefully researched and sourced the coffee, selecting beans from Brazil to produce the traditional Turkish coffee his fellow Bosnian ex-pats enjoyed.

That first location had just three tables and six chairs. The menu offered just coffee and burek, sirnica, zeljanica and several kinds of homemade desserts prepared by Dzevida.

With just that small menu, the shop became a popular spot among Bosnian residents of south St. Louis. Recognizing the need to expand, the Nukics purchased a larger restaurant location near the Bevo Mill area in May 2003.

They remodeled and redesigned the location at 5053 Gravois Road to a full commercial kitchen and seating for more than 100 people. The Berix Restaurant served a thriving population in what was then known as “Little Bosnia” in south St. Louis for nearly 10 years.

While that location eventually closed in 2012, the property is still used to package and wholesale the Berix wholesale coffee products and frozen packaged meals. Berix Coffee is sold in 32 states and the frozen meals are sold in grocery chains across the region.

As growing numbers of Bosnians resettled in south St. Louis County, the Nukics purchased a lot at 2201 Lemay Ferry Road. They built a new commercial/retail center that includes their full-service Berix Restaurant.

The Berix Plaza is also home to a Bosnian insurance company, Iriskic Brothers Butcher shop and grocery store. The south St. Louis County Berix Restaurant continues to thrive, and the Nukics have added real estate investment properties to their business repertoire.

Beriz and Dzevida continue to work at the restaurant and oversee day to day operations. Their son, Semir, also comes to help when needed. He has earned a culinary degree and his parents hope he will one day take over the business. Their daughter, Samira, works at a St. Louis corporation.

“Running a business isn’t easy - we work hard, sometimes 16-18 hours a day,” Beriz said. “Having someone we trust like Amira to explain contracts and even the technology when I need it - that makes it easier.”

The Nukics are well-known in the Bosnian community, not just for their businesses, but for giving back to local nonprofits and organizations - from free meals for law enforcement to donations to area schools and churches. They make it a priority to support the community that welcomed them and gave them the opportunity to be successful in this country.

“Beriz is a great advocate for the community, and for State Bank,” Kujundzic said. “It’s a mutually-rewarding relationship.”

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