When your gut instinct makes you a CEO

We pick up Urs Poživil at his "second home," as he calls it: the Sandoase in Basel. And when someone devotes virtually his entire daily life to a passion like Urs devotes his to gastronomy, it's not uncommon to hear that the person was born with this passion. Not so with Urs Poživil  - the co-founder of Sandoase was well on his way to dedicating his life to engineering. Until his gut instinct threw a spanner in the works of this life plan: "My father was at home in engineering - for me it was clear for a long time that I would go in this direction. Until I understood how much math is involved in this subject, and that I actually don't think it's cool at all." But engineering and mathematics are just as inseparable as Urs Poživil and his gut feeling. If his gut doesn't point him in a clear direction, he doesn't make a decision, preferring to play it safe.

How studying business becomes an entry ticket to the hospitality industry

So the Basel native is focusing on the study that leaves the most opportunities open: Business. And lo and behold: during his studies, Urs rediscovers his gut feeling. This cries out for parties, but not in the classical sense. Urs and Fabi, his current business partner, organise events together around their studies and it wasn't long before they discovered THE terrace right on the water one evening in 2016 from a party location: Sandoase's current home. "We saw this location and immediately had the city-beach trend of the time in mind," recalls the actual CEO of Sandoase, but reluctant to be titled as such. "CEO sounds so big, so overarching. But what you experience at Sandoase is absolute teamwork - I'm just a co-founder. And maybe I wear the sales hat. But I don't feel like a CEO at all.

Space for creativity, ideas and a vacation feeling in downtown Basel

Urs Poživil actually has no background in gastronomy himself, as he explains with a grin: "I can't cook, nor am I a good bartender. I would probably be out of my depth with an Aperol Spritz". Understandable - after all, these are not at all the classic topics of a business degree. Nevertheless, or precisely because of this, he moves the gastronomic scene in Basel in a way that few do: Because he creates freedom. With the Sandoase in Basel, a place has been created where not only three nationalities meet as a three-country corner and international goods pass by on the Rhine - rather, creative minds around culinary and culture find a platform where ideas have no limits: "We create freedom for creativity, but never lose our core with certain classic Sandoase cocktails or the principle that we are an escape from the stressful everyday life in the middle of Basel. Just a Sandoase," concludes Urs. Allowing his life creative freedom, but never losing his own identity in the process: A life principle that Urs Poživil seems to have realized in the Sandoase.

Drinks & casual conversation with friends: The secret ingredient to success?

When you ask Urs where his inspiration comes from, the answer is actually almost too simple to be true: Often the best ideas come when you simply take time over a drink to fool around with your fellow men, business partners, employees." That sounds like pure looseness, freedom and, above all, as if it were quite easy to set up a functioning gastro business with 30 full-time positions. But what does it effectively take to successfully follow such a path despite challenges, detours and sometimes dead ends? When we asked Urs this question, it was there again: the gut feeling. "I'm actually a safety-conscious person. But only up to the point where my gut tells me that the path of risk, or perhaps not quite guaranteed success, seems sensible. Then my mindset changes and I follow my passion". In such moments, he says, this passion is stronger than logical, economic thinking - and that's probably exactly the ingredient that's needed, along with drinks, business partners and fooling around, for the desire to become reality. Just like Urs Poživil, the Sandoase and his journey through life, where "the way is the goal" and thus the certain guarantee of reaching a destination somehow loses its importance.