Cocoa, coffee and bitter aftertaste of loss
Aylin Öney Tan
I never knew Birol Altınkılıç in person, but I knew of him far enough to be writing these words in his memory. The news of the sudden loss of Birol Altınkılıç spread quickly through gastronomy circles in Türkiye, almost at lightning speed. Every single post about him was full of admiration; about his kind personality and, of course, about his successes as a businessman. He was the founder of Altınmarka, a global player in the cacao and coffee markets. Together with his wife, Alev Altınkılıç, he founded the Turkish coffee chain Kahve Dünyası, practically the Turkish answer to Starbucks, and the second generation is pursuing the business with many more brands in the group. He was 66. I said to myself, “Oh, so young!” and suddenly realized that we were the same age. Life is short, and one never knows whose turn it is.
As I mentioned, though I did not meet him personally, as a food writer, I know of the brands he created. I even had a brief encounter with the company. It was exactly fifteen years ago, on the day before a week-long religious holiday, when everybody was going on vacation, that I had a phone call from Bülent Erkmen, the foremost graphic artist in Türkiye. He was doing the new branding designs for Baylan, the iconic patisserie of Istanbul. Baylan was one of those legendary historic places, founded and owned by Harry Lenas, a Levantine visionary, that was destined to be lost forever, as Monsieur Lenas had no heir. It was practically rescued from extinction by Birol Altınkılıç, who considered saving the iconic brand a good citizen’s duty.
