Foreign entrepreneur brings new ideas to Pacific Coast
By Claire Saylor, Journal Staff Writer

Kata Kis, a Hungarian native who made a success of her store Papaya con Leche in Tamarindo, is working to modernize the area by providing her own splash of culture, contemporary business ideas and aid to local developmental organizations.

“Guanacaste is a forgotten area. It’s the step-child of Costa Rica,” Kis said. She saw the need for diversification and competitiveness from local stores. “When you look around,” she said, “everyone is selling the same thing.”

After deciding on Costa Rica as home for her and her daughter, Kis began to take a personal interest in modernizing the mentality of the area. “I always wanted to get involved, and once you put yourself out there, the energy follows you,” she said.

Kis has been involved in helping four local charities that work actively to improve the region in areas where it is lacking, such as education, sustainable development and competitiveness. The organizations are: the Blue Flag Foundation, Tamarindo Pro-Mejoras, Academy Pinilla, and Culture, Education and Psychology for Infants and Adolescents (CEPIA).

In February, Kis helped to organize a fashion show in the Hotel Diría to benefit CEPIA, which helps educate youth to be competitive in the current environment.

The lack of competition has made it easy for Kis’s store to prosper, but she worries about the future of the area as a whole if the over-saturation of standard souvenir shops is not addressed and diversified. She said she wants to give back to the community and help bring locals up to date with modern ideas of competition.

Hers is a success story with small, controlled growth. Kis, the granddaughter of two seamstresses, started making her own clothes and bathing suits on an old manual sewing machine that now sits in the storefront window.

A former professional classical ballet dancer, her slender body became the perfect display for her wares, as the number of requests for tailor-made clothing increased.

She started taking orders and worked out of her house in Playa Negra. As the amount of orders grew, she solicited the help of Lorena Gutierrez.

“She has been my right-hand girl for over seven years,” Kis said.

To keep up with orders, a small space was rented, and then a larger one.

“I like every step of the process,” Kis said. “I never thought it would get so big, sometimes I have to pinch myself.”

Bikini Factory is the name Kis chose for her first store in Playa Negra, which she since handed over to a friend. She brought her designs and ideas with her to Tamarindo a year and a half ago and rented a store space from Hotel Diría, where the new store, Papaya con Leche, is located.

The main quality that makes the store unique is that it offers alterations and special orders without extra charge, in addition to individually designed merchandise. “If we don’t have it, we will make it,” Kis said. “It’s a pretty simple concept.”

A total of five seamstresses work to execute Kis’s designs. They often can be found upstairs in the sewing room by scaling the winding metal staircase in the middle of the store. By keeping the production area in the store, they are able to provide same-day alterations and a continual supply of new items.

“About 30 percent of the items we make are special-ordered,” she said. The rest are purchased from the collection that is displayed in the store.

They make clothes for all sizes and have found a way to cater to the fashion preferences of their customers who come from a diverse array of cultures. For example, she has found that larger American women prefer to cover themselves more, while a Brazilian woman of the same size would be buying a size small.

By staying in touch with what customers want, Papaya con Leche has established a name for itself and sees many return customers from the area – most of them foreigners who live in the region.

A foreigner herself – having spent the majority of her life outside Costa Rica in Hungary, Toronto and San Diego – Kis has taken on a do-it-yourself attitude when it comes to bringing more culture to the region.

She also has been able to mix this desire with promoting development in the region by taking part in cultural events that benefit the local charities.

Upcoming events include “Cuando el arte abrazo al tango,” a show that will feature tango dancers from San Jose and an Argentinian cook-out on July 14. The event will take place at the Hotel Cala Luna, and benefits go to Tamarindo Pro-Mejoras. She also is planning a fashion show that will correspond with a surf competition at the end of July to benefit the Blue Flag Foundation.

Kis always is coming up with new ideas, and while she said she does not plan on starting new stores anytime soon, she does hope to diversify her clientele by developing a store website.