diff --git a/buildout/mysql-instance/buildout.cfg b/buildout/mysql-instance/buildout.cfg
index 8c327aba84b0a9ca5668006a8f8312d01a9d7980..ef1b0913a93a23270e3a5960208e15cb66fec138 100644
--- a/buildout/mysql-instance/buildout.cfg
+++ b/buildout/mysql-instance/buildout.cfg
@@ -51,7 +51,9 @@ command =
 [start-mysql-instance]
 depends = ${mysql-instance:command}
 recipe = plone.recipe.command
-command = ${buildout:data-bin-directory}/mysqld_safe &
+command =
+  ${buildout:data-bin-directory}/mysqld_safe &
+  sleep 5
 update-command = ${:command}
 
 [stop-mysql-instance]