diff --git a/templates/gitea/init.yaml b/templates/gitea/init.yaml
index c77c2d2..231d841 100644
--- a/templates/gitea/init.yaml
+++ b/templates/gitea/init.yaml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ stringData:
     {{- end }}
     mkdir -p /data/git/.ssh
     chmod -R 700 /data/git/.ssh
-    mkdir -p /data/gitea/conf
+    [ ! -d /data/gitea ] && mkdir -p /data/gitea/conf
 
     # prepare temp directory structure
     mkdir -p "${GITEA_TEMP}"