We met with Mikhail Zelman, the founder of the super-popular restaurants Goodman, Burger & Lobster and others, to talk
, primarily,about business. But the conversation went completely
aprivate spheres - to the concepts of good and evil, dignity and happiness. Mikhail Zelman was the main character of our
How many restaurants do you currently have in London?
Only 18. We already have thirteen Burger&Lobster, three Goodman and one each Zelman Meat, Beast and Smack Lobster.
By what principle do you choose where the chain will be, and which of the restaurants to do separately?
This primarily depends on how the idea e restaurant franchise applicable. If the idea itself is replicable, then we develop the network. WhenZelman MeatI initially built a restaurant, I have no ambitions to develop it as a network establishment, although franchising is possible here in several cities around the world. But this is just a piece of history, to build a hundred restaurantsZelman MeatI don't plan. But in the caseBurger & LobsterOne restaurant can make a hundred.
The more the better in this case? More restaurants– more profit?
Network means ambition, and ambition means growth, dominance. Therefore, of course, when I develop chain restaurants, they are ambitious and aggressive. And we want to open wa be more and more points . And an individual restaurant is more about the pleasure of the process, in which you constantly improve in one thing. You do not replicate, but work to make a separate product integral and unique.
A chain restaurant involves different cities and countries, you can't stop, you enjoy the fact that you open more and more. And here you get pleasure from what you already have, and from the fact that it is constantly getting better. That is, I would say that the network is ambition, hormones, expansion, even aggression, and an individual restaurant is peace and wisdom.
The sphere of restaurant business in general is largely connected with pleasure. How significant is it personally in your work? How important is this to you at all? give pleasure and receive it? ..
Undoubtedly. We just call it "experience" - experience. We try to change people's lives for the better, giving them positive emotions., and experiences that make life more interesting enrich.
What works successfully in London can also work successfully in other cities, or does London have its own specifics?
In London, each area has its own specifics. In the restaurant business, it is very important to be in the restaurant yourself, to feel the people you cook for, to understand their needs. People are very conservative in food.
Even in London?
Everywhere in general: a person in itself is conservative in food. If I now offer you to eat some cockroaches ...
I'm happy, I'm just a completely non-conservative person.
This confirms that there are exceptions to any rule. You are an exception. But people in general are very conservative. If we look into our refrigerators X friends, we are unlikely to find a wide variety of products there, updated from week to week.
In food habits, people are quite constant. And a restaurant is always a reflection of society, a reflection of culture. And since each area of London has its own rich culture and history, this means that success in the City will absolutely not guarantee success in Shoreditch, and vice versa.
There are, of course, examples like McDonald's, but this is also the exception rather than the rule.
We started talking about cockroaches, and it became interesting to me: do you hypothetically see yourself as the owner of some "cockroach" restaurant? Or do you work only with what you know well and can do?
I know well what interests me and what excites me, and I try to develop in those things that I have loved for a long time, since childhood. If you look at my restaurants, it's all about steak, burger, with a little bit of crab, lobster. Still, I'm more about meat.
What is the most difficult thing in organizing a restaurant business in London? Many people talk about expensive rent. What else?
I can say that the rent is very expensive, but it keeps the market away from amateurs, newcomers. For me, of course, the rent is very high, and in some places I cannot afford it. But the main factor is me and the team. If I’m in good shape and full of energy and the team feels it, then we are filled with energy, and then there’s nothing for us to rent, we will always find a way out, we can always adapt their ideas to the existing market.
Is inspiration an important element of your work?
State. Sometimes we confuse excitement with inspiration, it's a very individual process. Real inspiration is a rare story, but we very often attribute to it various emotional states that imitate it.
On the other hand, is professionalism just about not making inspiration the cornerstone of your work? It comes and goes, but the work must go on.
Absolutely. Therefore, I position myself as an artisan, and we are really artisans. Our professionalism lies in maintaining quality in existing restaurants. And the more experienced I become, the more responsibility I feel for everything that I have discovered. Therefore, sometimes I am not happy with inspiration, because it is necessary, first of all, to do well what is already there.
This reminded me of an old Moscow story about how at some restaurant conference they discussed the problem of stability, maintaining quality in restaurants. And then Mitya Borisov wakes up, who had slept before, and says: “I have a stable quality in all establishments - g..no.”
Mitya is interviewed in the Dengi magazine and at the end they ask (and we are friends with Mitya): “Your friends, Mikhail Zelman, are going to go for an IPO, but are you going to go out?” He says: "You know, I feel so bad after yesterday that I'm going to go outside for some air."
Now Mitya Borisov has "Jean-Jacques" here - that is, expansion is also underway?
Instead of "Jean-Jacques" they made a barWinterwith Lesha Zimin. Igor and Lyuba Galkins are doing it in London.
They, of course, powerfully changed the concept of "Jean-Jacques". In the sense that here the food may have been of better quality, but in general it is rather boring. "Jean-Jacques" has lost its Moscow semi-bohemian charm.
This is what I told them: “We need to have more fun, drink, simpler ...” Now Mitya is bigger in St. Petersburg, he opened Rubinstein there, and this is a success. It is very important to feel the city, to know it. And to come here by accident - does not work. Nika Borisov, Mitin's brother, worked on Jean-Jacques, but also left. Arrived, left.
That is, if you were in their place, you would do everything differently? Right here in London?
I wouldn't do in London nothing for the sake of being noticed. So I just moved here. I sold everything in Moscow and moved.
Have you always loved London?
I, how should I say it correctly ... You see, I really like a steak on the bone - I really love it. And at my core, I am a Jew who was born in Russia, works in London, but is an Israeli citizen.
That is, the one who used to be called "a rootless cosmopolitan"?
Yes. But in fact, I am more American - in my mind, mentality. I feel good wherever my family is, where my children are and where I can be free.
Probably, your comfort also depends on how good it is to do your favorite business in a particular country?
Definitely.
Is it easier for you now, already owning many restaurants, to open a new place?
The more I work, the more difficult it is for me to open establishments, because I feel responsible. It used to be like an act of love. The opening of the restaurant was comparable to an orgasm. Probably because I was younger.
And now I already look at this as my future: what will happen to him in five, ten years? What will happen if I suddenly cool down to this? And for me this is a very big responsibility, especially after Russia.
In Russia, I built a business from scratch, and there was a moment when more than two thousand people worked in my company. And I knew every person in the company, everyone. And it was very difficult for me to just take, leave, leave all this for me. Now I am no longer so frivolous and eccentric, and each restaurant is a very responsible business for me.
Nobody followed you then?
Key people, for example, my partner Ilyusha Demichev, moved with me. Gosha Bukhov-Weinstein, my partner who runs the business here, arrived first. Volodya Borodin, your colleague, he was the editor-in-chief of the Izvestia newspaper, now he is doing business in America. We all know each other kindergarten Well, since school. And we left together as a team. But the guys who directly work in restaurants, no. Why? Because further it is necessary to work with those who know the local specifics well.
In your office, you don’t feel at all that the company is owned by a Russian, and it’s completely incomprehensible with employees , with whom you can speak Russian, with whom- No. Usually ours have such a specificity: we carry a small Russia, that is, it is important for us to speak our own language, to be surrounded by some kind of mentality ... And you have a completely British office.
The main people I started working with here are one American, the other Canadian. I am really cosmopolitan in both good and bad sense of the word. I think that Stalin would have shot me in the front ranks when he fought against rootless cosmopolitans. But at the same time, when I moved to England five years ago, I did not speak English. Since then I have been studying and learning. The only comfort is that in my profession it is not so perfect to know the language. When a restaurateur speaks with an accent, it only adds charm to him. As for “carrying a little Russia with me”… I can tell you that I drive it one way or another, because even though we live in a big, global world, I still lived my conscious life in Russia. And despite the fact that I organically, physiologically cannot endure many things that are now happening in our country, I am blood from blood, flesh from flesh, a Russian person.
Understand.
Therefore, they write about me as about a Russian. In Russia they write about me as about an English restaurateur, and in England - as about a Russian restaurateur. I just don't bother with this topic. You know, many are shy of Russian origin or proud of it. I take this pragmatically.
Don't you have a goal to "mimic", to become stronger "British"? Or, on the contrary, to remain Russian at all costs?
I already feel like a cosmopolitan. But now I'm thinking about my children... You can always see a Russian person in the crowd: it's as if something has always happened to us, always uncertainty about the future. And of course, I wanted to give my children freedom, so that they know the language perfectly, so that they are as confident as the British, Americans, so that they can choose where they live, what they do - unlike me when I was hostage of the environment in which he existed. But now I understand that they already have it, you don’t need to do anything special for this, you don’t need to create some kind of scenery. The only thing, I think, is now important to teach children the programming language, because, as English used to be, now it is becoming the universal language of communication in the future.
Your children- citizens of which country?
They have three citizenships: Russian, British and Israeli. Life can turn out so that some more will appear. They already know Russian, English, they will definitely know at least two more languages. What else can I give them, based on my life experience, from what I lacked in life? I can honestly say that my move (and my children were born here) and all the difficulties that I have experienced and are experiencing are absolutely justified by the future children. All questions are immediately removed. I would not want them to have to live in the same atmosphere of uncertainty about the future in which we lived. Especially with the proclaimed course of our government for stability.
How are we? If you proclaim a course towards stability, then everything will definitely be unstable.
And this, of course, gives rise to a colossal number of complexes and things that do not allow the personality to reveal itself as much as it is possible here. From the outside, the countries seem to be no different, by and large. If aliens came, they would hardly understand our differences. But the main thing that distinguishes us- this, of course, is an absolute uncertainty about the future.
Opening restaurants is probably one of the most reliable ways to bring a part of your own into a new culture, to become related to the new one yourself?
I try to use the strengths of my multiculturalism, the fact that I know Russian culture and live in English. But I'm not trying to be an Englishman... I'm trying to be a good person, it's not so easy, believe me.
Especially in business.
Yes. And be a good businessman. Those are the two things that get taken away from me all the time. And to be an Englishman or to be Russian - I just don't care about that.
How hard is it to be a good person in business? Or is it as tough a thing as politics, - the same hypocritical, multi-layered?
And who finds it easy to be a good person?
It’s probably easier for a school teacher, a monk…
If you respect about life monks, you will learn aboutinternal struggle, which is happening inside them . Or look at Christian icons: who stands in the forefront in purgatory? You will see just monks, priests, they generally have their own court. Or let's take scientists: they invent the most good things, and no one knows how they will use their invention later.
Of course, in every profession there are questions of morality. Indeed, it is hard for a politician not to become a hypocrite... But, as history shows, just at those moments when real, great politicians are able to show their humanity, we, as a civilization, are moving to a new stage. Therefore, even a politician, I am sure, has an internal struggle. And hypocrisy is a manifestation of this internal struggle.
It's the same in business. Of course, there are professions, crafts that allow a person to open up as much as possible. For example, a baker or pastry chef. These are, as a rule, people a little blissful, in a good way. They see the fruits of their labor s not with their own hands, they are in a completely different system of values. I would say this: it’s hard for everyone, but the temptations when you are in business, not to mention politics, of course, are 100 times more than that of a baker.
They often see how you also do something with your own hands. For example, fry steak in your restaurants. For you, what is it first of all: PR, quality control or pure pleasure?
Everything here, as a rule, follows one from the other. But above all, I enjoy it, because it's very hard to do good things if you don't really love them. But as a result, this is PR. And a motivation program for employees, because the guys see that they are working with a person for whom this work is as important as it is for them. This is also very efficient. Or, for example, a dentist comes to my restaurant and says: “Are you cooking?!” I don’t ask him when I come to him for treatment: “Do you also do teeth ?!” Or I don’t tell the actor: “Are you also going on stage to play ?!” Still, we forget that a restaurateur is an artisan. We are accustomed to a certain image of an entrepreneur ...
Who only manages someone, right?
Yes. This is well worth the time. When I started the restaurant business, there were only 500 restaurants in Moscow. There was nothing, and I had to be a good entrepreneur, an organizer. But when the competition reaches a certain level, you just need to be able to do something better than others. It can be food, interior, something else. I try my best to cook meat.
But at the same time, you probably also like the attention of the public, and recognition in general?
When I am at home, I like to clear the plates from the table, I like to wash the dishes. I love not in terms of the fact that the process itself is so pleasant.
I just think that what distinguishes a person from a monkey is precisely the fact that we wash dishes after ourselves, and that we share food with others, and that we can cook for someone else with pleasure.
I like all manifestations of the human, I love it. Therefore, I am proud of it and I do it with pleasure. And people feel it.
Many people call your product manifesto a brilliant idea. Do you see imitators?
What I wrote in the product manifest was without me, I didn’t come up with anything there. Even if you remember the times of the Soviet Union, which I do not like with all the fibers of my soul, then there was dumplings, cheburechnaya, donuts and so on. Not to mention Italian pizzerias. I just adapted it to the modern world, said: “Guys, if we want to be successful, we need to focus on something. Better less is better than more, but so-so. Such was the idea. That is, the idea of a single-product manifesto is not to make one ideal product (only God can have an ideal one), but to strive to work on quality, to work on doing something better than anyone else.
I, when preparing for an interview, I remembered a super popular place in London calledL'Entrecote .
I know them.
They also have the idea of mono-production: for more than 50 years they have been serving only steak and potatoes all over the world.
They were my inspirations. When no one believed that it was possible to serve one dish in a restaurant, I said: “But what about Entrecote?”.
Is it important for you to communicate with colleagues in the shop - Russian and non-Russian?
Very important. And with the Russians it is very important. I do master classes specially twice a year in New York and London. I invite colleagues from the West, from the East, and we hold such discussions, seminars. I also post something there. It is very important. I do not like an idle feast and just a long conversation even with my friends, but for all my some kind of asociality, I am so greedy for communication in the context of things that are really interesting to me! I am ready to talk for hours about the service, argue, agree, disagree, argue, listen.
If you and I sat down to discuss a series, for example, would you quickly lose interest?
No, I would love to. I just feel that I spend a lot of energy on such conversations, but there is no exhaust. The only thing I can discuss with my wife is this. Here is the series "Girls" we like. Simply magnificent. I love Game of Thrones too.
Are there people in the restaurant business that you envy?
No, people don't need to be jealous. We're all going to die, you know. The better something turns out, the more it is a pity to lose it all, of course ...
You seem like a pretty happy person.
Well, yes, if now. And after 15 minutes, you may think differently. Although I can sincerely say that I am mega happy. There are things that I can't help but be proud of. And everything that happened to me in my life changed my life for the better, even the most terrible things. Therefore, it is a sin to complain. God bless everyone.
Returning to the restaurant business - I will replace the word "envy" with "oriented". Do you have role models?
I have a huge number of role models, a lot. Even this room is not enough to write all the names in small handwriting. In principle, all people who were able to overcome their egoism, began to create, work for others and at the same time find humility in this - deserve my respect.
Do you often visit Moscow?
Very rarely.
Doesn't pull?
"Does not pull" - not quite the right wording. I always told my comrades, especially in Russia, one simple thing.
Everyone knows why Brodsky left. Everyone knows why Dovlatov left, or why Baryshnikov "left". But no one asks themselves why they didn't come back when they had the opportunity. And this is the main question.
Why are so many people not drawn back? What is the main cultural, value problem of modern Russia? Why does it not fit into today's global context? We don't know much. We have forgotten how to produce a lot or have never even produced. But what we can do better than anyone in the world, and so subtly, gracefully, is to offend each other. That's how much we know how to humiliate each other's dignity, so much we can't do anything else against this background.
And on the other hand, it seems to me that few people know how to love each other, even if the aorta ruptures.
I don't argue with that. Loving and humiliating is very often presented in one bottle., like shampoo and conditioner. But still, humiliation of dignity is something that can happen once and change a person forever. And people for whom dignity is the main value cannot survive this. We must understand that the dignity of a person is much higher than the success of the state or society as a whole, and that a successful state or a successful society consists, primarily , of people for whom dignity is the main value. Until Russia understands this, we will not move further.
If a newcomer with a large amount of money came to you for advice and said that he wanted to open a restaurant business in England, what would you advise him?
If there is a lot of money, I would say: "Buy yourself a luxurious boat and sail around the world for two years, relax, enjoy." Because at least it will leave positive emotions. And from the lowered money there will be only empty experiences.
Photo: Anastasia Tikhonova, press service of Mikhail Zelman
Mikhail Zelman is an experienced restaurateur and owner of the Burger & Lobster chain. Ten restaurants of the chain operate in England, two - in New York, there are also Burger & Lobster establishments in Malaysia, Dubai and Stockholm. There are plans to launch restaurants in Singapore and China. In an interview with Elizaveta Osetinskaya for her Russian Norm project, Zelman explained why he had not been to Russia for five years and named the average life of a restaurant.
Tips for budding restaurateurs
At the request of Osetinskaya to give advice to those who have just entered the restaurant business, Zelman responds with the phrase “first of all, you need to figure out what you can do better than others.” According to him, people with an entrepreneurial mindset constantly have a lot of ideas, but it’s unlikely that everything will be realized, so it’s better to focus on one project.
Mikhail Zelman
restaurateur
“We need to start doing it. The biggest risk is when we do nothing. You need to start doing. In principle, everything is very clear, simple. It is advisable to find some kind of mentor - a person who has already managed to do this, surround himself with the right people, the right team and start doing it. All the same, you will make all the mistakes that are coming to you. Any business is a series of mistakes. It's an illusion when we think that it's only us that such a nightmare happened. No, business is made up of mistakes.”
Zelman himself made a lot of mistakes when he came into the restaurant business - for example, he opened restaurants without a concept with "olivier, steak, borscht, hookah, baklava, khinkali" and tried to launch more establishments. Now the entrepreneur is promoting a single-product manifesto: you need to do less, but better, he believes.
About the main thing in business
The restaurant business starts with those who work in the restaurant, Zelman believes. As a manager, he tries not only to ensure that guests are met by well-trained employees, but also to think about the comfort of his employees. “My indifference to them is important. A good leader is one who can help,” he says.
Another key thing is the age of the institution. “Very few restaurants become institutions. Typically, the life of a restaurant concept is 7-10 years. A few restaurants have been operating for 20-30, 100 years. Every city, every time has its own heroes and has its own restaurants,” says Zelman.
The exceptions are chains like Starbucks that have been around for years. However, Starbucks was created at a time when consumers needed such a network, and now it is almost impossible to repeat its success: “Can I become a billionaire? No. How many billionaire chefs do you know?
About corruption in Russia
The restaurant business in London (and Zelman lives there) is not much different from the Russian one: “here you pay lawyers to get all the permits, but in Russia we paid bribes to all sorts of officials.” At a time when the restaurateur was still living in Russia, it was impossible to open an institution without paying a bribe, he says.
Mikhail Zelman
restaurateur
“You understand that in Russia a bribe is a means of communication, a means of trust, building business relationships. Due to the fact that in society there are no normal ways of building relationships, and a bribe, as it were, unites a person, many people give and take bribes not because they need even more money, but because this is a way of building relationships in society.
In the West, business is organized differently: according to Zelman, the local community is distinguished by continuity and strict rules. He compares Russia with the "civilized world", which includes the United States and England and does not include, for example, China and Asia.
About Russian elites and changes
“We want Russia to become America or Spain one day, become a civilized country. It doesn't happen in one day. This is a very long, painful task. Of course, elites play a very important role in this process. And the elites in Russia are shit,” says the restaurateur.
Zelman himself does not visit Russia due to lack of time. In addition, after several trips there, the entrepreneur began to feel a “separation into you and us”, due to which communication with friends and acquaintances living in Russia came to naught.
On the sale of business to Iskander Makhmudov
With the metallurgical oligarch Makhmudov, the restaurateur began doing business in the 90s. At that time, he recalls, there were several hundred restaurants in the capital. Makhmudov drew attention to Zelman's business when he already had 5-9 establishments.
Mikhail Zelman
restaurateur
“So it was a boom, it was an incredibly interesting time. And we were, in a good sense, so limited and stupid, stupid, that we [decided]: now we will build an empire! Without this, it is also impossible. Without this testosterone it is impossible to do anything. I, accordingly, needed some kind of partner, because in Russia you had to have a roof. You could have a bandit roof, a cop roof or an oligarchic one. Of course, I chose the third one. When I was in partnership with Iskander, no…. (laughs) no one attacked my little restaurants.”
According to Zelman's memoirs, he managed to "make friends" with Makhmudov. The restaurateur calls this a mistake and advises not to mix friendship and business: "in many ways, the difficulties that we had may have been due to the fact that we had both business relationships and human relationships."
About bureaucracy in Russia
Zelman is convinced that Russia needs "fresh blood". The point is not only the need for new faces to come, but also political competition, which will allow developing competition in the business community and defeating the bureaucracy.
Mikhail Zelman
restaurateur
“The only alternative is to create competition. If there is political competition, there will be economic competition. Therefore, when Putin came to power... It was a catastrophic mistake to let Putin into power. Not because he is a bad person. He is just a very good person: he brought his friends, they became rich people, he does not betray anyone. But a slightly different person was needed in power.”
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For five years, the Pushkin restaurant has been the most popular meeting place for business partners. Numerous tables were occupied by employees of various companies. However, half a year ago, part of the business community moved to the new French cafe Le Gato located next door. For six months, the owner of the cafe, Mikhail Zelman, gave several interviews to various media, where he stated that he intended to make a network of 30 points out of Le Gato. Editor-in-chief Anna Lyudkovskaya met with Zelman to talk about the popularity of his establishment and learn about the restaurateur's path to this business.
I made the decision to invite Mikhail Zelman to the "no tie" meeting after a conversation with Alya Dmitrieva, Le Gato's marketing director. “He is an amazing person, a young and already professional top manager. There are almost no such people on the restaurant market, ”she described the owner of Le Gato to me in approximately these words. Zelman has a really good reputation in the restaurateur community. Arkady Novikov, in an interview with Kompaniya magazine, called him one of the most professional restaurateurs. Now Zelman's company "Eriola", in addition to "Le Gato", manages the restaurants "San Michel", "Kolbasoff" and "Saffron". Eriola does not disclose its turnover.
Mikhail Zelman preferred to meet in his "Le Gato" on Tverskaya, 23, and we chose dishes from the menu of "Saint Michel", located in the same building. On the advice of Zelman, I, like him, ordered salmon tartare and a glass of white wine. Mikhail preferred to abstain from hot dishes, promising to "join" me for dessert. I chose sea bass with asparagus in a creamy sauce.
The first question is why we are meeting at Le Gato. Mikhail replies that he does not want to leave the cafe for a long time in order to quickly resolve emerging issues. Indeed, during the conversation, the restaurateur signed the documents brought by the employees and talked on the phone, promising the interlocutor in 10-15 minutes. finish the interview and join what seems to be a cheese tasting.
Mikhail Zelman got into the restaurant business by accident. Five years ago, he - one of the managers of a customs warehouse in the Moscow region - together with a partner decided to open a restaurant for informal communication and meetings. “Something like a front office,” Zelman explains. (He did not disclose the name of that institution; he did not confirm my assumption about San Michel, but, by the way, he did not refute it either.) The partners did not participate in the management of the "front office", hiring a professional manager. Mikhail says that he had no desire to make money thanks to the restaurant, but the project turned out to be unexpectedly profitable.
The biography of a restaurateur is typical for many young businessmen. Mikhail Zelman did not have time to get a higher education: immediately after school, which he graduated as an external student, he went into business. Zelman made such a decision under the impression of the entrepreneurial activity of his older brother and the work of his father, the director of the plant. The future restaurateur decided not to enter the institute: according to him, the subjects that interested him were not yet read to students in the mid-90s. At first, Mikhail got a job as an intern at the stock exchange, then, together with partners, he started selling vouchers to the Zhemchuzhnaya Hotel - at that time the best in Sochi.
It is hard to imagine how a 15-year-old boy began to make a career so quickly. I ask how his colleagues perceived him. Who are these people and could they really take the teenage Zelman seriously? “The comrades must not have taken me seriously,” Mikhail reflects. - The first partner was ten years older than me. But I really wanted to know everything, so I didn’t argue with them, I didn’t contradict them. You see, I have a feeling that an eternity has passed between the time when I was selling tickets and today.”
A couple of years after the "pearl" business, Mikhail took up the export of cattle skins. “We bought raw materials in the Russian regions and then sold them to Italians. The leather was used to make shoes,” he recalls. After the cattle in Russia "ended", Zelman, having worked in other companies, went into the customs business.
It was because of this successful project that Mikhail did not have enough time to take part in the creation of the first French cafe in Moscow. “The manager Sasha Zaturinsky (now a co-owner of the Bad Cafe) came to me and said that he had found an excellent premises,” he recalls. “I didn’t have time to do this, there were about a hundred cars at customs.”
The idea to try himself in the restaurant business seriously arose from Mikhail a year after the opening of the "grand office". “I was engaged in entrepreneurship for eight years, and then I realized that this is not a profession and, while earning money from Russian reality, you still need to acquire a business where you can become a real professional,” says Zelman. - Restaurants were not exactly at the end of the list, I didn’t think about them at all. But one day, after analyzing the market, I realized that it was the chain restaurant business that could be promising.”
The first network project was "Le Gato" - a cafe in the French style (it should become a network before the end of this year). According to Zelman, single restaurants (Shafran, San Michel, Kolbasoff) are not a priority for the company. Although it is possible that a network of oriental cafes or fast foods will grow out of Shafran, but under a different name. Mikhail also treats Kolbasoff as a testing ground for experiments: now the restaurateur is developing a format for beer restaurants (the first institution promises to open by the end of the year). In early August, three new establishments were opened at once - the Beluga fish restaurant, the Borgo French-Italian restaurant and the Delis culinary.
Mikhail Zelman mentioned investments in building the Le Gato network more than once in various interviews (in 2003 they will amount to about $3.7 million). When I asked why, unlike most restaurant companies, he discloses such figures, Zelman replied that the size of the investment is not a trade secret. “I am one of those people who believe that a restaurant is not an atmosphere, but a business,” he shared. “I want our company not to exist for one day, but to become a leader, so we plan the business, calculate budgets and try to be open.” According to Zelman, Le Gato's budget was executed with an error of a couple of percent. In the future, Eriola plans to sell the Le Gato franchise to the regions, and its main value, according to Mikhail Zelman, will be in technology.
True, Zelman reluctantly talks about the “company from the inside”, refusing to answer some questions. For example, Eriola actively uses the services of consultants, but Mikhail does not disclose the names of the companies (with the exception of Magram MR). He also did not answer a question about the head of human resources, explaining that he would not like to see the names of some employees in the press: "I think that we will finish building incentive schemes only when we sell this business." I ask about the structure of the company. “Like everyone else: logistics, department of economic support, warehouse, production” ...
He's probably right.
After an hour and a half conversation, without waiting for the sea bass with dessert, Zelman says goodbye to me, explaining that he needs to get back to work.
After listening to the recording of the interview twice, I still could not understand what managerial techniques Mikhail Zelman uses in managing his ambitious company. As a result, it remains unclear by what methods he is going to build a huge network of French cafes, approaching the Russian McDonald's in terms of the number of outlets.
Anna Ludkovskaya
Everything you wanted to know about London from Mikhail Zelman
Local Food Manual: useful knowledge for aspiring restaurateurs
This is my first time in London, but for a long time I have not gone anywhere with expectations and even a plan. The plan appears on the first day, is collected in a Google map for 60 points and recommendations from friends. This is my second time attending Mikhail Zelman's Restaurant Success School. Why, one friend asked me? Firstly, as my practice has shown, Mikhail gives something new in every course. Secondly, I have a noble goal - to make an online course for beginner restaurateurs with Mikhail Zelman.
Having come to the School for the second time, I understand that in this case the phrase "investment in yourself" is applicable, but over the past six months we have managed to visit many schools and take many courses. This is so far the only one worth visiting, regardless of budget and income.
School of Mikhail Zelman
Nastya Kolesnikova
creator of the Local Food project
Mikhail Zelman, the entrepreneur and restaurateur who created Goodman and has opened 16 Burger & Lobster restaurants in London, 1 in New York over the past few years, is preparing a franchise and continues to specialize in a single product.
School program
1 day
Topic: GLOBAL RESTAURANT BUSINESS - international project management
Mikhail Zelman
Rostislav Ordovsky, Rosinter company
Evgeny Chichvarkin, owner of the Hedonism Wine store
2 day
Topic: BUILDING NETWORK RESTAURANT PROJECTS
Mikhail Zelman
Richard Beatty, Polpo is a successful Venetian tapas chain. Building a niche empire. One of the most successful restaurateurs in Britain.
3 day
Topic: MARKETING AND RESTAURANT TRENDS
Mikhail Zelman: Marketing and trends
Stefan Chomka, editor-in-chief of Restaurant Magazine: Trends in the restaurant business in Britain and globally.
Simon King, COO, Burger & Lobster: Details of opening and functioning of a network project on an example Burger & Lobster.
Maisie Denning, Marketing Manager, Burger & Lobster
Day 4
Topic: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Mikhail Zelman: Human resources of the company. Management in global and local projects.
Allan Yao: creator of the Wagamama chain, the Michelin-starred Hakkasan.
Anastasia Antonova: about corporate sales, events and marketing activities before the opening of a restaurant (on the examples of Beast, Goodman and Drake and Morgan Group).
Aline Chardon, Head of Human Resources, Global Craftsmen Group.
Day 5
Topic: OPERATING AND FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
Oksana Pis, owner of Electric Coffee: about building a coffee business in London.
Dave Strauss, COO, GCG Management: Operational management of the company.
Daria Ovchenkova, Finance Director, GCG Management: Financial management of the company on the cases of Goodman, Zelman Meats and Beast.
Chris Keeling, food blogger, magazine food writer good things Magazine – The luxury Cuisine and Travel: Social networks in the work of restaurants.
Day 6
WALK IN LONDON: markets, streets, cafes
1 day
The importance of terminology and metrics.
Evgeny Chichvakin.
Wonderful Diana.
Poetry jam or speed dating.
The Importance of Terminology and Metrics
Mikhail Zelman always starts with a story about himself and his values and approach. But every time I think, well, what new things can I hear, I discover something for myself. This time the importance of this day in the word EXPERIENCE - experience. A person comes to a restaurant for a new experience. On my last trip to the School in New York, I was told about this strange phenomenon of "experience" by the marketer Spiro. I didn't think about it, but in today's world filled with fast information, experience is the only clear result.
Zelman's basic rules that made it possible to achieve success:
1. There are no unsolvable problems.
2. In business, altruism is essential.
3. A key part of success is asking the right questions.
The complexity and importance of terminology and metrology with a simple example:
What is atmosphere? Here we often say, but we will have an "atmosphere", but what is it?
We want to achieve specific results, but we cannot evaluate what we want concretely, using words without measurement like "atmosphere" to define it.
How can harmony be measured? Can kindness be measured?
What cannot be digitized does not exist.
What is a concept?
Concept (from lat. conceptio - understanding, system) - a certain way of understanding, interpreting any phenomena, the main point of view, the guiding idea for their illumination; a system of views on phenomena in the world, in nature, in society; leading idea, constructive principle in scientific, artistic, technical, political and other activities; a set of views related to each other and arising from one another, a system of ways to solve a selected problem; a way of understanding, distinguishing and interpreting any phenomena that generate considerations and conclusions inherent only for this method. The concept determines the strategy of action.
The Zelman concept is the key idea.
And then - the embodiment of the key idea in life.
As restaurateurs, what do we want?
"I want the person in my place to feel…"
comfort?
impression?
NO!
"I want the person in my place to experience the EXPERIENCE!" - this was a discovery for me.
Restaurants cater to non-basic needs.
Why do people go to a restaurant?
Is everything different?
The restaurant is a reflection of time, a reflection of society. What needs do we reflect with our restaurants?
Restaurateurs are treated like doctors. If my heart hurts, I won't go to a dentist friend. Everyone goes to professionals in their field. I want a burger, I won't go to the vareny. People are now looking for professionals. Zelman said that he only had steaks, if someone asks for fish, he pays for a taxi to his friend's restaurant, which specializes in fish.
Just as Branson once opened for me the reality of a low-margin business on volumes, so Michael opened for me the clarity of mono-production and its effectiveness through "being the best at something."
For lunch, I chose a simple and not the most famous place in Soho Wrap Chic, a quick take away on the theme of Indian food, which is served in 4 of the most popular formats: wrap, plate, tacos, burrito. Simple, tasty, stylish and modern. 5 boarding tables, bottled mango lassi, not a single Indian behind the counter.In general, I think the future of fast food and street food for serving national traditional cuisines in modern formats such as hot dogs and tacos.
_______________________________
Nice first day reporton Katya Shcheglova's blog.
EVGENY CHICHVARKIN, owner of the Hedonism Wine wine store, co-founder and former co-owner of the Euroset mobile phone network.
Eugene for me is a man from the category of great frightening geniuses. At a meeting with us, he was extravagant and, in contrast, quiet and modest, and on his own inner wave.
He honestly told what happened, how it happened and what led to it.
He explained a very important point - a quantum leap in the growth of the Euroset.
Quantum leap:
Eugene came to the partners and said that prices are falling, and in online stores they are very low. What do we do? From the very beginning, everyone in the company was a shareholder, everyone had a share: the sellers, the buyers, and the general director.
Evgeniy proposed not to make markups on phones, to set them at a lower price on the market, to earn only on accessories, which will depend only on them, while the price of phones depends on many factors and they cannot always influence them.
We gave sellers 20% of the proceeds from accessories and immediately moved ourselves from the premium segment to hard dumping, competing with the Mitinsky market. Literally every morning we went there and then rewrote their prices.
They made a stand for the exhibition, and before that, commercials on the radio "Euroset - prices are just ***" for $ 9,000. The exhibition was an important city event, the traffic of the exhibition was 300-400,000 visitors.
There was no profitability, but it was market share. Brand awareness from 2% became 30%, received invitations in 2 weeks from the shopping center in the center.
A week later, Chichvarkin took $300,000 from the bank.
In 2008, all checks were $8 billion.
In London, Eugene dug up a seemingly strange format for him - the largest wine library. It seems that this is the business that is as far as possible from its internal energy.
But the explanation is great:
"What could I do in England, where I have never lived? I know little there and do not know English. I only had slow business: it is either modern art, classical art or expensive wine. I chose wine."
ROSTISLAV ORDOVSKII
A man of history, he built a hyper-successful business in the restaurant market of Russia at the dawn of its formation, making a huge contribution to the development of the restaurant culture of Russia and the entire post-Soviet space. On his account, the development of such successful restaurant concepts as "Rostiks", "Planet Sushi", "Santa Fe", T.G.I. Friday "s. During the period 2007-2008, he opened more than 100 restaurants in Russia.
Quite recently, a seminar "25 years of Rosinter" was held in Moscow, in which I was very embarrassed by topics like "Planet Sushi. How to create a restaurant where guests return." But to see a person from another era is unique. You understand that it will never be like before, but you are extremely grateful to him for having your own path, or at least even his opportunity.
First evening in London: Free time
For the first evening in London, I had 2 options:
- poetry slam
- speed dating in a book club.
After meeting up with my friend Diana (who works as a producer at the BBC) we decided to date. But we were 15 minutes late and they didn't let us in. I was only able to see through the crack how everything was going on.
And we spent the evening in the smoke house, which are very numerous in London, and of course this is a trend and it is very tasty.
I learned about all the events in London from:
LONDONIST
FUNZING
TIMEOUT
Podcast "Walking around London in 40 minutes"
About opening new places:
LONDON POP-UPS
HOT DINNERS
IMPORTANT TO THINK:
In the desire to imitate, one must have more talent than the original source.
Causes anger if a person feels disrespect for what he is doing.
Now I think about it all the time. It seems to me that I myself experienced this, and it seems even quite recently. Now I have this question written down and every time I do something I check to see if I have respect for it.
BUSINESS IDEA:
Mikhail's friend is rebuilding nursing homes: before they came there to die, but now they come to live. Now these houses are nice and cozy, parties are held there; old people run away to Europe for the weekend to unwind; and some find a mate and regain interest in life!
2 day
Where to start: idea-concept-goal-tasks.
Beast: a restaurant not for oneself.
Cadman.
Eclairs-drugs Maitre Choux.
Poetic readings.
Hill&Szcok butcher shop in faraway Hackney.
The second day at school is the same as the second day in a new city. We talked about the start, goals andthere were few tasks, lectures, but there was enough time to draw up a program for exploring the city. There are over 50 locations on Google Maps. Who needs, keep.
THE FIRST MISTAKE OF A RESTAURANT
Utopianism or Holtourism!
For some reason, it seems to us that we need to do something incredible, but at the same time we are not doing it to our full potential.
IDEA-CONCEPT
Any project starts with an idea, which is transformed into a concept. But the concept cannot be the main thing in business. Mikhail Zelman does not believe in concepts, ideas. The mistake of beginners - they want to surprise others, "we will do what is not there yet." If not, maybe people don't need it?
PRODUCT
Searching for premises should be only after you know what you will be doing. That is a product. How do you get your team passionate about content development?
Zelman:
"I want guys to implement my ideas, and people want to implement their ideas.
You need people around you to feel ownership of the idea."
A wonderful example: what do we do with children?
We start to get involved. Play together, play sincerely.
Zelman's main task is to bring an idea that the guys have to improve. His task is to make sure that not all of his ideas are selected.
Then the development period begins. We need to do testing, but we need to properly invite people.
Important rules:
- Food is a conservative part of our consciousness.
It's hard for people to change their eating habits.
Do not call for testing burgers of those who are not fans of meat.
Testing is food development.
Food development starts with a supply chain, with a network of suppliers.
Zelman found lobster suppliers, immediately set the price and at first earned little, and then he was able to get a discount on volumes and reduce the food cost.
ACCESS TO THE MARKET
There are several go-to-market strategies:
- enter first as Zelman
- enter second
To all who dream of opening their own cafe in London: dedicated to: "In London you can't be second, here everyone is first."
LEADERSHIP
It is better to be the one who does something better than anyone else.
Zelman tries to show his professionalism in any dialogue, including with visitors.
Now the Burger & lobster chain buys more than 100 tons of premium cuts every month, and a total of 600 tons are imported to England. 2 million lobsters were sold last year and everyone says "man, you are a mega dude!"
There are benefits in leadership: stoves are given for free, discounts, and so on. This, for example, allows you to do a chicken concept with Usain Bolt. Being a leader is profitable.
FIRST RESTAURANT
Both Mikhail and the wonderful owner of Flat Iron advise: to open the first restaurant as a small one (60 seats), for the first 3-4 months there will be no load on the kitchen, all processes can be tested.
Zelman:
"Any restaurant is built by its own example.
What is good service? - It's a concern.
I take care of the guys, the guys take care of me, and together we take care of the guest."
DINNER
We spent lunch at the Beast premium restaurant, also by Mikhail Zelman, specializing in meat and crabs. This restaurant has become a break from patterns: expensive, but with long communal tables and benches that attract table neighbors. Such a landing is unusual and not comfortable for the British, Mikhail still thinks that such a format, as it were, contradicts his reverent attitude towards the client and promises not to "take risks" like that anymore. In the meantime, working only in the evening, Beast is almost always fully booked.
DINNER
I had dinner in faraway Hackney at the Hill & Szrok butcher shop.
Everyone says that this is a trendy place: a butcher shop during the day, a restaurant in the evening. Located in Hackney. Travel very far. The area was reminiscent of the beginning of Brooklyn. What I noticed is that all the ideas here are sleek, as if tolerance is the most important filter to please everyone, and the grandfather is 60 years old and the girl with the tattoo. I was expecting bloody cutting tables, but I got eucalyptus in a bouquet.
RICHARD BITTY
Richard Beatty is a legendary figure in the restaurant industry. Together with his friend and partner Russell Norman, he is the visionary and founder of the UK Restaurants and Bars Group, with a wide variety of dishes from meatballs to pizza.
The group includes such restaurants as: Polpo (Italian food on small plates), theApe & Bird (pub in the style of British classics), Polpetto (mini analogue of Polpo), Spuntino (bar with American food) and Mishkin "s (something like" Jewish Delhi They opened their first Polpo in September 2009, exactly one year after the financial collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Richard's restaurant empire was based on a new culture of "sharing" consumption (Venetian tapas). In those years, there were only expensive restaurants in London where it was not customary to share a dish, and this became a Polpo feature. Now, of course, it is already difficult to grasp the essence, everything has changed a lot. But what you can't deny to Richard is an ideal understanding of business: even having achieved success, one must continue to work hard, not be afraid to make mistakes.
Evening
That evening, according to the plan, I had poetry readings.
In every country and city in the world, I try to unearth something that characterizes the locals. In New York, I thought it was fitness, cycling, bootcamps and stand-up stories. And in London it seems to be stand-up poetry. I spent a great hour in poetry unplugged, and completely different people read their poems: old people, young men with tattoos and bottles of craft beer, a young Muslim woman and a Japanese expat. Poets are the new rock stars.
Poetry is a whole social phenomenon and some organizations make entire programs calling for changing the world through poetry. In a very practical sense of the word, for example, socialization through poetry readings.
IMPORTANT TO THINK:
There is nothing worse than contradicting yourself.
3 day
Behaviorism and Frankl.
Restaurant critics.
Why is a franchise needed?
Marketing trends.
national theatre.
The third day at school and London and I still haven't reached the Tower, but I looked into the V&A. London turns out to be theatrical for me, I'm still looking for a traditional theater, preferably with Cumberbatch, but this is not here.
Last time in New York, Mikhail spoke enthusiastically about neuromarketing. This time the opening for me - Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist who went through a concentration camp. In a great speech in 1972, he talks about the importance of believing in people more and expecting more from them, and then they will come to what they need. Having perfectly shown by the example of an airplane flying to point B with a side wind, that in this case you need to apply 2 times more effort, aim higher and then you will come to the right place.
USEFUL VIDEO
Second open Dan Ariely, adherent of behavioral economics, famously writing and explaining the meaning of motivation.
One of the most interesting questions for me now:
What is more important: efficiency or meaning?
motivation = pay
but the motivation is
- meaning
- creation
- pride
- own meaning
To those who do something, it seems that they have done something cool and valuable, and it seems to them that other people see things the same way, but people see things differently.
Advice: Select people not for professional qualities, but for the possibility of implementation.
Zelman said that often, especially Russian restaurateurs, humiliate their subordinates, and the whole system is built on this. And this is the main mistake! It is important that the dignity of each person in the process of work is noted by the employer. Respect is key. Only then, everyone will be able to work for a common cause and prove themselves to the maximum.
A product must reflect a set of values in order to be successful.
You can only make a great product if it matches your values.
On the example of Zelman and his B&L.: Globalization+tolerance has become important for him, and Burger&Lobster has these values, first of all, this is the first lobster for a low price, he wanted everyone to eat lobster, not just the elite. This resulted in a product that lived up to his values.
Therefore, there is such a methodology for building a brand, in which personal values and mission are first worked out and they are put at the heart of business and product development.
The mission and values are a kind of gymnastics for the individual in order to subsequently build something new for people.
One of the exercises:
Why me?
Who am I doing this for? (why do they need it)
Your mission is to change the lives of your employees so that they work sincerely with customers. In general, all employees, without exception, should have experience and development, and not just at the top. Because otherwise, everything makes no sense.
Michael's VALUES:
- globalization (there would be no Misha Zelman, if it weren’t for her, he would be a migrant or an emigrant, thanks to the fact that there is globalization, Mikhail can bring meat from America, ovens from Spain, and so on)
- tolerance
- cosmopolitanism
If you want to be successful, you need to take action. An idea came up, let's do it. If something seems impossible, start doing something.
Gymnast Zelman - checking herself for the adequacy of the situation, how quickly he can change if conditions change.
RESTAURANT CRITICS
Steven Chomka is restaurant magazine editor in chief, a talented trend analyst, if you need a snapshot of the current restaurant situation in London, this is him. The most striking phenomenon is the pop-up and take away format.
WHY DO YOU NEED A FRANCHISE?
The most relish of Mikhail Zelman's course is his personal employees and practitioners who bring real honest documents and tablets with them to the course.
One of the discoveries of this course is Simon King, COO of Burger & Lobster.
He talked about starting a franchise. What amazes me is that every fast-growing project thinks of a franchise, even if it first opened as a personal dream project.
Why does any scaling by franchising always lead to a drop in quality? I asked Simon about it. But he is confident that B&L will not worsen their audience. When will there be enough B&L restaurants? When revenue starts to drop. Further way or reduce the price, as if expanding the audience or stop. Simon thinks we should stop.
How to make a chain out of a simple restaurant:
- the restaurant must be real and special
- have passion
A single product story is about focus.
CASE
Every day there is a real cool case in the program. On this day, the owner of the Flat iron restaurant came to us, specializing in one type of small steaks.
Did a pop up first, spent £15,000. It took already 300,000 to open, recaptured in 18 months.
Useful numbers:
- £10 per steak
- 30 percent food court
10,000 per week sells one cut
90 seats
400 checks a day, 2 times more on weekends
16 pounds average check
How to maintain uniform quality when there are so many suppliers? Problem?
No, this is not a problem, this is a challenge! That is, you just need to solve this problem. Unfortunately, we often just say that this is not possible.
MARKETING
Gorgeous, simple and clear presentation from an in-house B&L marketer. I posted it separately (you can see it), but here are a couple of points.
Drivers:1. There is no time - there is money (Acceleration of consumption).
2. Everything is more visual and transparent, everything is on the surface, you can immediately see what is happening.
3. Exaggerated demands on oneself and expectations (Everything is beautiful in the pictures and you expect a beautiful picture from your life too).
Trends:
1. Informality (gourmet kebab, canteens).
2. Healthy drinks(detox juices, smoothies, etc.), meditation - new "happy hours" in restaurants, emotional health.
3. Personality and uniqueness, experience the unusual and teach the new: holidays for sale, a shared dinner that can be shared, etc.
4. Customization.
In the evening, I tried to get into the Young Vic, a youth theater. But everything is sold out for 2 weeks in advance, the bar is packed, everything is in an old tile. A nice theater employee advised me to go to the national theatre, where there are three theaters under one roof. A laconic building, 2 bars and 3 cafes, like our cinemas in terms of the speed of functionality and quite a worthy production.
From my 50 local list today, I was at bubbledogs with a trendy concept: hot dogs and champagne. An excess of glamor with fairly ordinary sausages.
Well, lobster rolls are almost everywhere. And even one place also belongs to Mikhail's company.
4 DAY
Alan Yau.
Anastasia Antonova, corporate sales.
Rule 5 R.
Aline Chardon, Head of Human Resources.
Global Craftsmen Group of Mikhail Zelman and his partners is launching a new chain of steakhouses in London for a youth audience, which will be named after a restaurateur - Zelman Steak House
Mikhail Zelman (Photo: TASS)
Youth steakhouses
The restaurateur himself told RBC about the upcoming launch of a new chain of steakhouses in London: according to Zelman, his company is now working on a new concept of restaurants for a youth audience. The project is likely to be called Zelman Steak House.
Goodman restaurants with relatively high average checks are frequented by business owners and executives, typically over the age of 40, Zelman explains. “I want to do a project for 20-30 year olds. I often see how young people with their parents come to our restaurant, they like Goodman, but those values and the way it looks no longer match their ideas and perception of the world, ”explains the restaurateur.
Unlike London's Goodman, which has only one burger on the menu, new restaurants will feature a wide range of burgers and steaks. Other details of the new concept have not yet been disclosed.
In total, Global Craftsmen Group (now managing the Goodman and Burger & Lobster chains) will invest in the development of restaurant chains £20 million (about 1.5 billion rubles) over the next three years. The shareholders of the company are long-term partners of Zelman: the former co-owner of Zelman's first holding "Arpikom" Ilya Demichev, who launched the first Arpikom restaurants in London, Georgy Bukhov-Weinstein, the restaurateur's brother Roman Zelman, and the former editor-in-chief of the Izvestia newspaper (in 2004-2005) Vladimir Borodin, who runs the Burger & Lobster restaurant in the United States.
English business of a Russian restaurateur
Mikhail Zelman has not lived in Russia for about two years. Back in 2013, the restaurateur sold his share (about 50%) in the Food Service Capital restaurant holding (Arpikom, Unified Food Network, etc.), which manages the Goodman, Filimonova and Yankel and Kolbasoff networks in Russia structures of a partner - co-owner of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company Iskander Makhmudov. At that time, according to Forbes magazine, the turnover of the Russian projects of Food Service Capital was about $200 million. Only British Goodman restaurants were not included in the deal with Makhmudov (their turnover was about $30 million). The amount of the transaction is not disclosed.
Zelman no longer plans to open new Goodmans in London (his company now owns and operates three Goodmans in London). “The team no longer has the passion to develop this network as it used to,” Zelman says. According to the restaurateur, now he is mainly focused on the development of restaurants with mono food kitchen Burger & Lobster. Now the network includes six restaurants in London, a restaurant was recently opened in the capital of Wales Cardiff , and in 2014 opened the first restaurant in the United States - in New York. For the sake of reducing the cost of food and direct deliveries Zelman with other investors created a joint venture with a Canadian fishing company.
Over the next two years, Mikhail Zelman plans to open 12 more Burger & Lobster. In addition, the network's franchise has been sold to companies in the Middle East, in the Scandinavian countries. Zelman is looking for partners both in Asia and in Central Europe. Opening one Burger & Lobster The restaurateur estimates about £1.5 million.
In December 2013, the restaurateur said in an interview with Afisha magazine that he was opening restaurants in London because "there are no business conditions in Russia now." “My values are tolerance, globalization and cosmopolitanism. But if I utter these words at a meeting at the city hall, then in a couple of weeks it will turn out that I hid taxes, ate all the cats and overcooked all the dogs in the city, ”Zelman said. However, now Zelman told RBC that he would open Burger & Lobster in Moscow (on his own, not under a franchise), but as long as the food embargo is in effect, this is impossible.
Russian food in London
About four years ago, the founder of the Novikov Group restaurant holding, Arkady Novikov, together with his partner-restaurateur Alexander Sorkin, opened the Novikov Restaurant & Bar restaurant in London. Having bought the leasehold rights to the premises from the former owners of one of his favorite London restaurants Hakkasan, Novikov created a restaurant on 1800 square meters. m, which actually accommodates two different points: from Italian and Pan-Asian cuisine. Despite the devastating criticism in the Guardian at launch, this is one of his largest projects with a revenue of £ 25 million, the restaurateur said in an interview with Russian Forbes in 2013. In the same year, Novikov opened a pan-Asian restaurant Brompton Asian Brasserie in the Chelsea area.
Having taught Russians to pay in cafes not for coffee, but for the time spent there, Ivan Mitin, the creator of the Ziferblat anti-cafe, opened the first outlet in the London district of Shoreditch in January 2014. Within a week of the project's work, the Dial was named a contender for the "best discovery" of 2014 on the blog of the English magazine Time Out. Judging by the fact that Mitin opened a new point in Manchester, the British liked the idea of paying only for the time spent in a cafe. In the London Dial, one minute costs 5 pence.
The restaurant company Ginza Project first opened restaurants with nostalgic interiors for Russian emigrants and Russian cuisine "Marie Vanna" in the United States. And in 2012, the company opened "Marie Vanna" in London. Ginza co-owner Vladimir Lapin told Forbes that opening a restaurant in London was a real challenge. Only the search for a site took a year, and the opening of the restaurant dragged on for two years due to local bureaucracy. So much time was eaten by the coordination of changes in the premises, which the owners conceived. Everything was not in vain: the place turned out to be so popular that Prince William decided to celebrate his 30th birthday there.
