Ajay Singh came to Russia from India to enter the medical field, and dreamed of starting his pharmaceutical business with us. Now he is a co-owner of the Rostov restaurant projects Osaka, Yalla, Osh Posh and Macau, and recently opened the La Fabbrica restaurant together with Arkady Novikov. Ajay told us about his cooperation with the founder of the Russian restaurant and why it is difficult for Moscow entrepreneurs to break into Rostov.
Evgeny Lebedev (head of LEMMA): - Ajay, what city are you from?
Ajay: -From Mumbai.
-Tell me, how did you get to Rostov?
-I came to study in medical specialty gastroenterology. My friends joke that I feed people first and then heal them. In fact, I was traveling to Moscow, but there was an error in compiling the lists, and they sent me here. They told me that everything will be fixed, but when I arrived in Rostov, they convinced me that there is a strong preparatory faculty. There they teach the Russian language for the first year, and only then medicine begins. And when this year ended, I liked it here, and I no longer wanted to go to Moscow.
- What did you do after graduation?
- The pharmaceutical business, it was 1999. At first I worked for a Swiss company, and then I organized my own business.
- Why are there so many pharmacists from India in Russia?
-There is a very developed industry. India supplies medicine to the whole world.
-When did your restaurant history begin?
-In 2003, fifteen years ago. My comrade, who is still a co-investor in our projects, opened the first Osaka.
-She appeared before RIS?
Yes, for a couple of years. We opened one institution near the central city hospital, and one more on Sadovaya.
- Did you decide to immediately open the second point?
-Yes. Things went very well, and we did not wait. And after some time, two more Osaka appeared.
-Then you still didn’t really understand something in the restaurant business?
-Yes. We invested money with a friend. We were just told when the opening would be, and then once a month they provided a report. And sometimes we went there, rested.
-As far as I know, then was a favorable time for the restaurant business. How much did you pay for the first establishments?
-For half a year. Today this does not happen anymore. Then there was almost no competition, but now it seems to me that there are more restaurants in Rostov per capita than in Moscow or St. Petersburg. By the way, Arkady Novikov also noticed this. When we were traveling with him around the city, he asked: "How much catering do you have?"
-Yes. Vadim Kalinich, Nechaev group, Panchenko ...
-... "Drink coffee", "Pint", "Sicily" ... - indeed, a lot.
- At what point did you begin to delve into the business?
- Somehow I arrived at Osaka West, and the manager had only 2 menus for the entire restaurant. Then I realized that without our participation everyone was a little abandoned here. We ourselves discovered a new point on the North - then we plunged into the process. And it worked out very well.
-At the new point was the manager?
- It was, but we controlled it. Then I decided to seriously engage in restaurants. I sold my share of the pharmaceutical business to a partner, received money, and we began to open new projects.
-When did you get Osh Posh and Macau?
- “Osh Posh” in 2010, “Macau” - in 2011. There is also a “Samovar” in the West, it opened in 2009.
-What was the maximum number of Osaka restaurants?
The maximum was 17, now 14. We have never planned to expand to 30-50 points. In the Rostov region, we see a certain limit. The market has become very competitive: crisis, people's purchasing power is falling. We now hardly even get 20 points. In addition, Osaka is more expensive than RIS - not very much, somewhere by 15% - but we are already working on a completely different segment. Therefore, we have not so many target audiences to plan large-scale expansion.
-Do you remember any institutions opened by Muscovites in Rostov?
-There were two attempts to enter our market at Yakitoria. They opened 10 points, of which only 3 remained. Still there were two attempts at Il Patio, then there was Yaposha, Kinza and Shokoladnitsa - everything was closed.
- What do you think, why Moscow restaurateurs fail to open successful projects here?
- Strong local players, there is no other reason. We have a powerful premium and middle segment. I'm afraid there is no place for visiting restaurateurs. Although it will be Krasnodar, even Moscow.
-But the same rule works in the opposite direction: Rostovites do not often open outside the region.
- I would not say that such a rule works - the same “RIS” is actively working in the Krasnodar Territory. And, if I'm not mistaken, they also opened it in Volgograd. There is an example when the owners opened the “Culture Park”, “Siberia” and “Bread Shop”.
- Is Siberia a club format?
-This is the format of "Culture Park". They position themselves as a restaurant, which on Friday-Saturday turns into a disco. But practice has shown that people do not want to eat in a restaurant that turns into a club.
-Do you have projects outside the Rostov region?
-Now, but this is not a principled position. We have a goal to enter the Russian market, but only Moscow will be our next step. Well, maybe still Sochi, but I do not guarantee 100%.
- The Muscovites who open in Sochi, the statistics are also not very good.
- If we talk about Krasnaya Polyana, then Boris Zarkov has practically monopolized it. White Rabbit Family, "What? Kharcho! ”,“ Sakhalin ”,“ Spark ”- all this works very well.
-When did you open the last Osaka?
- Probably 4 years ago. We then launched two points in a year, and then there were no discoveries, because we began to close the old ones.
-To refresh them?
-Yes. Restaurants need to be either gradually updated, or every 7-8 years to close them and do it again. Everything changes: interior trends, guests tastes. Sometimes a small repair does not save the situation: you spend money, and as a result, nothing happens. When we make repairs, we don’t use anything old. Good, bad - everything is thrown away. Next year we plan to upgrade two more restaurants. We decided that we need not to open new points, but to repair well-functioning ones so as not to lose the total market share.
-And how much does the renovated restaurant then fight back?
- On average, in three years.
- Then for four years you have been earning on it, and again something needs to be changed?
-Yes.
-In parallel, you lead several projects in a completely different format. Osh Posh, Macau are quite successful institutions. What else do you have?
“Yalla.” It works very well, this is our flagship. He is already 4 years old.