Irina Khodzinskaya is the author of a concept unusual for Russia: five different, not chain restaurants with the same name, Simple Things. We figured out how to control such a business, even while living in France, and what kind of withdrawal needed to be transferred in order to entrust native institutions with hired managers.
-Evgeny Lebedev: Irina, when did your restaurant history begin?
-Irina Khodzinskaya: The story began a long time ago, 12 years ago. Then I had no idea at all about the restaurant business. She was engaged in a very boring business, she was financial director at a plywood factory. But I always wanted a restaurant and 12 years ago I decided that we should not want to continue, but to do it.
- Transition from such a sphere was difficult, is it fundamentally different?
- The whole story is that I never wanted to be a financial director, I never wanted to do finance. It was such a purely pragmatic decision made at the time of admission to the institute.
- It seems to be in demand as a specialty.
-Such specialties became popular a little later. But it was clear - if you wanted to earn not only bread and butter, but preferably caviar, then you need to choose a profession that will allow you to do this. And when I was 18 years old, I soberly appreciated it and went to do something completely different from what I wanted to do. Then everything was clear and understandable: a very clearly built career in finance, in full view. It was clear how it would develop in 5 years, in 10 and in 15. But there was one big problem - I did not like it.
- Probably should have gone to the Big Four.
- I did not go to the Big Four initially, because at that moment it seemed that the growth rate of internal competencies did not correspond a bit to what I would like to get in this life. That is, I immediately went into the real sector of the economy, I never worked in corporate finance.
-And how did the moment of transition to restaurateurs take place, what factors coincided? Usually a lot of factors happen.
- Factor number one is that at a conscious age I always wanted a restaurant. That is, it was not a story about the fact that I want to stop working for my uncle. It was not a story about "let's do something our own." I always clearly knew that I wanted a restaurant. But when you are 27 years old and you occupy such a high post, it is very difficult to make a moral decision. By and large, you risk almost everything, all the money that you have earned at this point.
- Did you accumulate the money yourself?
Yes, they were accumulated funds. Plus part of the loan money, but it was my loan resources.
-That is, they did not come up with an idea to the investor, and he gave you money?
-No no no.
-It was such a bet, as if he came to the casino and bet everything?
-Well, it was a very deliberate bet, because I understood very well that if nothing works and I have to return, I will lose my salary. Would return with a decrease, for other money on other conditions. I calculated how much I will earn a minimum after returning, on the basis of this I calculated how much of the loan I can raise so I can give this money back. Financial education, you know, can’t get anywhere.
-Then you probably had some kind of digital plan when you opened the first restaurant.
-Well, of course. I needed to understand what breakeven point was. It’s easy to understand the zero that you need to go to - not in order to return the investment, not in order to earn. And when I got this figure, I realized that you could risk it. She was quite low.
- Did you get to that number quickly?
-The first restaurant, on Konyushkovskaya, was a plus in the first month of work, for 10 months we fully paid off. It’s just a tiny place, 85 square meters. This is 38 seats. This is all DIY repair. I painted the bar counter, painted the doors, and the shvets, and the reaper, and the igrets on the pipe.
-This is a change in thinking, because the CFO ...
- Well, of course, of course. The CFO does not. And here you do absolutely everything, get into every process. You just live in a restaurant for a year, then open it.
- The team was not originally?
-Of course not. I had a partner. We opened the first restaurant together, or rather, we met at the time of the opening of the restaurant. That is, my money was invested, and the business was a partnership.
-That is, the partner invested in work. Is this a person from the restaurant industry?
-From the restaurant, but this is a person who has been a hired employee all his life, who never had his own restaurant. But just like mine eyes burned. All friends, acquaintances and strangers helped us. When they saw it all - this involvement, this frenzied enthusiasm, multiplied by some kind of wildest working capacity - came and helped. I don’t paint at all, it really was so. We have not slept for months simply. You have to learn a wild amount of everything during this period of time, you don’t know anything at all. And not only do you study in parallel - you are simultaneously teaching people who are close to you. You are mistaken, corrected, this is such an absolutely ongoing process. Some absolutely wonderful time: yes, we didn’t sleep, didn’t eat, didn’t rest, but there was such a drive, such an enthusiasm that completely compensated for everything. When you really want something, you are ready to invest, ready to plow 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, without days off and holidays.
- So it was the first year, right?
-Of course: live at work, sleep at work, eat at work. You don’t even call it work, I began to call work “Simple Things”, I don’t know, about five years ago. And before that I told everyone: comrades, I have a completely miraculous way of having a hobby that also brings me income.
-When the restaurant fought back, there was such a moment of realization: “Oh, I fought off this restaurant”?
- Well, of course, of course. And the mark was, everything was. How can this go unnoticed when you risked everything, invested, everything worked out for you, exactly as you want. Although it became clear that everything will work out by the middle of the second month.
- Before the opening of the first institution, it was clear that then a few more would open?
-Even no thoughts were about this. There was a thought that a restaurant was needed. Point. There is a business plan, there is a business model, there are such calculations. The numbers that come out with a pessimistic forecast, the numbers that come with an optimistic forecast, what we do with a pessimistic forecast, what we do with an optimistic forecast, that's all.
-And when it became clear that it was time to open the second?
-When the first paid off. Not that it became clear - I just wanted to. I always say that this is not a mechanically built business model, you go not from numbers, but from emotions. It has always been a story about what I want. I should want to open the next restaurant, and at that moment I should feel in myself the inner potential for opening. It’s just that the first restaurant was very tiny, a little lacked in scale, a place to turn around.
-How many are there now? Were there any closures?
-They are five, there were no closures. These are multi-format establishments.
-In essence, do they have in common that they are related to you?
-They are related to being vinotheques. This is always a story about wine.
-As far as I know, you are not currently participating in the OS. How did this transition happen?
-It was difficult. It began when there were two restaurants and finally ended when there were three restaurants. Because ... What happens when you have one restaurant? You live in it. I could say, to the nearest millimeter, why this particular apple lies on this particular place ...
-There was no manager at that time?
-What managers, what are you talking about. There was no one, no manager, no chef, no one at all. You yourself did absolutely everything, and you do not just feel the restaurant at your fingertips - you can manage it with your eyes closed, in a dream. And then a second restaurant appears, and you bifurcate, trying to increase your working day. You need to run back and forth. At some point, you simply understand that you run twice as much, and your efficiency has not fallen by 50%, it has fallen by 70%. Because you are nothing there, and you really haven’t done anything here. You can’t see the numbers, you can’t analyze the information, you can’t control the processes if you don’t physically participate in this process. And you cannot physically participate in all processes in two restaurants at the same time.
-And a partner?
-We opened a second restaurant, along with a partner. And at this moment we parted.