Measures to improve the marketing activities of ZAO "recordstyle" and evaluate their effectiveness. Restaurant business market research All about the restaurant services market

At the end of 2012, many network market participants experienced a significant decrease in profitability, for some the decline reached 10%. Worst of all accounts for single restaurants. Currently, the number of restaurants that are preparing for sale is several times higher than in previous years. Obviously, there is a decrease in investor interest in the restaurant business compared to 2006-2009. Although professionals in this field in any case will be in the black, not in the red. Professional restaurateurs, in order to stay afloat and not reduce the level of profitability, go to various tricks to try to attract new customers. Someone improves restaurant cuisine. Someone uses marketing subtleties and increases the advertising budget, trying to convey information about the restaurant to a potential audience.

The changing legal field makes us look at the usual aspects of business in a new way. On June 1, 2013, the introduction of a complete ban on smoking in public places was approved, and there were also changes in the sphere of alcohol circulation. In July of this year, beer in Russia was equated with alcoholic beverages, and therefore only catering outlets with the appropriate license will be able to sell this drink from January.

In the near future, restaurateurs may face another change in legislation - the introduction of compulsory customer insurance. The corresponding amendments to the Rules for the provision of catering services and the Rules for the provision of hotel services were prepared by the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers together with the All-Russian Union of Insurers. The development of these amendments in the FRIO began to be engaged in after the explosion of gas cylinders in the Moscow restaurant Il Pittore, which occurred in January of this year and resulted in the death of people. This state of emergency was the first in a series of similar incidents, including tragedies in St. Petersburg and Volgograd.

Cases of mass poisoning in public catering establishments that took place this year also made us think about the responsibility of business to customers. The most problematic, predictably, were Japanese restaurants. So, in Moscow, during an inspection in February-April, Rospotrebnadzor revealed violations at 55 catering points - that is, in all establishments visited by department specialists.

2012 was the year when several foreign restaurant chains entered the Russian market. Among them are the American network Moe's Southwest Grill, the Israeli Sicaffe, the French Buddha Bar and Paul. A partner in Russia for the development of the Jamie's Italian network was found by the legendary British chef Jamie Oliver. It was the Ginza Project holding, which plans to open the first restaurants in Moscow and St. Petersburg next year. Quiznos, Wingstop and Johnny Rockets announced their intention to enter the Russian market in 2013, and the launch of the first Krispy Kreme establishment is expected in March (Arkady Novikov's group of companies is developing the network). Negotiations with potential Russian franchisees are conducted by the American Global Franchise Group, which plans to bring three brands to the Russian market.

At the moment, it is successfully developing and selecting visitors from Starbucks coffee chains. It is rapidly spreading throughout the capital and there is a possibility that this network will not stop in Moscow.

Relatively recently, a new brand "Double Coffee" appeared on the Moscow market, however, experts are not sure that something global can come out of this network.

Most restaurants in Moscow are entirely owned by Muscovites and restaurateurs from St. Petersburg. This opens up incredible opportunities for restaurateurs.

The restaurant business in Russia today exists in three niches, unequal in volume and number of players - fast food, mid-range restaurants and gourmet restaurants.

The fast food segment is undoubtedly dominated by McDonald's today - the advantages of early entry into the Russian market, the abandonment of the franchise scheme (in other countries, McDonald's usually opens its restaurants on a franchise basis) and a well-established system of personnel development within the company affect.

Competing networks (Sbarro, SubWay, etc.), although they are represented in Russia, occupy disproportionately smaller market volumes, which, however, does not prevent new players from preparing to enter the market. It should also be noted that the development of existing and the entry of new players into the fast food niche is seriously hampered by the existence of numerous networks of mobile trailers - "tonars" - "Baby Potato", "Steff", "Folk Cuisine" and many others, combining extremely low prices with not always undeniable quality.

Expensive author's restaurants of haute cuisine, "high cuisine", began to appear in Russia already in the late 80s - early 90s of the last century: associated with the names of Arkady Novikov, Andrei Dellos and other stars, they withstood (and continue to withstand) comparison with boutiques. The most notable signature restaurants today are Pushkin and Cheese by Novikov, Le Duc and Shinok by Dellos, Beehive by Oleg Bardeev, Oblomov on Presnya by Anton Tabakov, and Absent. The price niche of haute cuisine in Russia is already filled.

The average price niche in Russia is not only not overpopulated, but also not fully formed - it is only obvious that the threshold for entering it is getting higher every day, and the processes taking place inside are more interesting. The dominant player in this segment today are Rosinter Restaurants (chains TGI Fridays, American Bar & Grill, Planeta Sushi, Patio-Pizza, etc.). In this niche, there are inexpensive restaurants of Japanese cuisine of the Vesta-Center-International association (Yakitoriya and Gin-no-taki chains), Romashka Management projects (Shesh-besh, Molly Gvinz) and some other. For some time now, notable restaurateurs who previously specialized in haute cuisine have also been operating in this segment: the Elki-Palki chain belongs to Arkady Novikov, Mu-Mu restaurants belong to Dellos, Starlight Diners trailers belong to the owner of Ulya Bardeev.

The most profitable are beer restaurants: they pay off faster than other "thematic" establishments, and the need for them in Moscow is satisfied only by 40%. Now there are more than 1000 beer restaurants in the capital.

A variety of concepts coexist on the same street, moreover, they help each other, "spurring" the desire to improve the quality level and attracting a large number of visitors to one place. Bad restaurants are leaving, and better ones are taking their place. There is a competition of networks and brands.

But gradually, the metropolitan middle class, like Europeans and Americans, is forming the habit of dining outside the home. And restaurants of the middle price segment are trying to meet the new needs of the middle class.

Restaurateurs, having adopted the practice of fast food, began to develop network projects that offered relatively low prices (the average price of a check is 20-30 dollars). About a dozen restaurants operate in a network format in Moscow. It is this format that has become the most acceptable for restaurants in the middle price segment and has made the restaurant market itself more technologically advanced. All Russian network projects are occupied with the problem of identification: how to improve the concept so that it does not resemble the closest competitor and, most importantly, is remembered by guests? "Shokoladnitsa" and "Coffee House" suffer the most from "similarity", which instantly copy each other's ideas and have almost grown together, like Siamese twins, in the perception of Muscovites.

The same problem has not yet been solved by establishments of Russian, as well as Japanese cuisine, which, although they differ from each other in atmosphere and logo, offer the same cooking. On the one hand, the presence of any dishes other than borscht or Philadelphia rolls does not affect the volume of revenue, on the other hand, consumers still have a reasonable expectation that different food will be offered under different signs.

The emergence of chain restaurants led to a gradual reduction in prices: for example, in ethnic restaurants they fell by 15-20%. If a few years ago, due to the small volume of offers (for example, Japanese dishes could only be tasted in conservative expensive establishments), ethnic cuisine was perceived as exclusive, now, on the contrary, it is becoming a symbol of democracy.

In a crisis, prices are often reduced for dishes made from rare products. It is no longer difficult to buy exotic products in the capital: expensive fresh fish, seafood, spices or fruits. A large number of specialized companies supplying "exotics" appeared (before, restaurateurs were forced to import rare products themselves).

As in any service sector, the competitiveness of the enterprise is ensured by the high professional level of employees. The desire to get the best or at least high-class chefs, waiters, bartenders today is the sharpest weapon of competition in the restaurant business.

In the conditions of crisis in many restaurants incomes have fallen. In the segment of elite restaurants, revenues decreased by 50%, but in general, the market has seen a drop of no more than 20%. In Rosinter's restaurants "IL Patio", "1-2-3 Cafe", "Benikhana", etc.), as of December 2008, customer activity decreased by 6.7%". Natalya Filimonova, Department Director marketing "Arpikom" (Goodman, "Filimonova and Yankel", "Kolbasoff") assesses the state of the restaurant business: "It all depends on the location of the restaurant. The number of visitors to establishments in shopping centers has not decreased, and the number of guests in restaurants in the sleeping areas of Moscow has decreased by about 20%.

The process of pricing influences profit making. The pricing policy has three goals: sales, profit maximization, market retention. Working in these conditions, catering companies must monitor the situation on the market: price dynamics, the emergence of new dishes, the actions of competitors. They should not allow excessive overpricing or underpricing of their goods and strive to reduce the cost of purchasing and marketing.

It is expected that demand will recover primarily in the fast food segment and affordable restaurants. At present, it is most profitable to open cheap restaurants with simple cuisine.

Marketing management in the framework of studying, forecasting and actively influencing the market of consumers, suppliers and competitors is one of the main elements in developing an organization's development strategy.

ABOUT The main competitors of RecordStyle CJSC are the Sushi-Rumba restaurant, the Truffle restaurant and the ToDaSe fast food chain, occupying their niche in the catering market and successfully competing with other restaurants and bars in Moscow.

Consider the factors of competitiveness.

Table 3.1

Factors of competitiveness

Consider the activities of these restaurants in more detail.

Restaurant "Truffle" - products for the restaurant are delivered every Saturday by plane from Italy - cheeses, sausages, fresh fish, seafood, chilled meat. The owners of the restaurant are engaged in deliveries for such masters of the Moscow gastroindustry as "Mario", "Pinocchio", "Portofino". W The head of the restaurant is the Florentine Giancarlo Aldoni.

The interior of the restaurant is simple, classically cozy, with pleasant details such as curtains from photos with views of Italy in small frames and a screen showing Fellini's film masterpieces. The service staff is well trained, all service standards are observed, the serving of dishes is prompt. The average check per person is from 3500-4000 rubles.

Strengths of the Truffle restaurant:

· regular guests;

· always fresh products used in the preparation of culinary masterpieces;

· high purchasing power of guests (able and willing to spend large sums of money for delicious and fresh dishes).

Weaknesses: due to high prices for services and dishes, a narrow segment of consumers can be attracted.

The opportunity that opens up in front of the restaurant is to become one of the best restaurants in Moscow.

Threats:

· increasing competitive pressure;

· decrease in the general level of purchasing power.

Restaurant "Sushi - Rumba" - inexpensive cuisine, an extensive cocktail menu and Latin American dances in the evenings. " Sushi Rumba" presented a new approach to the vision of the stories and traditions of the Land of the Rising Sun. After careful study of every detail, the designers of the establishment managed to create an image of an ultra-modern place, the cozy originality of which logically completes the minimalism of the interior.

The establishment's high technology emphasizes first-class service along with gourmet cuisine, each dish served with unique spices and spices. The interior of the institution is decorated in the style of futurism, the kitchen is an example of the true foundations of strict Japan. The ingredients and preparation of all dishes meet the highest standards of authentic Japanese culture. However, the chef of the "Sushi Rumba" restaurant does not stop at traditional rolls, sushi, sashimi and temaki, amazing the imagination of visitors with "hot" Latin American recipes - worthy competitors to oriental dishes.

Another feature of the institution is a regularly updated menu, which can be a pleasant surprise for regular visitors. It is also worth noting that the restaurant "Sushi Rumba" is not only an ideal romantic place for lovers, couples with children will find here sincere care of the staff for their kids.

The average check per person in the restaurant "Sushi - Rumba" is 1000 - 1500 rubles.

Strengths:

regular customers;

every weekend there are incendiary shows and concerts;

regular menu updates.

Weak sides:

high prices for meals;

average product quality,

strict face control for an institution of this level.

Possibilities:

improve product quality;

expand the range;

the possibility of new competitors;

dissatisfaction of guests with the quality and assortment of dishes.

The network of restaurants "ToDaSe" is a restaurant with Japanese cuisine and affordable prices. From 11 to 17 there is a business lunch on the menu (159-259 rubles). Very friendly staff. Tasty, varied cuisine: a wide selection of sushi and rolls, a varied selection of soups, hot dishes, pizzas and salads. Also, various discount promotions are constantly operating in the restaurant: students are given a 15% discount; the second alcohol is free; if you take sushi or pizza with you - 20% discount. Live music is played on weekends, as well as sports broadcasts.

The average check per person is 600 - 1000 rubles.

Strengths of the restaurant chain:

good reputation;

effective sales policy (a large number of discounts and prize draws);

a wide range of;

distribution of the network throughout Moscow.

Weak sides:

low qualification of service personnel;

high staff turnover.

Possibilities:

further expansion of the range;

price reduction due to the increase in sales volumes.

increasing competitive pressure;

decrease in the general level of purchasing power.

Competitor strategies are not aggressive.

Thus, from the foregoing, we can conclude that the jazz club "Union of Composers" has a rather promising marketing opportunity to occupy a stable and strong position in the catering market.

r_keeper: The most popular restaurant concepts in the country - Russian and Italian cuisine

According to the restaurant automation service r_keeper, Moscow accounts for about 37% of all catering establishments in the country among million-plus cities, St. Petersburg - 19%. The remaining 13 cities feed the inhabitants of Russia in restaurants and at the same time occupy from 5 to 2% of the number of catering establishments in megacities. Despite the disproportion, in general, the concepts of restaurants are similar. The most popular restaurants are Russian and Italian cuisine.

Moscow and St. Petersburg as a whole account for almost 22% of all restaurants in Russia - the total number of establishments, according to r_keeper research and 2GIS service data, in both capitals is 21,671 restaurants, and in total there are more than 100,000 catering establishments, cafes, bars in Russia , restaurants and bakeries.

The share of Moscow and St. Petersburg in terms of the number of restaurants among million-plus cities is even higher - 37 and 19%, respectively. In total, they have more than 39,000 places where you can eat.

To compile the rating, r_keeper analysts took data from the service. In the service, a restaurant can mark its establishment as a conceptual one, relating, for example, to Russian, Italian, Japanese or any other cuisine, but it may not rank the establishment as a concept.

For example, the Eurasia chain, which serves Japanese, Russian, American and Uzbek cuisine, was included as a restaurant in each of the concepts in St. Petersburg.

The study showed that the most popular concept among Russian restaurateurs is national cuisine. So, according to r_keeper analysts, every second restaurant in Moscow will offer its guests dishes of Russian cuisine, and the probability of finding a restaurant with Italian cuisine in Moscow is 10%. Similarly, about one in ten places in the capital will be an American restaurant serving steaks or burgers.

“This kind of information can be useful for restaurant startups. After all, it is always useful to know which concepts in the city are more or less. And focus either on the needs of the majority, or on a unique format,” says [Badu Lana]], deputy general director for marketing of the service for restaurants and cafes r_keeper.

In second place in terms of popularity of restaurant concepts in Russia is Italian cuisine; pizzerias were also included in the survey as offering it. Italian cuisine restaurants are in second place in almost all megacities of Russia. Indeed, restaurateurs today in mid-level establishments often offer various types of pasta and pizza, the format of pizzerias is popular, as well as spaghetti.

The third place was firmly won by burgers - both fast food and more expensive establishments. We also included steakhouses here.

According to analysts from the r_keeper café and restaurant automation service, the share of visitors to fast food establishments in Russia has increased by 4.5–5% over the past three years, and today fast food revenues account for about 70–75% of the entire catering market. In terms of global trends, as the NPD research team explains, this year the traffic of fast food restaurants increased by as much as 9% compared to 2016, while a decline was recorded in the segment of traditional restaurants, canteens and coffee shops. Network fast food is now replete with promotions, many positions are sold very cheaply, and the rest is bought by a satisfied visitor at a high price.

The fourth place in the top restaurant concepts is Japanese cuisine. Even 10–15 years ago, the number of sushi bars and restaurants in Russia was not so large, and few could afford sushi. Now sushi and rolls have become a delivery item and almost fast food. Only two cities in Russia have distinguished themselves with a special love for Japanese restaurants. In Nizhny Novgorod and Perm, the number of restaurants with Japanese cuisine, oddly enough, is in second place after restaurants with Russian cuisine. Sushi and wok overtook Italian pasta and pizza. “It is difficult to explain the love of Permians for Japanese cuisine, but there really are no empty seats in local Japanese restaurants. Fish and products for favorite rolls are delivered to Perm from the Far East, Yekaterinburg, Moscow and St. Petersburg,” r_keeper notes.

In fifth place are restaurants with the concept of Chinese cuisine. And if pasta, pizza, steaks, sushi and burgers can be found on the menu of almost any restaurant, then Chinese food is the prerogative of a separate institution. Both the chef and the atmosphere are important here.

2017

The market of self-service restaurants grew by 11% to 480 billion rubles

According to Infoline-Analytics, the volume of the Russian market for self-service restaurants in 2017 grew by more than 11.5%, exceeding RUB 480 billion, with Burger King showing the most dynamic growth, increasing sales by a third.

r_keeper data

Restaurant chains are expanding their geography, but the market is far from being saturated. According to r_keeper, 12% of the population living in Moscow and St. Petersburg account for about 70% of the country's fast food establishments. Territorial disproportion negatively affects the quality of fast food in the regions, but indicates a high potential for growth. r_keeper made his rating of cities by the number of fast food chains. Moscow and St. Petersburg are in the lead, and Yekaterinburg is in third place. Among the leaders are Rostov-on-Don, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

Good performance in Yekaterinburg - it is in third place in Russia - 71 institutions, and the predominance of Subway is noted. The latter, as can be seen from statistics, is increasing its expansion into the regions and overtaking McDonald’s in some cities,” the creators of the r_keeper restaurant automation system note.

One way or another, Moscow is unconditionally the leader in terms of the number of establishments (834 outlets), leaving the regions and St. Petersburg far behind (270 outlets). A clear disproportion suggests that approximately 70% of fast food restaurants are located in Moscow and St. Petersburg, while only 12% of the country's population lives there, which means huge potential for growth in the regions.

In the regional context, the fast food market can be called an oligopolistic one, so the problems of one company can lead to a redistribution of the market among other chains. This refers to McDonald’s, which in recent years has attracted increased attention from Rospotrebnadzor against the backdrop of the rapid development of its direct competitor, the Burger King chain.

Leading companies in the field of catering take into account the global trend of focusing on tasty and cheap food and expand the geography of their presence.

Franchising as a business development model has shown growth even during the crisis. According to NDP Group, 56% of Russian fast food establishments are franchising. Only in 2015, the growth of franchised restaurants was 48%, which indicates the demand for the model. Similar figures are given in RBC.research: in 2016, out of 15,956 network establishments in the country, almost half (8336) operate on a franchise basis. Many international chains have revised their development strategies in Russia and put their efforts into the development of partner networks.

A deterrent to the development of the market is the absence of a law on franchising in Russian legislation. The law "On franchising" was initiated back in 2014, but in 2016 the State Duma rejected the project. To date, transactions for the acquisition of a franchise are formalized by a commercial concession agreement and are regulated by Chapter 54 of the Civil Code, which gives only general recommendations on the activities of the franchisor and franchisee.

2016

The size of the fast food market reached 465 billion rubles

The fast food segment is the most stable in the catering market: the attendance of fast food chains in 2016 increased by 6%, while in general for the food outing market this figure fell by 3%, according to NPD data. As a result, the share of fast food in the total market in the same period increased to 40% with a turnover of 200 billion rubles. (according to data in the eight largest cities).

There are other ratings as well.

EMISS data

Compared to 2015, the restaurant market has shown growth, although small. The turnover of public catering in Russia in 2016, despite the crisis, exceeded 1,200 billion rubles, according to the Unified Interdepartmental Information and Statistical System (EMISS), which is supervised by Rosstat.

Fast food showed a noticeable increase. Between May 2015 and May 2016, 408 new fast food chain restaurants opened in Russia. A positive trend was noted back in 2015, when the figure was +5.2%. In the Moscow region, the turnover of chain fast food has increased, according to CBRE, for individual chains the growth was more than 10%.

“However, growth, mainly in 2016, is only fast food. In restaurants of the middle price segment, a drop of up to 11% was observed. Due to the decline in real incomes, many Russians preferred democratic establishments to restaurants of the middle and high segment. The reduction of the niche was also facilitated by the transition to local products, the correction of the menu, the increase in the cost of dishes, ”explains Rodion Eroshek, co-founder of the PosterPOS cafe, restaurant and store automation company.

The redistribution of clientele in favor of more affordable public catering was felt by such giants as KFC, Burger King and McDonald’s, which continue to open new outlets throughout Russia. Russian restaurateurs, in turn, are exploring new locations and new niches. Many conceptual establishments, including premium ones, appear in large shopping and entertainment complexes.

A couple of years ago, shopping centers were not at all perceived as a location for high-quality restaurant concepts, but now the number of examples is growing. According to CBRE, the share of restaurants and cafes in Russian malls has already doubled in 2015-2016, there is a shift away from the usual food courts in favor of new formats that are expected to grow in 2017. “Restaurants in the mall are rather one of the manifestations of business diversification, which, in turn, is due to a greater extent to the growing role of shopping centers as lifestyle centers, as urban community zones where people come to have a good time,” CBRE analysts emphasize.

Home is tastier

Since last year, ordering restaurant food at home has become much more frequent. The change in the consumer model was facilitated by the current economic conditions, when the client does not want to give up high-quality restaurant food, but does not want to overpay either.

With all this, the niche remains underdeveloped and therefore even more promising. At the moment, only 47% of chains provide delivery services, while in 2015 the share of takeaway food was 18% of the total turnover of the catering market. Increased interest in takeaway trade is swollen in coffee houses. During the year, the volume of take-away orders increased by 35% and in the first quarter of 2016 already accounted for 23% of sales.

The share of spending in Russia as a whole on eating out remains low at only 3.6%, for comparison, in Moscow this figure is four times higher.

Cheap and outdoor

Following the coffee houses, street food establishments come to life. If in 2015 the turnover of street food showed a drop of 5.5%, then in 2016 the figure decreased to 3.7%, which indicates a gradual recovery of the niche. To go street cafes compete with democratic restaurants offering various lunches and combo menus, as well as fast food establishments in shopping centers.

In general, in 2016 the course towards the democratization of the public catering market was finally fixed. The share of fast food, street food, canteens in the total turnover of the public catering market only in the first quarter of 2016 increased to 39%, while a year earlier it was 37.6%. According to Colliers, in the first 9 months of 2016 alone, more than 130 cafes, restaurants, bars, and street food establishments were opened in the street retail market of St. Petersburg. Non-chain brands accounted for up to 80% of new discoveries.

Experts note that consumers are becoming more sophisticated in their requests, which leads to an increase in the popularity of such formats as street food, gastrobars and restaurants of national cuisines.

In addition to the mass distribution of establishments such as to go, border formats have developed: culinary, food stalls, ready-made food stores.

Another trend is sustainable food. Millionaires in 2017 are exactly the audience that most establishments will be targeting. And for them, environmental issues, a humane attitude towards our smaller brothers and waste-free production in choosing a restaurant are important no less than the taste and cost of the dish.

Get out of Moscow

The revival of the market took place, among other things, due to the expansion of the network business. In just one year, 408 new fast food establishments opened in the country. This was facilitated by the confidence of businessmen in the chosen format and low-cost franchises.

Restaurants of the middle price segment, on the contrary, closed more often. The brands that left the Russian market were replaced by three new foreign players – the Italian free-flow pizzerias Alice Pizza and Scrocchiarella, and the Irish coffee shop The Bagel Bar, which opened in Moscow on a franchise basis.

Interestingly, the capital is gradually ceasing to be a center of attraction for catering chains: from May 2015 to May 2016, about 150 chain establishments closed here, and about 79 chain establishments opened. At the same time, the Moscow region demonstrates positive dynamics - 172 new establishments were opened here during the same period and not a single one was closed.

Major players are focused on expansion into the regions and countries of the near abroad. Beginning entrepreneurs, in turn, are willing to buy ready-made solutions, rightly considering this the least risky investment. According to RBC analysts, the focus, on the one hand, is shifting to sub-millionaire cities with a population of 700 thousand to a million people, where the representation of networks is not so high, but there is a need for them. Due to the remoteness or harsh climate, the Nenets, Chukotka and Khanty-Mansiysk districts have not yet been in the field of view of Russian and foreign networks.

However, Russian companies are considering options for entering other countries. Some operators are already represented in European countries, China, Taiwan, Mongolia. Last year, the Stolle chain of coffee houses entered the market for the first time, opening two establishments under its own brand in New York.

The future is in technology

Technological solutions help Russian restaurateurs to significantly ease everyday life. To optimize work processes, the company uses various automated accounting programs, for end users - mobile applications and electronic menus.

Firstly, the most important assessment, which, in our opinion, can be used to determine the market of public catering services in Moscow is its fundamental difference from the main markets for the same services in large cities of Russia. And, in our opinion, despite the many marketing studies of this market, we can state the fact that many professional researchers in one way or another greatly simplify their view of this market, on the one hand, without getting to the bottom of the underlying motives and causes of events. On the other hand, many consider this market to be exemplary, demonstrative and coveted in terms of entering it with their own new product in the catering segment. In this article, we just want to offer our view on very significant and important factors that, as a rule, traditionally do not fall into analytical reports of different levels of competence and depth. And they are certainly very important.

And it is these auxiliary "elements" in the assessment of the system that largely determine its current face and forecast for development vectors in the future. Understanding the service market is formed by two main blocks of questions:

A) To whom we actually want to sell (offer) our product. Who is its consumer?

B) What kind of product should be created and offered, and what properties should it have in order to satisfy the consumer's request?

First of all, we would like to deal with one of the most important trends, which, out of ignorance, and out of underestimation, lose sight of. Although, in our opinion, this is the key issue of the Moscow market! Its extreme heterogeneity and polarization, with very blurred boundaries of book-theoretical segments. It is fundamentally important to see the capital's public catering services market, taking into account many conditional factors.

The population of Moscow, or rather its overcrowding and the reasons for this unbridled growth - that is, in fact, the key question in understanding. Moscow, in many ways, has become a testing ground for new products, services, concepts and is by far the most coveted market for selling goods and offering services for sale. That is, the artificial formation of the capacity of this very market and the growth of competition - in many ways and most often, is determined by the desire of Investors and Businessmen to actually work in this market, and not by the need of citizens for this service, product, offer. And this, of course, is the main problem of the market as a whole. It is the growth of the main "pushers" of the Moscow business - the construction complex of the capital, that determines the growth of auxiliary, infrastructural subsystems, which fully include public catering. It is not the client's request or his inclination to one or another culinary fashion trend, but the Developers' request for the implementation of programs for the arrangement of publicly useful areas and the development of zones within the framework of construction that determine the face of the Moscow market. And, of course, the entire large and structured restaurant business in Moscow is largely subordinate to this mainstream, at least in the last 5-7 years.

According to marketers from the discovery research group, Moscow accounts for about 20% of the turnover of all catering enterprises in Russia. At the same time, the share of network enterprises in the Moscow market is estimated at 35% of the total number of catering enterprises. According to the estimates of this company, in 2009 the volume of the Russian public catering market exceeded 630 billion rubles, and the Moscow market - 120 billion rubles. But what is behind these numbers? How to determine the literacy of a target entry into this market, how to evaluate it in a system of finer settings. Let's try to look at it from the inside, first of all. That is, what is the difference between market arithmetic and reality.

To begin with, you need to compare the number of inhabitants of large metropolitan areas of the world in order to have a clear idea of ​​\u200b\u200bgrowth dynamics.

The chart shows how Moscow's population growth differed from other major cities in the world between 1990 and 2000. In percentage terms, the number of Parisians within the city has increased over 10 years - by 6.2%, New Yorkers by almost 10%, Londoners by 7%, but the population of Moscow has grown by 11%. According to official data, of course, since according to unofficial data, taking into account illegal migration, these figures are much higher. We deliberately omit the word Muscovites, since the number of residents increased mainly due to visitors from both the regions of the Russian Federation and the CIS countries.

Moscow's growth rates are certainly leading. Especially in numerical terms. And due to the openness of the borders between the former countries of the USSR, we admit that the growth of illegal migration is a rather uncontrolled process in Moscow. Why did we choose this segment? Yes, simply because for any native Muscovite, Moscow in 1990 and Moscow in 2000 are two different cities. We do not set ourselves the task of evaluating which one is better, everyone will draw their own conclusion. But it is this ten-year period that seems to us to be indicative in terms of irreversible processes and transformations in our city, and as a result, it brought a certain momentum, set the direction of development precisely in the hospitality and catering industry! Most often, these areas of development were not chosen by Muscovites, but were imposed on them precisely by business and investors wishing to work in the Moscow region.

At the same time, in terms of the number of catering establishments, Moscow has very modest indicators (according to the Information Center of the Moscow Government):

Approximately 60% of restaurants, cafes and bars in Moscow are located within the Garden Ring or in areas immediately adjacent to it. On the outskirts of public catering outlets are much smaller, while there are even fewer classic restaurants among them.

It would seem that there is a huge potential for growth? Goldmine? Rampant potential? Perspective?

But, in our opinion, this is by no means the case. According to numerous reviews and opinions of serious restaurateurs, the Moscow catering market has its own characteristics. The market is very overheated already, in the format of already existing establishments. Competition, in fact, is the highest in Moscow. And growth and development outside the framework of large associations, restaurant holdings and network structures is becoming more and more difficult and even impossible, for example, in the fast food or corporate catering segments. There is a downward trend in business profitability over the past 5-7 years. No, the number of visitors has not fallen at all, rather it has even increased in decent places. But the average check (average purchase price) decreased by almost 30-50%, long before the crisis in the economy. Well, actually, to whom and what are we selling in this city? After a kind of washing out of a large number of citizens of the old formation, the processes of demographic natural decline in the 90s and the mass arrival of a large number of migrants, the average portrait of a “Muscovite” has undergone a significant change. Moscow has become a very multinational city, first of all! At the same time, the largest outflow of people leaving for permanent residence in far abroad countries came from Moscow, as well as a natural decline, which showed an unpleasant demographic picture in the 90s of the 20th century.

For various political and economic reasons, there is a particularly massive influx from some regions. From the southern republics of the former USSR and far-abroad countries, first of all.

Here is the number of legally working foreigners (data from the Izvestiya newspaper dated January 31, 2000). Here are just a few groups of labor migrants who came to Moscow during that period:

The change in the national composition of urban consumers is an important factor that cannot be ignored. These are different cultures of food and leisure, first of all. But we evaluate the change in the structure of consumption and models of recreation and entertainment not only from the point of view of a significant change in the national composition! In many ways, the mass consumption of all the benefits and all the vices of the civilization of a large city is formed by the demand for them from visitors and "conditionally Russian" nationality from other cities and regions of Russia. Just like asking a man working on the sea, how many times did he swim in this very sea this year? Most likely, you will get the answer "once a summer". In the same way, native Muscovites are in no hurry to go to Red Square or the Tretyakov Gallery every day, as well as visit numerous places of recreation and entertainment, leaving this privilege mainly to visitors, both temporary and those who already live and work here. on an ongoing basis. Well, it just happened that way. Therefore, from the point of view of public catering, it is simply not necessary to talk about an ephemeral average statistical portrait of a Muscovite! He is not. Other residents of Moscow have much less in common in cultural traditions than Russians and Chileans. In nutrition, including.

By 2009, the second generation of “new” Muscovites had already formed in Moscow, from that wave of mass migration of the 1990s-2000s, about which few people know at all. For two reasons:

A) They lead a mostly diaspora way of life, preserving their cultural traditions and values.

B) No one has ever set himself the task of studying these groups and their preferences in the consumption of goods and services. Including food!

And if you take good market research, how can you not take into account these communities and other established stable groups of food service consumers?

Meanwhile, the culture of the city has become typical for large multinational metropolitan areas of the world. And the conditional segmentation of consumers into boys and girls, by age and income level is extremely simplified in the Moscow market. Hundreds of groups and subgroups and behavioral patterns in consumption that are not described by a simple comparison of how much chicken and milk a person consumes per week and per year. Most often, these numbers and formats mean nothing, unfortunately.

Then how valuable are such studies in assessing the market for catering services? What do they reflect? Not very clear. And just go to the food courts of shopping centers at the Kursk or Kiev railway stations, and you understand that the people who form the main target audience of these projects are unlikely to know about the existence of such iconic places in the public catering of old Moscow as the Lira cafe, cafe "Molodezhnoye", cafe "Tomato", that the most dashing dances in Moscow are the cafe "Valdai", and the cheapest champagne is the good old cafe "Sever" on Tverskaya. For the majority of the population actively consuming public catering services, the old lighthouses of even the most recent past are an empty phrase. Which in itself is a little depressing. Akin to the works of Gilyarovsky. Interesting, informative, but nothing more.

Any Muscovite over 35 years old was told by her grandmother in childhood that going for a walk to the station is no less dangerous and dubious pastime than a walk to the cemetery. And the pie bought at the station is always made from a cat. Prejudices, of course, old people, but the opinion about the prestige of certain areas, the concept is alien to the arrived "new" Muscovites.

In general, the dispersal of the public catering market in Moscow took shape precisely at the turn of the century. And, perhaps, reached the peak of its heyday by 2004-05. Growing like mushrooms, shopping and entertainment centers on the outskirts of the Moscow Ring Road completely eliminate the need to travel to the central part of the city. Therefore, the "face" of the city center on weekends is very different from some prosperous outskirts. Sometimes for the worse. concept "regular customer", with the exception of local places on the outskirts and in corporate catering - practically non-existent! In the rhythm of a big city, and taking into account global transport problems, it is almost impossible to go to some of the most amazing places. Or the place should be so unique that the motivation of the distances overcome is more than compensated by the impressions and the result of the visit. Attachment to places is largely inherent in clubs and nightlife. At this time, it is easier to drive, and food plays a smaller role with this choice. Rather the atmosphere, the visitors, the people, the music.

From the point of view of business tourism and transit travel, Moscow has a high attendance, of course. And a huge flow of transit passengers is connected precisely with the need to travel through it, because of the country's transport system, which strives from all corners to this particular point. Sometimes depriving Russians of the simplest horizontal ties. Sometimes it is faster to get to the neighboring region through Moscow. Well, the administrative and in many respects honorable for the city functions of the capital - of course. A huge army of business travelers and business tourists travels to Moscow.

In terms of tourist flow, by the way, Moscow is still behind its competitors.

According to data from various sources, in 2007 (pre-crisis) year, the tourist attractiveness of the cities we considered earlier was distributed as follows:

• 46 million people visited New York
• Paris was visited by 29 million people.
• London visited by about 25 million people
• Moscow was visited by about 11 million people (more than 4 million of them were foreign tourists).

Thus, Moscow cannot in the full sense of the word be called the most attractive center of tourism. Although their share is not small for the city, most of them fall into a narrow segment of the food of restaurateurs at hotels. But from the Moscow region, according to the Moscow Employment Service, 700 thousand people come to Moscow every day just to work. But there are those who come to study, with tourist or domestic purposes. Going to Moscow is not always recreation and tourism. Rather, it is a necessity. Business trips.

An interesting fact was noticed during the final match of the Champions League in Moscow, when a huge army of English fans flooded Moscow. Many restaurateurs were actively preparing for their arrival, and foreign tourists chose McDonald's. as a recognizable brand. Like a safe place. And this quality is essentially sufficient for a European when choosing places to eat in our city. And in Moscow, unfortunately, there are not so many such transnational recognizable brands in the street food segment.

In this regard, any marketing efforts of novice restaurateurs or investors in the so-called promotion and attraction of regular customers are meaningless, in fact, all of the above circumstances and givens, and investments will be inappropriate or ineffective in this case!

Moscow - leader according to the so-called "spontaneous choice" catering establishments unlike other cities. There are practically no islands and lighthouses that everyone knows, regular visitors to restaurants, cafes and bars in large cities of Russia, in Moscow. With the exception of this very McDonald's, most often. There is practically no consensus on the quality and services of a particular place! Thus, the system of the so-called all-Russian "word of mouth" practically stopped working, especially on weekdays. When the time to overcome a road section of 10-15 kilometers can take up to two hours, in snowfall and at rush hour.

Location food facility is the most important thing in Moscow! It is not Muscovites who are looking for places to have their lunch, but companies that offer lunch do their best to go to places of mass congestion of active consumers of this service. And the places of such concentration among office workers have become obvious. These are business centers of various classes. It is this segment of public catering in Moscow that is the most competitive, and giant companies from among the leading operators in the corporate catering market are fighting for mastery of the client in this market.

Thus, the nutrition of active and solvent residents of the city increasingly fits into a kind of "behavioral matrix": the need to eat at work during the day, most often in the segment corporate catering, and a possible snack in food court cafe, if on the way home, a person stops by the shops of a large shopping and entertainment center. The right place at the right time is, in fact, the motto when choosing (and most often combining) places of recreation, shopping and entertainment for the majority of solvent indigenous people of the city. There is almost no motivation to hit the brakes of the car and hustle along the narrow streets in search of a parking space at some street cafe or get off the subway for a wonderful cafe. On weekends, the variety is, of course, greater. Most often, this includes such behavioral models as shopping, solving everyday problems, relaxing with children in specialized places, less often with friends and acquaintances. The office community of Muscovites (desired white-collar workers) is the first, most attractive group potential visitors to catering places in the city of Moscow. Most often, these are men and women aged 30-40, and the vast majority are Muscovites, so to speak, historical.

A significant part of the population of the capital does not belong to the indigenous people. This is a fundamentally different category of customers! This is a special, difficult task for restaurateurs experienced and working for more than a dozen years in the city's service market, in terms of attracting and retaining this group of customers. How and by what principle they choose their place of rest is most often known only to them and the Lord God. There are no stable places of attraction for them, permanent priorities, attachments and traditions - even more so. This is a very mobile part and very active in the consumption of catering services. Most often, in the middle-middle or lower-middle segments for two reasons:

1. People are not very burdened with household chores and comfort, as they often live in rented apartments, and frankly they are not drawn home in the evening.

2. They work, but most often do not have families, so they have the means and time for recreation and entertainment.

They don't know Shcherbakovskaya, but they know Alekseevskaya, they don't know the Progress store in the Park of Culture, but they know the Bukva store. Stopping a taxi - they say: "we go to Poklonnaya Gora", and not "to Kutuzovsky, to the area of ​​the Arc de Triomphe". They did not drink at the Khrustalny restaurant, or even at the subsequent Pizza Hut restaurant at the site. They saw and accepted this city much later. Its culture, in the field of food and entertainment as well. But with its own accent and choice. With the definition of interesting places just for yourself.

It is this part that is, as a rule, the most active part of visitors to catering establishments, even on weekdays. Especially, this applies to the huge army of out-of-town and more or less wealthy older students and middle managers of younger ages. A kind of diffusion of the community yesterday still students and still students. Most often, this coincides with the age group of men and women 22-28 years old. This second, the most attractive group potential customers for restaurateurs in the Moscow market.

Having been working in the consulting segment in the restaurant business for more than one year, very often you don’t know what to answer to your clients who say, hosting you in their city: “Tell us some interesting and successful concept that works great in Moscow.” You answer a little provocatively, but honestly: "Make a chain of corporate canteens!". And you hear in response: “Nooo .... this is not interesting at all. What do you think our cool clients will stand with a tray in their hands? Something special, conceptual, with red velvet, gold and a rich wine list for us.” Namely, such establishments in Moscow eke out their miserable existence on the verge of life and death! In this regard, it is the understanding of the direction and trends of a particular region that speaks of the knowledge and patterns of markets. Not all experience that works great in Moscow works in the regions. Although a good level of cafes in the corporate catering segments and cafes organized on the principle of "free-flow", perhaps one of the few universal and applicable solutions in any context and in any region. But concepts based on the principle of visual attractiveness, dragged as an idea from Moscow - this is not always and most often does not equal success!

The worst option is if the “consultant” or “theorist” of restaurant conceptual construction turns out to be a novice restaurateur himself who has recently arrived in Moscow. In this case, he will begin to broadcast ideas to Customers and Investors, proceeding not from the realities and history of the Moscow service market, but relying only on his rebellious, maximalist youthful approach and offers former countrymen, in fact, absolute "castles in the air", with the presence of a show and a ten-page cocktail and wine list. With burning vodka on desserts, juggling bottles of rum and constant dancers. But the system, most often, is not viable from an economic point of view. And an investment project can become a "monument to money" for the Investor. Conclusion: Not all that glitters is gold. Opening a restaurant, cafe or bar in the form of an attractive picture is the easiest thing. The benefit of designers and stylists who do not want to serve in the ranks of the armed forces and hiding in a large metropolis is a dime a dozen. But there are not so many who are able to teach or guide the Investor in choosing a concept that will make money. It's complicated. It needs to be known. To do this, you need to have fundamental knowledge in the industry, experience and a deep understanding of management decisions when creating successful business systems in the restaurant business.

The constant influx of rural residents and residents of small towns, depressive regions of the Russian Federation has led to the diversity of various ethnic, geographical and professional groups in the population of the city. This creates conditions for the stratification of the city's population, a well-known social tension. The socio-demographic situation in the city is further complicated by the fact that the low technological and environmental level of many sectors of Moscow industry and construction, the service sector, low wages and other factors lead to the fact that migrants are and will be attracted more and more in these areas of work.

And it is precisely under this community of people seeking a better fate under the sun, in many ways, that the Moscow food services market began to “sharpen”. He needs to know! It needs to be understood! And, of course, you need to learn how to clearly identify the needs of a potential client in such complex systems as the Moscow market for catering services. Of course, not for the sake of knowledge, but in order to meet the needs of all solvent segments of the population of the metropolis. They are like a patchwork quilt. But everyone wants the same: eat, drink, walk and rest. It is only necessary to delve into the essence of the requests of the most typical groups. Conduct thoughtful marketing, not formal, and make the necessary management decisions.

If we are talking about family, wealthy and high-status Muscovites, then, firstly, they work very hard, most often. They have much less time for rest and entertainment. And secondly, there are not so many of them, as many people imagine. Some, for security reasons, and others, for reasons of attachment to a particular chef or restaurant, often visit him. This is the third group that is significant in our opinion. visitors to restaurants, cafes and bars in Moscow. The group is quite stable. Often they choose "high cuisine" restaurants or other places with quality food that are safe, respectable, with very friendly and customer oriented staff. There are not many such restaurants in Moscow. They modernized and evolved from the so-called restaurants for the "new Russians" that dominated the Moscow catering market in the mid-90s. Under the unfading concept at that time - "any whim for a hundred dollars per person." But the segment of such restaurants for Moscow is within the normal range - it is 3-5% of their total number. And if in certain places they make a huge number of restaurants that are focused on offering for the most connoisseurs of the world culinary heritage, then I want to ask: “Dear colleagues, do you think that the same number of people live on Rublyovka as in Mexico City? 18 million?

Even from the point of view of employment in a particular company, by the time the work began, you can immediately determine what culture the founders of the business belong to. Moscow companies start working much later (sometimes for 2-3 hours), but also finish much later. Sometimes, there is simply no time and energy left for evening and nighttime entertainment. And if they start working in a company very early, then most often this is a sure sign that either an elderly person with a military background, who, due to physiological age characteristics, finds it difficult to create and create in the afternoon, is at its helm, or this is a person who has recently joined community of Muscovites. But they also finish working in such companies according to Russian tradition - at lunchtime! Any business after lunch is transferred from the category of the Western abbreviation ASAP (as soon as possible), which is very close to Muscovites - to the concept of "Call in the morning." Therefore, if the master adjuster of the coffee machine rushes to you at 8 in the morning, almost invariably - this is a visitor.

In public catering in Moscow, there are at least two separate cultural zones in preferences and behavioral patterns. They are no worse or better. And God forbid us to single out someone. It’s just that in the Moscow service market there have long been two stable consumer groups, about the phenomenon of which, unfortunately, restaurant analysts did not bother to think and write about! Two are completely different. The proportion of so-called Muscovites is getting smaller, and not knowing the preferences and options for choosing a huge number of "new" Muscovites in the restaurant business is an unacceptable luxury! Anyone who has worked in the restaurant business for a good couple of decades clearly sees and analyzes these features. It is obvious.

For native Muscovites, these are:

1. The culture of eating out, in fact, is quite eventful. In cafes, restaurants, bars, they rather go about. With the exception of the corporate catering segment and food courts in shopping and entertainment centers. Where they combine the main motivation for visiting with food, quite often. Especially if they go there with children. The exception is stable groups of young people, students and businessmen who, according to their views on life, occupation and status, are supposed to spend time with friends, partners and colleagues in restaurants, cafes, bars.
2. Muscovites are very domestic people, historically focused on eating at a large family table, in the evening and at home. Most often on TV.
3. Muscovites are asocial. In many ways, they are self-sufficient for generating fun in a very narrow circle. For example, in the company of a friend, wife or girlfriend. This is the norm. And the new generation of people who came to our city, as a rule, like to gather in large companies.
4. For the old Moscow public, number one is the safety of the place, both in terms of safe food and the atmosphere of the establishment. They hardly choose street, dark, and basement spaces, preferring recognizable brands of network structures that they trust or historically established places with a good reputation.
5. Oddly enough, Muscovites, especially the middle and older generation, are quite indifferent to beer. For them, the result is important. And it is most often achieved with strong liquor, when it comes to drinking establishments. Excessive addiction to beer - most often gives out newcomers to the metropolis. Strong alcohol for Muscovites is more productive and faster. This has been accepted historically. Yes, in the company of lovely ladies you can drink wine, champagne or cocktails. In men's companies, they mostly drink strong alcohol. In the above average segments - whiskey, tequila, rum, and in the below average segments - vodka.

For people who have recently taken the city of Moscow into their arms, there are slightly different behavioral patterns in the culture of food and recreation:

1. They have a much larger and more hearty breakfast. Often, the morning meal for them is the most basic and important. The ability to work and the fulfillment of tasks and plans for the day largely depend on its quality and abundance. Visitors are much more likely to drink tea, while Muscovites are certainly coffee people.

2. If we take drinking and evening entertainment establishments, then most often, 70 percent of their audience are single visiting girls - girlfriends from the white-collar office environment. And at the age of about thirty years. They, like no other category of users of the services of restaurants, cafes and bars, use catering services outside the home. And this is always and everywhere striking to the professional. It is the format of girlfriends that supports entire areas, such as Japanese cuisine, for example. This is indeed a feature of each particular city. So in Kirov, a fairly developed city in terms of public catering, it is striking that more than half of the restaurant visitors are purely male companies, in St. Petersburg they are young people of varying degrees of “gilding”, and in Moscow they are girlfriends. Maybe the reason for this is the demographics, that in our country there are 11 million more women than men, and they all aspire to Moscow.

3. They are well aware of all the innovations and novelties of the market, both in the menu and drinks, as well as in new interesting places, and of course very often respond to all new offers on the market. They are happy to experiment with new flavors, colors, combinations. They are interested in everything new. They practically do not need stiffness and traditionalism of places, dishes, drinks. They don't think much about the prestige and security of this or that place. Adventure and gushing emotions with adrenaline and increased heart rate - on the contrary, attract them. Especially the youngest ones.

4. They are not looking for occasions and events to visit this or that institution. If an old school friend suddenly calls a native Muscovite, he will refuse the meeting by 70% or reschedule it for a more convenient weekend. People from the formation of "new" Muscovites in 70% of cases will agree to a meeting. And they will be ready to drive up to any cafe, restaurant or bar, regardless of where it is located: in Mitino, in Teply Stan or on Strastnoy Boulevard.

5. In most cases, they are not at all tuned in to the models of healthy, environmentally friendly nutrition and other joys of premature aging for old townspeople, exhausted by the city, tired of the consciousness of being. Since the choice of a new place of residence was most often justified precisely by obtaining all the blessings and vices of this very civilization. They can lose weight and not eat bread, of course, but they will never pour boiled water into a glass to drink, as older Muscovites do, but drink water from the tap.

For the most part, even if people do not want to admit it to themselves, migration to a business city is a temporary phenomenon, due to the ability to rent housing in a metropolis. Therefore, people of this formation manage to see and visit much more during the period of their studies than the so-called native Muscovite in his entire life. The contingent changes, but the direction remains. And it's time to learn how to work with everyone in this direction. Those chains that have understood this are successfully operating and prospering not due to the activity in the consumption of indigenous people, but precisely due to the craving for something new - "new" Muscovites.

So, only the person who has been working in the city catering not for three or five years, but much longer, can more or less orient the Investor in the Moscow catering market. And, when a job advertisement on the pages of Internet resources is replete with the heading “we are looking for a specialist with 3-5 years of work experience, for the position of project manager”, then it is clear to a good specialist that these are regional investors who are looking for a half-blind guide to lead them through crossing pitfalls in the service market of an unfamiliar city. But at the same time, both the employer and the applicant are optimistic. Sometimes unfounded optimism.

If a Businessman wants to enter regional markets, then he wants to understand them one way or another, study them, order marketing research and deal with the degree of risk. For some reason, in the case of Moscow, many industrial holdings and trading organizations are a priori sure that Moscow is a swampy bog into which you can throw cobblestones or garbage of any size into a plastic bottle, which it will suck in, accept without leaving a trace on the surface and circles on the water, with any force of the throw.

A separate line, of course, must be said about the comparison of the so-called "two capitals". The market of catering services in St. Petersburg is fundamentally different from Moscow. The proportion of city dwellers, in the full sense of the word, is much higher than in Moscow. The level of conceptual attractiveness and intelligence of most public catering establishments in St. Petersburg is also higher than in Moscow. Identity and recognizability with inherent individuality is Peter's signature style. Pragmatism and predictability without daydreaming and romanticism is the style of Moscow. Well, where else in the country in the 21st century can you see girls ordering a glass of champagne in a cafe? Only in St. Petersburg, of course. In other cities, everyone is satisfied with huge mugs of beer, holding them without hesitation in a miniature pen. Despite the fact that St. Petersburg is considered the beer capital, the drinking culture there has its own chic and gloss. This immediately catches the eye of a specialist.

Compared to Moscow, a more predictable situation with the public catering market developed in the cities of the Urals and Siberia. There, due to a more homogeneous mentality, the catering market is more well ranked by segments. According to the same book segments and clusters that everyone is used to seeing in their reports. A friend of mine, a restaurateur who travels a lot around the country, came up with another interesting formula for himself. He, having looked a lot and having traveled almost all of Russia, claims that there are also some divisions according to the principle of cities that went through the Second World War, and cities that remained aloof from these monstrous events. In general, he is inclined to argue that the first group of cities is more progressive and looking for in the restaurant business. And the second is patriarchal or something. Maybe due to the fact that the percentage of old townspeople in them is higher. And in general, in Russia, there is in many ways a focal culture of public catering. Little than explainable, sometimes. It can only be understood at the level of intuition. So obvious is the prosperity of catering markets, say, Kazan and Ufa, as well as small cities such as Vologda, for example. At the same time, the culture of the population of the southern regions of the Russian Federation clearly forms the markets for the services of these cities. In Rostov and Krasnodar, millions of people, you can count on the fingers of your hand more or less decent catering establishments. In Volgograd, they are not conspicuous at all on the central highways. Hardly ever. In many ways, this is a consequence of the centuries-old lifestyle of the population of these regions rich in agricultural products. Consumption in catering establishments outside the home has long been an incomprehensible and wasteful waste. Unjustified waste of money. If the choice arose between paying for food service or buying two or three pallets of bricks for a cottage, people definitely chose bricks. Another culture and value system and nothing more. You also need to know about this, bringing the Moscow "novelty" to the regional market. At the same time, a St. Petersburg student living in a communal apartment visited in her young 20 years - a dozen different countries and almost all the iconic clubs and cafes of her hometown. This is a distinctive feature of the city and its youth. If the Moscow public comes to one place for the evening and for the night, then in St. Petersburg it is in the order of things to visit two or three establishments per night. People walk, communicate, move.

More than once or twice in our activities, we have come across a typical request from clients for consulting services in the restaurant business, who began their request with a stereotyped phrase: “Hello, we want to open a restaurant in Moscow on an area of ​​approximately 500 sq.m. Help with the search for premises and the definition of the concept of such an institution. On the first meeting, counter and auxiliary questions are answered firmly: “We want to invest funds. We want to invest in the capital market. Combining investments in real estate with some more or less understandable business.

Professionals in public catering have the most questions about this thesis “Clear business”. Why understandable? Why simple? Why predictable? Not everything is so simple, although, in the understanding of most people, a hairdresser is understandable, since mom and sister cut hair well in childhood. Car service - no problem, because with my grandfather I dismantled 407 Moskvich, like a Kalashnikov assault rifle, with my eyes closed. The restaurant is no problem. What could be clearer than cooking cabbage soup? Everyone can…

Certainly, everyone. But to make a real business out of your "club of interests", where only the wives of the founders gather, to manage it effectively and learn how to make money with this type of activity - not everyone and not always succeeds! Such new Investors most often do not want to consider any other regions. And they look at Moscow precisely as a sales market for their emerging product or service, as a place for investment, as a place of residence for their families and children in the future. A good place for them.

The market for goods, services and offers in Moscow is most often formed by the desire of businessmen to develop and grow in this market, and of Investors to invest in this market. A huge feature of the Moscow service market is the current migration load on this territory, a fractionally segmented format of services and customers in public catering. Sometimes, this is not subject to any sane and clear gradation. This is a huge problem. And the view of many analysts on this segmentation seems to us bookish and superficial, student, according to the matrix of university essays on a given topic. Whether we are going to Moscow with our product, or we are bringing a Moscow product to the regional market, we must always do thorough visual and professional analytics. So that it does not happen that the adaptation of a product or idea makes it unrecognizable for each new region. A concept or idea is not profitable. And, as always, we need to think about the two most important things: what are we doing and for whom are we doing it? That is, who will be willing to pay money for our product or service!

The catering business has its roots in the distant past, and today it is taking on new forms, taking into account technological progress, world experience and consumer needs. What is the current state of the restaurant business in Russia, and is there a chance to succeed in it for those who are just about to embark on this difficult path?

The current state of affairs

It is worth noting that the situation in this area is strikingly different from what it was a few years ago. Many differences can be found in comparison with the global development trends in this area. Moreover, the laws of growth of such enterprises, characteristic for Russia, also affect. Today, this area can hardly withstand the crisis.

There are many reasons for this:

• the propensity of Russian citizens in the current conditions of life to save money;
• the high cost of renting premises for food outlets;
• the high cost of imported products;
• smoking ban in public gathering places.

Even last year, the number of establishments offering catering to customers decreased by 1.5% due to a sharp jump in real estate prices. In the same year, experts predict an increase in this figure to 20-25%.

The first jump of the dollar against the Russian ruble at the end of 2014 immediately affected the consumer ability of our compatriots and their desire to visit catering places. If before that more than 60% of the population preferred to celebrate the New Year holidays in a noisy society, then with the onset of the crisis their number decreased to negligible.

Restaurant business in 2018 did not become the area where consumers want to spend money. Today, Russians prefer to keep their accumulated funds until better times. The businessmen themselves felt the decline in revenue last year. Profit in the new conditions has become less by 5-30%, depending on the scale and specifics of the institution.

An important indicator is the fact that such losses in profits affected both luxury establishments and small eateries. The main reason is again the cost of renting premises.

Under the new conditions, those who still intend to survive will have to reduce the amount of the average check by almost half.

In order to save money, many entrepreneurs take desperate steps that until recently seemed impossible:

• transition to domestically produced products;
• downsizing of service personnel;
• simplified menu.

Some choose to put their work on hold for a while before the crisis sends them into even more debt. According to experts, about a third of establishments will leave this market by autumn.

prospects

There are still prospects for the development of the restaurant business in Russia. An important condition for their implementation, however, should be the ability of entrepreneurs to adapt to the new conditions of the current economy. Those who show flexibility and the ability to implement new technologies, principles of work and customer service will be able to easily pass this period.
It will be hardest of all for the so-called status establishments, which are very difficult to lower the bar and offer their VIP clients a budget food option.

Forecasts of further developments in the restaurant industry are not the ultimate truth. How the situation will turn out, one can only speculate. Specialists and analysts are trying to remain silent on this issue more and more, but still some aspects are obvious:

There is also a preliminary analysis of the restaurant business market, from which it follows who will definitely not be able to stay in the current conditions. These companies include the following:

A good way out of the situation is to rebrand or reformat your project.
This means that you need a new idea, perhaps not premium, but effective and life-saving. Today, many restaurateurs open less outrageous cafes instead of famous establishments where the name of the chef says more than the name itself.

The second way to solve the problem is to recalculate the cost of dishes. The development of the restaurant business in Russia must keep pace with the times, and therefore enterprising owners today use various methods to reduce food prices:

• reduce portion sizes
• introduce novelties in technical equipment that allow longer storage of products and ready meals.

The undeniable fact remains that it will be easier for chain restaurants to survive this year than for those who work alone. Fast foods are now at the top of Olympus, but only those that offer quality and fast service and fresh food.

Unfortunately, in today's unfavorable conditions for doing business in Russia, most of the restaurant business has switched to the Western market. It has become much more profitable to sponsor projects developing outside the Russian Federation. And despite the fact that many of them represent Russian cuisine in foreign expanses, the domestic restaurant industry did not feel any better from this.

Organizing a successful restaurant in Russia is a risky entrepreneurial initiative, the implementation of which depends on many factors. Realizing the danger of inefficient investments, investors rarely finance projects related to catering. This circumstance determines the current state of the restaurant business in Russia.

general characteristics

The low rates of development by Russian entrepreneurs of the niche of providing services for the preparation of complex dishes to the population are associated not only with the local characteristics of the consumption of the benefits of increased comfort, but are also associated with industry-wide problems that more economically developed states have learned to overcome with varying degrees of success.

In terms of riskiness, the restaurant business ranks fourth in the world among other types of entrepreneurial activity. Only stores selling photographic equipment, clothing and furniture are ahead of it in terms of bankruptcy.

The main problems of this type of entrepreneurship are:

• a high degree of dependence on fixed assets (real estate, production equipment);
• a high degree of dependence on the qualifications of personnel (human factor);
• low investment attractiveness of restaurant projects.

By investing in an entrepreneurial project, the restaurateur is not able to reliably determine how much product he will produce and sell, so all preliminary calculations are, to a certain extent, only a probable forecast.

These circumstances just determine the development of the restaurant business in Russia. But, in addition to industry-wide, there are also specific Russian problems that also largely hinder the expansion of restaurant services:

• general low standard of living of the main part of the population;
• lack of educational programs in the provision of commercial services;
• lack of own developed entrepreneurial infrastructure that would provide the restaurant business with the necessary resources and raw materials.

Overcoming the current situation alone is an unpromising undertaking that only very wealthy people or active supporters of the restaurant business can afford.

This state of affairs underlies modern statistics on the activity of providing the population of Russia with restaurant services:

• there are 4,000 restaurants in Moscow, while in Paris there are 22,000;
• for every thousand Muscovites there are 40 restaurant places, while according to Western European standards this figure in cities should not be less than 150 places;
• in comparison with the seventies of the last century in Moscow, the number of restaurants only doubled (from 22 places to 40 places) per thousand people).

However, for a competent businessman, the above analysis of the restaurant business market speaks not so much about the plight of this entrepreneurial initiative, but about the opportunities that are opening up in those areas where there is practically no competition even today.

prospects

As can be seen from the situation described, the answer to the question is not a big mystery why, given the low level of competition in the catering sector, investors do not want to invest in the launch and development of restaurants.

However, there are inspiring examples in the history of Russian economic management, which are a vivid demonstration of the fact that with a reasonable and competent approach, even in the current conditions, successful business projects based on the catering industry can be implemented.

A reasonable approach assumes that a businessman will be able to rationally assess his starting position, and a competent one - that he will be able to use the existing start sensibly.

The basis of a competent approach in assessing the starting position is to study the development trends of the restaurant business in Russia in the context of the last seven years:

• studying someone else's experience (both successful and unsuccessful);
• tracking the influence of cultural trends in the development of society on the promotion of a restaurant product;
• analysis of the introduction of innovative products in the service sector;
• experience in expanding the range of restaurant services based on one or more production sites.

The collected data will help determine if there are strategic prospects. After that, you can begin to assess the attractiveness of your own project on the basis of an existing enterprise or just a planned one.

The attractiveness of a restaurant can be assessed in the following categories:

The obtained initial evaluation data is quite enough to determine the ways to increase the competitiveness of the enterprise in the market:

1. Planning measures to reduce production losses during inactive seasons.
2. Active work with suppliers to establish mutually beneficial economic relations.
3. Investments in fixed assets as the only way to improve the quality of the product.
4. Staff training to increase the production efficiency indicator (increase in profitability).

Today, it is these laws that largely determine the prospects for the development of the restaurant business in Russia.

Some analysts believe that the prospects can be coordinated to please the consumer - restaurant patrons. But this is a risky strategy, as society's priorities can change, and an effective businessman must be able to find the resources to match any profitable trends in the consumer environment.

Among the main preferences of active citizens for a restaurant product, experts name:

• small cafes with a narrow local menu in accordance with the specialization of the cafe (coffee house, pub, etc.);
• Japanese and Chinese restaurants;
• restaurants of Arabic cuisine (Islamic countries).

A similar trend characterizes the restaurant business in 2018. It has also been inherent in this catering sector over the past ten years.

The lack of fresh ideas and their high-quality execution has a negative impact on the formation of a tradition in society of familiarization with restaurant and culinary skills.

However, this circumstance does not negate the desire of the active population to receive quality services in the service sector. That is why any high-quality project in Russia is received very warmly, develops rapidly and becomes profitable and attractive to investors in an extremely short time.

Restaurant business - planned success: Video