Today he has many years of experience behind him, and his professional portfolio includes more than 50 different restaurant projects. He is a co-owner of the Restart company, a recognized authority among business colleagues. And Alexey Vasilchuk began his path to success in those years when commercial activity in our country, it was carried out mainly according to the principle of “buy low, resell high.”

Two big differences

— Alexey Vasilyevich, as a professional who has successful experience in both Moscow and St. Petersburg, tell me, in your opinion, is there a difference between how business works in these cities?

— Oddly enough, at first it seemed to me that Moscow and St. Petersburg are absolutely similar, both in terms of business principles and in terms of the public that visits restaurants. There was a feeling that we would come from Moscow and quickly win our place in the sun and everything would work quickly, as usual. We approached the choice of location the Moscow way, choosing the “Gallery” shopping complex. It’s no secret that such shopping centers are in great demand in the capital, they have a lot of traffic, and the restaurants operating there have a lot of guests. But when we did everything, building a beautiful restaurant, we realized for ourselves that the perception of St. Petersburg residents is different from what it is in Moscow. And then I answered the question of why, when the Ginza Project entered Moscow, it enjoyed such fantastic success. Because the guys are accustomed to the St. Petersburg public, which is completely different: they have their own understanding of how to treat a guest, they are very sensitive to the atmosphere and the product. Sometimes it seems that St. Petersburg residents don’t even care that much about what they eat. Perhaps I will say a seditious thing, but people are different, with a character and perception of life that was formed under the influence of the entire history of the city, with revolutions, blockades, which affected the genetic level. St. Petersburg residents have a different attitude towards food and even towards themselves. I love St. Petersburg and St. Petersburgers, but they are really different and different from Muscovites, of whom, however, there are few left. The Russian capital has become a cosmopolitan city. And there are still many Petersburgers in St. Petersburg. So, when the guys from Ginza Project came to Moscow, they brought with them the atmosphere that they learned to create in St. Petersburg, and the capital’s public liked it, because it was something new for them, hitherto unfamiliar and interesting.

In addition, we are faced with the fact that in St. Petersburg people do not quite perceive a restaurant in a shopping center. For them, the essence of going to a restaurant is a little different. And going to a shopping center for this, taking the elevator to the fifth floor is somehow strange. Yes, having already arrived at the shopping complex, you can at the same time look into the restaurant located there. But few people will come to the shopping complex specifically to visit the restaurant and spend time in it. And this is the difference from Moscow. The metropolitan public does not care where the restaurant is located, even in a shopping center, as we learned from our own experience. In St. Petersburg it was more difficult. Although initially they thought that they had found the most passable, the most a good place. But it turned out that it wasn’t exactly the restaurant crowd that came there. But anyway, we ended up doing the project, and it was very successful. He has very good financial indicators, which made him want to develop further. We understand that now we have to be outside. In the street retail segment, as it is more in demand. Plus, the niche in which our restaurants operate is not very occupied in St. Petersburg. I think people need restaurants like this.

Birth of a concept

—Since we started talking about niches, tell us how you choose concepts for your establishments? Intuitively or based on your knowledge and practical experience?

—Perhaps this is some combination of what you listed. In addition, I always say that we have the best team. And this is the most important factor. People are the most precious thing I have. As for making a decision on choosing a concept, it is influenced by many factors. For example, if we take “Chaikhona No. 1”, initially we thought of creating a kind of oriental chill out. This was new. Nothing like this existed in Moscow at that time. And this is exactly the concept that people came to us with. Yes, then we began to “tweak it” in terms of service, food, interior, etc. But after a few years we realized that they began to repeat and copy us. Meanwhile, the geopolitical atmosphere in Russia has changed. If you want, there was a large-scale teahouseization of the country, which did not play well with us good joke. Let me explain: yes, in 15 years, which is exactly how long our project will be this year, “Chaikhona No. 1” has become a big brand. However, when people hear the word teahouse, certain stereotypical associations arise. And they don’t quite correspond to what we are talking about with our guests now. Today we are trying to convey to them a simple and understandable idea that “Chaikhona No. 1” is a place for all occasions. In fact, this is how teahouses are traditionally perceived in the East, where they are usually located in the center of a city or village, and it is there that people gather for any reason, be it the birth of a child, a meeting with friends, quarrels and reconciliations, romantic dates . Everything happens in the teahouse. We chose this concept - a place for all occasions - as a development strategy.

History of the company's creation

You can say that I got into the restaurant industry by accident. This happened in the post-perestroika period, when what in Soviet era what was called speculation became commerce, entrepreneurship. My brother and I began buying and selling various goods. This activity later grew into a business. For some time they produced and sold building materials, and even created their own trading house. It was then that our friend approached us with a proposal to open a veranda for a restaurant. Frankly, at that time we had no idea what the restaurant business was, even though my brother was educated at the Moscow school of head waiters and waiters, which at that time was the only institution that actually taught the profession, dating back to the Soviet times. times I remember that the competition for admission was 20 people per place. Applicants went through a serious selection process, since in the USSR the profession of a waiter was quite respected and attractive in terms of earnings. In addition, in our family, both my uncle and my dad’s wife worked for many years in the catering industry as a waiter and head waiter in the best restaurants in Moscow, including in the Kremlin.
So: our friend suggested opening a veranda, which we built in literally a month and a half, going into business, as they say, on our knees. At that time we had neither calculations nor technological maps, no standards. And they couldn’t boast of a professional understanding of the hospitality industry either. The scheme of work looked like this: we bought food at the market and cooked some of it, sold it, and divided the money. That's all entrepreneurship, 90s style. Much later, it gradually began to turn into an interesting business model. True, at first we closed the veranda and after some time we built our first restaurant in Gorky Park - again a veranda, but already insulated. But most importantly, I felt: I like the hospitality industry because it is lively, and besides, it is always working with people. And then I had to make a choice: either study two different areas in parallel, or concentrate on one thing.
As a result, on reflection, I chose the restaurant business, since I liked it and was more in demand. In addition, this market segment was just beginning to develop in the country at that time. I do not rule out that the genes that I have already mentioned were at work. In general, my brother and I followed this path. Actually, that's how it all started.
At first, we moved slowly: in ten years, only 12 restaurants appeared in the project. Why? My brother and I had the same views on business development strategy, while our then partners had different views.
With all this, I knew that I lacked an understanding of how a business model could be made from a concept, and therefore I went to study and entered the MBA program at MIRBIS, specializing in strategic management and corporate governance.
I must say that I was very lucky: during my studies I met brilliant people who today are significant figures in Russian business. I also learned a lot from them, in particular, I began to understand how to structure and systematically build business processes.
After that, in 2010, my brother and I decided to develop projects independently, to go our own way, since all our attempts to find a compromise with our partners were unsuccessful.

Collection of impressions

—How did you start implementing it?

—We began to think about what needed to be done in order to differ from the teahouse in the stereotypical sense. As a result, they began to specifically create different restaurants in order to move away from the chain format with an appropriate approach to the concept. Yes, a template solution is, of course, more profitable, cheaper and easier from the point of view of implementation. But we wanted to avoid online cliches and the negative associations associated with them. It is important for us that a person goes to our restaurant as if on an exciting journey and gets a new experience. We do everything to make such a visit for the guest an interesting acquaintance and different from visiting our other restaurants. We strive to create projects, each of which has its own story, its own mood. And this, I think, is our main distinguishing feature from other network projects. In addition, we realized: in order for “Chaikhona No. 1” to truly become a place for all occasions, a children's story is needed. There was nothing like this in Moscow then. Yes, separate cafes opened, the same “Andersen”, for example, which appeared in 2010. So, we decided that our restaurants didn’t have enough children’s rooms, so we started building them. Yes, from the point of view of rational use of space and rent, this is unprofitable. This will definitely not bring additional profit, will not increase table turnover, but children's Corner needed for guests. We began to approach the implementation of projects not from the point of view of increasing income, but strategically, wanting to attract guests for a long time. Then we analyzed what was still missing. It was necessary to create a spectacle, to offer people entertainment. We realized that live music was needed. As a result, we created a production center where our young guys improved their vocal skills. Some of them later participated in the show “The Voice”. And today they are performing in the restaurants of the Restart group. By the way, this later gave rise to the idea of ​​making a stage in the bar of each of our restaurants, which became a kind of business card our new restaurants.

Both learning and entertainment

-What else have you done?

“Now we’ve gone even further: knowing that people love to cook and learn the culinary arts, we launched a project called Live Kitchen, creating separate studios in their restaurants for conducting master classes. No one has done this before us. Meanwhile, it gives people the opportunity to learn how to cook, host events, and at the same time is a kind of entertainment that other restaurants do not have.

—Please tell us more about the essence of this project.

—The idea is simple: let’s say you love to cook and want to invite guests to your birthday party to treat them to home-cooked dishes. But I have no desire to gather company at home. Because you will have to first buy groceries, then stand at the stove, and after the holiday wash the dishes and do the cleaning. We give you the opportunity to prepare a dish in front of your family, loved ones and friends, and we take care of setting the table and serving it, as well as servicing the guests.

—In general, it turns out to be an endless creative process...

- Absolutely right. And it applies to all our projects. Take the same OBEDBUFET, which we are now implementing together with Dima Sergeev. He created the first one in St. Petersburg on his own, and the Moscow one is already with us. And this restaurant is different from the St. Petersburg one. In fact, we completed it ourselves, as we saw fit, since we had experience in implementing a project with a similar concept.

About the restaurateur

Alexey Vasilievich Vasilchuk
Education:
The first higher education is economics
The second higher education is an MBA at MIRBIS. Strategic Management and Governance
Co-owner of the RESTART restaurant holding, which includes projects such as:
— “Chaikhona No. 1” by the Vasilchuk brothers;
— Easy teahouse;
— culinary studio Live Kitchen;
- ploveberry;
—Pizzelove;
— restaurant project “354”;
— Obedbufet;
- delivery;
— karaoke studio “I’ll sing right now”;
— Burger Heroes;
- The Stolovka.
Alexey Vasilchuk has six children. He values ​​three things in people: honesty, truthfulness and sincerity.
For him, family is the most important thing in life.
Loves to travel and play sports.

Alexey Vasilchuk. Thinking out loud
“The most important thing in business is the people who do this business, who are next to you in Hard time. Everything depends only on them.”
“When you give, you receive. This is the law of conservation."
“Any situation is a cube, and a cube, as you know, has six sides. Any situation must be viewed from different angles.”

Cooperation for the benefit of the cause

—Alexey Vasilyevich, many restaurateurs prefer to go to success alone...

—On the contrary, I like to team up with colleagues. I like collaborations. I think than more people around, the more opportunities there are to learn from each other, to do something better. We take a win-win position. I am sure that the more interesting the team, the better.

—Back to the conversation about concepts, tell us how the idea for Ploveberry came about?

—At some point we realized: people don’t have enough quality food for little money. And it is also important that it is prepared and served very quickly. That’s when Ploveberry was born - in my opinion, a unique project working in food courts today. According to statistics, it ranks fourth in popularity after KFC, Burger King and McDonald's. How can we explain this success? The reason is simple: it’s tasty, fast, cheap, honest. People see how everything is prepared, because it happens to them in front of our eyes. There are no semi-finished products. In the perception of most Russian people, fast food is junking food. We tried to break this stereotype. We prepare dishes from good products, in the presence of guests. We have an open kitchen format. Absolutely everything is on hand I mean, it worked.

By the way, the already mentioned OBEDBUFET is also part of this story. A person can come and have a quick lunch, eating restaurant-quality food in restaurant interiors, thus receiving the full range of services.

—What else are you planning to surprise?

—We are now opening a restaurant with a very interesting meat concept. It already has a name - Steak it easy. We are implementing the idea together with the wine trading company SIMPLE. The kitchen will be handled by a good chef, our favorite Australian Sabby Canyon, who works at 354. The menu will feature inexpensive food: three versions of steaks, as many versions of burgers, soups and salads. Everything is very simple and clear. High quality and at very reasonable prices, including for wine, which I think will surprise guests, because we want to offer alcohol at reasonable prices retail stores. It’s no secret that today people are already starting to think about where to spend their earnings. And it’s not only and not so much about the crisis. It’s just that the time of so-called free money, pardon the expression, has passed. Just five to ten years ago it was the case that no matter where you cast your bait, you can get funds. Under an interesting thought, idea. Now the situation has changed. Making money has become much more difficult. And to everyone. And accordingly, it is more difficult for people to part with money. They begin to understand what it costs. And they don’t like to realize that they were deceived, that the service was sold for much more than it actually costs.

Based on the current situation, we are building our projects. Hence, in fact, collaborations with gastroenthusiasts, for example, with Nastya Kolesnikova. She, in my opinion, is an absolutely brilliant person, a fire woman who is able to gather colossal energy around herself. She and I have teamed up and are doing a common project. And together with the Burger Heroes team - young, talented guys - we will replicate their restaurant not only in Moscow, but also beyond its borders.

And of course, we have a completely new interesting project “354”, which we implemented together with Dima Sergeev, Sasha Kan, Iliador Marach, Seryozha Solonin. In my opinion, this is the strongest team you can imagine, and there is no other team like it in the country. This is a serious association in every sense. And I think when we fully launch the entire project, we will surprise people with both its format and scale (after all, its area is 7 thousand square meters).

About the restaurants

"Chaykhona number 1"
Moscow — 33 restaurants
St. Petersburg – 1 restaurant
Voronezh – 1 restaurant

ObedBufet
Moscow – 4 restaurants
St. Petersburg – 1 restaurant
Culinary studio Live Kitchen
Moscow – 3 studios

Ploveberry
Moscow – 5 restaurants

Pizzalove
Moscow – 1 restaurant
Karaoke studio "ShchasSpoyu"
Teahouse Easy
Moscow – 1 restaurant

Burger Heroes
Moscow — 1 burger restaurant

Restaurant complex "354"

Reboot, or Restaurant as art

— Alexey Vasilyevich, what is the restaurant business for you?

—Partly, the answer to the question is in the name of our company - RESTART. This word contains the entire philosophy of approach to business. This is both relaxation as art and restaurant as art, and not just some kind of template. For every project we have individual approach. Very thin, well thought out, taking into account a huge number of details. But the name also has a second meaning - a reboot. It happens all the time and affects everyone: ourselves, our employees, our guests, and the restaurant market, which is developing at a catastrophically high speed. And over the years, we have realized for ourselves: if we don’t move forward, we can simply fall out of the picture. That’s why you need to constantly reboot. Hence our cooperation with gastroenthusiasts. After all, we give young guys a chance to restart, and then, with new knowledge and new resources, approach the restaurant business. Believe me, we do this ourselves. This also applies to our approach to personnel. We thought and changed a lot in our projects and gained a lot of experience. As a result, we realized: the main thing, as I already said, is people. Moreover, they are not so valuable professional quality- We will teach a profession - personal qualities are much more important.

And the fact that we have created many establishments with diverse concepts gives people the opportunity to work with us, develop both horizontally and vertically. If a person wants to work in the fast food segment, he goes there; there is a desire to focus on another format - casual, fine dining or luxury - no problem. He can try himself everywhere, while remaining inside our company. We have created a huge mechanism that allows employees to try their hand at different positions and in various guises. And this is our competitive advantage before other restaurateurs, because we give our employees a real opportunity to develop and express themselves.

—What is the most valuable thing for you as a restaurateur?

—The people we work with and our guests. It is important that both of them feel our concern for them, feel like part of the same family, where it is safe and you can be yourself. This is important, because today, wherever a person goes, he often sees aggression towards himself, and therefore he constantly has to either defend himself or attack. This is modern life.

We want to get rid of this. If we can create a family atmosphere for our employees, they will take care of the guests and give them their love. And guests will definitely appreciate this attitude towards themselves. Everything is very simple. We try to either do it very well or not do it at all.

As for my personal perception, I have two important components in my life: family and work. I often remember the words of the great actor Yevgeny Leonov, who once said that happy man- the one who runs to work with joy in the morning, and runs home with the same feeling in the evening. I believe that if you managed to achieve such a balance, then you are happy. I was able to do it. I have a beloved wife, beloved children, of which there are six, a favorite business, beloved employees.

And we try to ensure that everyone who works in our company gains something at work. This, I believe, is the calling, the meaning of a person’s life - family and work.

Forecast for the future

—Today, are restaurants in Russia a business or a hobby, as they sometimes say?

— In my opinion, this is still more fun, entertainment. Nowadays there are not many companies that would treat restaurants as a serious business.

—What is the most difficult thing in the restaurant business for you as a successful entrepreneur to this day?

—The most difficult thing is to part with people, to fire them. I still can't get used to it. True, I don’t remember when employees left us on their own. Sometimes, unfortunately, you have to say goodbye to them for objective reasons. When something like this happens, the decision is very difficult for me. That is why, in order to avoid such situations, we are constantly improving our recruitment system, installing certain filters in order to find and retain people with a clear foundation with whom we can continue to work.

-What is he missing now?

—First of all, stability. There is also a lack of understanding of what a guest is. In addition, many people do business for the sake of money, for the sake of making a profit, although, in my opinion, you need to think first of all about the guest and take care of him.

—Alexey Vasilievich, in what direction is the industry moving now?

—On the one hand, we are getting closer to Europe and America, and on the other hand, we are creating absolutely new trend. After all, Russia is a special country that has always absorbed the best that the world has. If we look at history, we will see a lot of evidence of this. Of course, there were some negative things, but, thank God, they don’t take root here. So we are creating a new trend, a new restaurant market. By the way, many foreigners coming to Russia are already noticing: “You have such establishments that are rarely found in the world.”

In general, I believe that we can and should be leaders in the restaurant business, and on a global scale, we are capable of creating trends. Right now this is not the case. There are still attempts to focus on Western experience. But I still believe that in ten years Russia will become a global trendsetter in the restaurant business.

Interviewed by Alexey Zhuravlev

Blitz for the soul

— A few personal questions. What kind of music do you prefer?
—I can’t say that I love it and listen to it all the time. Like Beautiful music, which can always be, the one that does not irritate, but is in harmony with the soul - both church, and classical, and modern. Among my preferences are the works of the groups “Kalinov Most” and “Moral Code”.
— What book for Lately made an impression on you?
— Frédéric Laloux, “Discovering the Organizations of the Future.”
- What is happiness?
—Harmony with yourself, with the world, with God, which is perhaps the most important thing. After all, nothing will happen if there is no harmony with God, because God is love.

General Director of Pravda.Ru Inna Novikova won with Alexey Vasilchuk, co-owner of the restaurant holding RestArt, which owns such popular establishments as Chaikhona No. 1, Ploveberry, OBED BUFET, Live Kitchen, Project 354, about love for God and people, about children, about harmony in the soul and work, about the secrets of success, plans and dreams.

Alexey Vasilchuk: famous restaurateur about harmony in family and business. Secrets of success.

Alexey Vasilchuk believes: “The main goal of our life is to open our hearts to God and people. To become big internally. Not to achieve some earthly blessings in life, some significance, some success - this is all mediocre, the most important thing is to grow in soul ".

— Alexey, you are a very positive person, you have six children, who are probably all completely different. What do you see as your task as a parent? Is it about helping everyone find their own path? Or is it so that they become successors of your business? What do you think is important to them?

“My wife and I’s main task is to teach our children to love the people around them, to devote themselves to their work, and to work hard. Also, of course, loving God is natural in Orthodox family. I always give my children an example of Gogol’s Taras Bulba. I have a dream to attend my great-grandchildren's wedding. No, not because I want to live a hundred years, but because I want to see that the successors of my family are worthy people. It doesn't matter whether they are rich or poor.

It is very important to teach children to work. I believe that children should not have childhood in the generally accepted sense. Childhood is an introduction to the world, but now, unfortunately, our concepts of raising children have been transformed.

— My father was always the main one, the breadwinner and support.

- The father is not only the breadwinner, he is the center. A father should be like God to a family. And now we are shifting the focus to the fact that the child should be happy, that he should have everything he asks for, that we should care for and cherish him.

- Yes, this is how egoists grow up. Children need, first of all, to explain their perception of the world, what is good, what is bad, what God exists. My wife and children often talk at length about these topics. I also believe that the attitude of a father to his mother and a mother to his father is of great importance. In many families where spouses have lived together for more than twenty years, people forget about love, for them family life It just becomes a habit.

IN modern Orthodoxy Now, alas, the concept of humility is distorted, they say, be patient, be silent. You don't have to endure, you just have to love. Love is more than patience. You have to invest in a person, never expecting anything in return. And we do as we want family relationships: I did 50% for you, and you do 50% for me. There is no need to share, you need to love one hundred percent, and do one hundred percent, only then will something change.

- Previously, the father really was the head of the family, the owner, everything revolved around him, each child had a lot of work, since it was really vital. Life in families is completely different now. How to show a child the seriousness and complexity of life when there is nothing but comfort around?

— There can be many obediences, for example, some educational clubs, sports I am firmly convinced that a child must learn to overcome himself from childhood. It is very important to learn to step over your “I”, to step over your “I don’t want to”.

At the same time, we should not drill the child like in the army. He needs to be loved, he must feel warmth, love, care and understand from childhood that his task, his main mission is work. It is not so important who he will be, the main thing is that he finds himself in life, is happy and works. Evgeny Leonov once said that a happy person is the one who runs to work in the morning and runs home in the evening.

- There must be harmony.

- Yes, there must be harmony. If you love your job, love the people around you, give yourself completely to them and to your work, then willy-nilly there will be a backlash. I know from myself that the more you give, the more you receive.

Seraphim of Sarov said: “Save yourself, and thousands around you will be saved.” If you show by your example that this principle works for you, that you are happy, that everything is fine with you, then people will look and understand that this is real good model. In my opinion, Russia is the only country where the main core for people is still the Lord God.

— Any restaurant is, first of all, delicious food, beautiful design, comfortable atmosphere... Is it possible in this area betechnological development? Menu, dishes, kitchen appliances - could there be something fundamentally new here?

— Cooking technologies and level of service vary depending on the concept of the place. This greatly affects the taste. For example, for several years no one knew about sous-vide, a method of cooking in a vacuum at low temperatures. But new technologies appear constantly!

Of course, not everything innovative is good for restaurants. Because in a restaurant, in the restaurant business, the most important thing is the soul. The soul with which a cook prepares food, the soul with which a waiter serves, the soul with which a person comes up with all this - this is what is most valuable. Such things cannot be automated.

Prepared for publication by Yuri Kondratyev

Who are we?

We are number 1! The first restaurant, Chaikhona No. 1, opened its doors to guests in 2000. It all started with a small summer cafe in the Hermitage garden, and today “Chaikhona No. 1” of the Vasilchukov brothers already has 40 restaurants in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Chekhov and Kazan.

We are changing!“Chaikhona No. 1” by the Vasilchuk brothers has long moved away from the traditional eastern concept. Today our style can be described as fusion - a combination of different trends in cuisine, interior design and music. New restaurants break existing stereotypes and show guests that Chaikhona No. 1 is a place for all occasions.

We are growing! In 2016, the Chaikhona No. 1 restaurant project became the flagship of the gastronomic holding of the Vasilchuk brothers RESTart Vasilchuk Brothers. At the beginning of 2018, the holding has 80 restaurants employing more than 7 thousand employees, which makes it one of the largest associations in the Russian restaurant market.

Why "We on We" » ?

« When there are people, there is everything!”– this is the business credo of the Vasilchuk brothers. The principle of work of the entire team of Chaikhona No. 1 is expressed by the thesis “We are on We” - this is everyone’s personal responsibility for overall result.

We want our employees to feel like members of one big family in the company. To do this, we create a positive, friendly atmosphere and constantly follow the “We vs. We” rule. Our internal community Chaikhona-Family allows you to always be in the know latest news, communicate, monitor the successes of colleagues and follow the example of leaders.

Our values

We have chosen 7 main values ​​that formed the basis of internal corporate communications of Chaikhona No. 1: Development, Trust, Responsibility, Love, Mastery, Leadership, Team.

These values ​​unite employees, help them achieve high results and implement their ideas and projects within the company. To achieve this, we constantly hold training sessions, competitions and special leadership programs.

We set goals that take your breath away, go beyond the usual boundaries, constantly monitor market trends and adopt the most advanced ideas and technologies. Our goal is to be the best in our business!

Become number one!

Now - best time to start a career in the restaurant business. Cooks and bartenders are called the rock stars of the new generation, and a waiter is no longer a part-time job, but a prestigious profession that opens up enormous prospects. The restaurant business in Russia has become a full-fledged area for building a career and a job “for life”, like in Europe.

If you share our values, want to solve ambitious problems, develop leadership skills, realize your talent and build successful career in a strong successful company, then we are waiting for you at Chaikhona No. 1 of the Vasilchukov Brothers.

The co-founders of the Chaikhona No. 1 restaurant group, brothers Alexey and Dmitry Vasilchuk, got into the restaurant business by accident. In 2001, their friend Timur Lansky was looking for money to open a new establishment and invited the Vasilchuks, who then made money by selling building materials, to become his partners. The first “Chaikhona No. 1” opened the same year in the Hermitage Garden, the second - a year later in Gorky Park.

In 2010, when the group had already grown to nine establishments, the partners quarreled and decided to divide the business: Lansky got five restaurants, the Vasilchuks got four. Since then, there are two “Chaikhona No. 1” on the market - Lansky clings to the name he invented, and Vasilchuki has not been able to decide on rebranding for several years.

At the same time, things are going better for the Vasilchuks. They now manage 30 restaurants, Lansky has half as many. In addition to Chaikhona No. 1, the brothers have other projects: Chaikhona Easy, ObedBufet, Burger Heroes. Right now they are preparing to open the “354” project, three restaurants on the top floors of the “Oko” tower in Moscow City, and are launching an incubator for gastronomic startups.

In an interview with Secret, Alexey Vasilchuk spoke about the future of Chaikhona No. 1 and his other projects, the peculiarities of doing business with friends and relatives, what he teaches his six children, and also why he goes to Mount Athos every year and what he consults with the elders about there.

“Everyone is trying to break us, but we don’t break”

- You are launching a business incubator for gastronomic startups. Why do you need it?

The idea belongs to the brilliant woman Nastya Kolesnikova, who runs the Local Food project. With Nastya's support, we are developing partnership projects. Such as Burger Heroes.

We ourselves were once just gastroenthusiasts. And they became successful thanks to two factors. Firstly, and this is my firm conviction, nothing happens in this world without the help of God. Secondly, in the 2000s we had no competitors. The market was just emerging, the guests did not particularly understand the nuances, the atmosphere was more important for them.

Now times are hard, competition is high, the market is aggressive. Beginning restaurateurs have more problems than we did back then. When these young guys with burning eyes and good ideas stones begin to fall, this can demotivate them and deprive them of the desire to do anything in the restaurant business.

In general, we have three goals. The first is to raise the quality of industry in Russia. This can only be done in in a good way obsessed people. The second is, of course, business. Something could develop into joint projects. The third goal is a banal exchange of experience.

- Are you missing obsessed people on your team?

Yes, I just see people who are already moving something themselves and are ready to do more than they are doing. I was invited several times to communicate with students at MGIMO, the Financial Academy, etc., and I saw how young people’s eyes lit up. These people will raise our country. I have six children, the eldest - twin brothers - are 16 years old. They, too, will probably go into the restaurant business.

- Your goals, of course, are ambitious...

Yes. We must become number one in everything. Because Russian people have unique qualities that few people still possess today.

- Which ones?

Russian people are more creative. Russian people have a deeper soul. Russian people are very hardworking. I travel a lot and have noticed that people who live in the West have become lazy, they no longer need anything in life, they perceive everything without enthusiasm. And many Russians live 200% - they need it here, now and to the end. And that's cool. Due to this, we can become a great power not only in a geographical or military sense, but also in business.

Now everyone is really trying to break us, but we are not breaking. Moreover, import substitution is already working. Our burrata has become better than in Italy. No worse - for sure. And we can produce meat.

Give us 10–20 years, and the restaurants will be the best in the world. They are already, I think, arguing for this title. Another ten years - and people from all over the world will come to us and say: “There are such cool restaurants here, we need them too.” These are my big ideas.

- Do you have enough time for everything?

There is never time for anything. And this is natural.

- Are there already many applications for participation in the business incubator?

I do not know for sure. Nastya is involved in this project.

- She's probably telling you something...

There are a lot of people willing. Mostly, of course, this is Nastya’s audience: participants in various food markets and festivals. In general, we have many projects that we supervise, but do not lead ourselves. There are responsible people who devote all their time to them. I try not to interfere.

- You said that the winners will receive investments. Whose money will it be?

We will either invest ourselves or attract someone. It's not clear yet. The project is still raw, we need two more weeks to discuss.

You also invite people to the incubator who currently only have a business idea. How much are you willing to pay for a good idea?

How much did the Facebook idea cost? Some people came up with Facebook, others did it. By the way, we already had experience in buying ideas, but so far we have brought little to life. We are opening one such place soon - we paid 500,000 rubles for the idea, branding and name.

- What kind of place is it?

I don’t want to talk about it yet.

“What’s next, what else could happen?”

- How are you doing in general? How are your establishments doing during the crisis?

- “Chaikhona No. 1” is visited on average by 1,000 people a day, the average check is 1,500 rubles. Chaikhona Easy has the same number of visitors, but the average check is almost two times lower - 600 rubles. 2,700 people a day pass through ObedBufet, the average check is 400 rubles.

What else do you have planned besides the business incubator? Will the “354” restaurant on the 86th floor of a skyscraper in Moscow City open soon?

Just today I was riding in an elevator with my partners after visiting a construction site and asking myself the question: “What’s next, what else could happen?” You see, “354” is such an ambitious project... These are three restaurants and a banquet hall on the top floors of the “Eye” tower. Another roof is an observation deck. The entire project is 7000 sq. m and 360 seats. We launched an open restaurant on the roof in September, and it worked for a month and a half.

- Why not in the summer? Did not have time?

Because at an altitude of 354 m it is very difficult to coordinate everything and build. The contractors let us down a little more. Yes, in September it was cold for a summer veranda, but we don’t do all this for one year. And in December, in place of the veranda there will be a skating rink - the highest skating rink in a building in the world.

A unique, in my opinion, Russian cuisine restaurant with an area of ​​1,500 square meters will open very soon under the skating rink. m. Some people like this, others not so much, but we will cook exactly the same as before: real Guryev porridge, telnoe, etc. There will be a stove in the center of the hall. There will also be an “ice room” made of glass, inside which the temperature will be maintained at sub-zero temperatures. There we will have devices like moonshine, through which we will distill vodka, mixing it with herbs, squeezing berries or fruits. We also have real historians working for us; they are now training our staff.

- Who is this all aimed at?

The summer veranda has a relatively inexpensive meat menu, the average bill is 2500-3000 rubles. A Russian restaurant will be even cheaper, the average bill is 1500–2000 rubles.

Paradoxically, many people don’t go to Chaikhona No. 1 because of the name

- How much money did you and your partners invest in this project?

A huge amount - more than $10 million.

“I don’t want to be the richest man in the cemetery”

- You were also planning to rebrand Chaikhona No. 1 this year...

There will be no rebranding this year.

- What is this connected with? This story has been going on for, it seems, three years already.

Yes, the idea was born three years ago. Now there is a teahouse on every corner. There are establishments of our former partners - this is a different project, but it is also called “Chaikhona No. 1”. We attracted serious marketers, several teams worked for us, but this is a very difficult decision.

- Do you stick to the brand?

Paradoxically, many people don’t come to us precisely because of the name. For example, I once talked with a partner in the Burger Heroes project, Igor Podstreshnikov, a typical representative of generation Z, and he admitted that he had not come to us for a long time, because the word “chaikhona” evokes unpleasant associations in him.

- So you want to become fashionable?

Not exactly fashionable. I don't really like this word. We want to be a city restaurant for everyone.

- Are you not in contact with your former partner Timur Lansky, the owner of another Chaikhona No. 1?

Unfortunately, we don't communicate. In general, I don’t really like to discuss this topic. Timur and I were friends. Moreover, he is also my godson, and one of my partners is his son’s godfather. Of course, it’s long past time to turn this page and talk. The opportunity just hasn't presented itself yet.

But when we do nothing ourselves, the Lord does everything for us. Recently my brother went on vacation to a small island, lost in the Indian Ocean, and accidentally met Timur there. They talked, and I hope this will help us improve our relationship.

When you parted, you agreed to behave correctly towards each other, but then you began to publicly sort things out.

Now I understand that I could not have done this. Not very good articles about us just started coming out.

- Yes, Lansky accused you of greed.

There was nothing in these articles that had anything to do with reality. Not a single word. It was possible not to react, of course. I really don’t want to remember negative things now.

The Lord gives people in life for lessons and for benefit. From a business point of view, everyone benefited by dividing the company. Roughly speaking, two strong players began to prove something to each other. Therefore, we ran far away, and all other competitors were left behind.

- What did this conflict teach you?

Because you should always try to come to an agreement. Then I thought that I had done everything to save the relationship. Now I think that we could have tried to do something else. I just don’t know whether it would have been better or worse if we had stayed together.

“I heard that you even went to the elder on Mount Athos so that he could tell you whether to divide the company or not.”

I went to see the elder, yes. It’s all not just about business, about money.

- Because it's your friend?

Yes because that's it! Collective, team... This is my godson, after all. A lot of things... It was hard for me. And my spiritual mother, the elder, advised me to go to the elder. He is 85 years old, he is still alive and helps me spiritually. When I told him my story, he said that if he were me, he would split the business. So I did.

- How do you combine religiosity and the desire to earn money?

Yesterday I watched a film about Innokenty Sibiryakov, who lived in the 19th century. He was from a rich family, earned a lot of money, and by today's standards he was an oligarch. As a result, he ended his life as a monk on Mount Athos, and gave away all the money. He earned money not to get rich, but to help others. The question is: why are you doing this? Well, I definitely don't want to be the richest person in the cemetery. And I don’t want to burden my children with a fortune. If I ever have one at all.

“If it’s mine, then it’s my brother’s, if it’s his, then it’s mine too.”

- Do you spend a lot of time with your children? After all, you have six of them.

Of course, I would like more. This is definitely true. I always spend the whole weekend with them. If I need to go to a restaurant, I only go with my family. We try to talk a lot. We are friends with the elders.

- You said that they also want to get into the restaurant business.

One definitely wants to work in the restaurant industry. At the age of 16, he is already a very good cook, but wants to be a leader. He started in a restaurant as a cleaner, has now passed the hookah station, and is preparing to become a waitress. All this in my free time from school.

- Purposeful.

Not really. It’s hard for me to call modern youth, who live in abundance, purposeful. But yes, I'm glad the kids want to do something.

- Do you quarrel in difficult situations?

We had difficult moments. But recently we stopped quarreling altogether, learned to listen to each other and give in. Even if you think that a person is wrong, sometimes you need to give in to preserve the friendship.

- So how do you divide the business?

All our lives we divide everything in half, we have this rule. Other models do not work - a crack immediately appears in the relationship.

- But in the SPARK database I did not find you in the list of shareholders of Chaikhona No. 1 Restaurant Chain LLC and other companies...

And what's wrong with that? It’s like this: if it’s mine, then it’s my brother’s, if it’s his, then it’s mine too. If you start weighing who did more and who came up with more, you will lose your partner.

- Even if it's a brother?

And most often this is what happens to brothers. Have you noticed that there is very little business on the market where brothers are together?

- Family business or business with friends - it's really not easy.

There is such a common expression: “Nothing personal - just business.” You cannot be like this in a family and different in business. The Lord created you as one, He did not create you as two different ones.

"Secret" thanks for your help in organizing the interview with People Management ReForum, where Alexey Vasilchuk will act as a speaker on December 1, 2016

Photos: Alexander Karnyukhin / “Secret of the Firm”

Who are we?

We are number 1! The first restaurant, Chaikhona No. 1, opened its doors to guests in 2000. It all started with a small summer cafe in the Hermitage garden, and today “Chaikhona No. 1” of the Vasilchukov brothers already has 40 restaurants in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Chekhov and Kazan.

We are changing!“Chaikhona No. 1” by the Vasilchuk brothers has long moved away from the traditional eastern concept. Today our style can be described as fusion - a combination of different trends in cuisine, interior design and music. New restaurants break existing stereotypes and show guests that Chaikhona No. 1 is a place for all occasions.

We are growing! In 2016, the Chaikhona No. 1 restaurant project became the flagship of the gastronomic holding of the Vasilchuk brothers RESTart Vasilchuk Brothers. At the beginning of 2018, the holding has 80 restaurants employing more than 7 thousand employees, which makes it one of the largest associations in the Russian restaurant market.

Why "We on We" » ?

« When there are people, there is everything!”– this is the business credo of the Vasilchuk brothers. The principle of work of the entire team of Chaikhona No. 1 is expressed by the thesis “We are on We” - this is everyone’s personal responsibility for the overall result.

We want our employees to feel like members of one big family in the company. To do this, we create a positive, friendly atmosphere and constantly follow the “We vs. We” rule. Our internal community Chaikhona-Family allows you to always keep abreast of the latest news, communicate, follow the successes of your colleagues and follow the example of leaders.

Our values

We have chosen 7 main values ​​that formed the basis of internal corporate communications of Chaikhona No. 1: Development, Trust, Responsibility, Love, Mastery, Leadership, Team.

These values ​​unite employees, help them achieve high results and implement their ideas and projects within the company. To achieve this, we constantly hold training sessions, competitions and special leadership programs.

We set goals that take your breath away, go beyond the usual boundaries, constantly monitor market trends and adopt the most advanced ideas and technologies. Our goal is to be the best in our business!

Become number one!

Now is the best time to start a career in the restaurant business. Cooks and bartenders are called the rock stars of the new generation, and a waiter is no longer a part-time job, but a prestigious profession that opens up enormous prospects. The restaurant business in Russia has become a full-fledged area for building a career and a job “for life”, like in Europe.

If you share our values, want to solve ambitious problems, develop leadership skills, realize your talent and build a successful career in a strong successful company, then we are waiting for you at Chaikhona No. 1 of the Vasilchukov Brothers.