How Lobster defeated the system

Restaurateur Mikhail Zelman - about emigration, the empire of lobsters and the annexation of Crimea

Successful Russian businessman Mikhail Zelman is called a person who determined the restaurant appearance of modern Moscow. At twenty -six, he created the company Arpic, under the leadership of which there were about twenty restaurants. Zelman came up with and made a super popular network of the Goodman steak-house. He built power plants, supplied food for Sapsan trains and the country's Ministry of Defense. In 2012, Mikhail Zelman unexpectedly sold his business in Russia and moved to live and work in the UK. In England, he opened four Burger & Lobster restaurants, which quickly became one of the most popular establishments in London. Zelman promotes a mono -product concept and sells only two dishes to visitors: burgers and lobsters.

Radio Liberty correspondent Roman Super met with Mikhail Zelman and learned from him why it was necessary to sell a successful business in Russia and change it to burgers, lobsters and another country, how restaurateurs experienced import substitution and sanctions, why he violently condemns the annexation of Crimea and is going to return home.

- Michael, what stood at the origins of your restaurant empire? Somewhere in the distant past, the Soviet Culinary School is hiding modestly and shyly, like Arkady Novikov?

- I have a completely different way. What year you were born in?

-In 1985.

-I was born in 1977. Many now manifest nostalgia for the Soviet Union, but I remember it too well to nostalgia. I remember my first worn jeans from second-hand. I remember the multi -kilometer queue at McDonald's. I remember the gastronomic ecstasy that I experienced by trying a burger. I remember other lines: in 1990, for example, there was a queue for gasoline. My mother and I got up at four in the morning and went to the refueling to occupy. Therefore, in the Soviet Union, as in the state system, I have no nostalgia. But here's how I formed a restaurateur at that time. The culture of barbecue in the country formed me. My dad had a cool barbecue. And in the country, we have always gathered large companies: neighbors, friends, many different people. The first toast on these country gatherings has always been pronounced for the one who cooked chic meat.

-You began to work with food because of these summer kebabs?

- I fell in love with barbecue. When the Soviet Union collapsed, I went to work. I was fifteen years old, and I did everything that could be done at all. My older brother repatriated to Israel, leaving me as an inheritance of his friends. So we worked with them.

-And when did the profession come?

“I thought about her all the time.” I thought about how I would feed my family when I would have it. And so the brother of the brother suddenly decided to buy a cafe. Bought. Buying this cafe made Zelman's restaurateur. I immediately abandoned all other capabilities of earnings. And he became a restaurateur.

- How did all this roll and developed on? The nineties. A lot of risks.

- Then I began to think how to open my own restaurant. I repeat, grew up in Soviet reality. I remember how in the winter I took out a battery out of the car and brought it home so that it would not be discharged in the cold. Gasoline was always bad, so I had to wash the gas pump, change the candles. That's all, do you understand? Therefore, it seemed to me that the restaurant should be expensive and rich!

- Was there such a complex?

- Like in Africa. In poor countries, people earn one dollar, and then suddenly they begin to earn two. Two dollars! This is twice as much! This is what happened with my generation. On a global scale, we earned little, but for us it was a lot of money. And such a fashion was: expensive and rich! So my first independent project appeared-the San Michel restaurant on Tverskaya.

- Restaurant for bandits?

-No, no, this is the end of the nineties. Still, I am a restaurateur of the second wave. Not for bandits. It was a fashionable restaurant where there were sushi, hookahs, steaks, borscht ...

- What a horror.

- Arkady Novikov at that time already had restaurants "Tsarist Hunt", "Caucasian captive" ... But there were no fashion restaurants in which all of Moscow would gather. "San Michel" became so.

- All Moscow is who? What audience did you fight for?

- Mikhail Prokhorov, Boris Berezovsky, and other oligarchs, loved to come there. This restaurant quickly made a name to me. And pretty quickly made me understand that this is all terribly unprofessional!

- What exactly? Hookah?

- I realized that you can’t cook everything equally tasty at once. And later in America, I fell ill with the culture of the steak. I realized that steak is what I love and can really do myself. So my next restaurant appeared in Moscow - Goodman. It was a restaurant that began steak culture in Moscow. In one team, people gathered who made steaks best in the whole city. And then I finally realized that it is much cooler to do less, but better than more, but so -so. This is wise and correct.

Mikhail Zelman

- Actually, this gave rise to your mono -product manifesto and your London restaurant, in which you offer only two dishes?

- Yes. And my mono -product manifesto was largely born under the influence of my Soviet past, in which there were barbecue, donuts, cheburechny. In their idea, these institutions were wonderful. Unless, of course, an unscrupulous cook did not intervene there, which diluted the products from incomprehensible what. The concept itself is cool. I wrote my manifesto in which I say so: I believe that there can be one dish in the restaurant. And this restaurant will be popular and successful. Actually, now I will realize this simple idea: I try to do less, but better.

- What is a mono -product concept? Look. I often visit Tel Aviv. And my experience suggests that the most delicious food in Israel is found in absolutely unknown people who have not entered the reference books for tourists near some market. This is not a restaurant at all or even a cafe. This is almost home kitchen with four tables to which the hostess invites you and feeds you so that you can go crazy. There is no menu there, there is just a pan on the stove in which you can look. Does this fit into the mono -product concept?

- Yes, and I am an adherent of this approach. If there were no such cafes as you describe, then there would be no people like me. The situation described by you is the foundation on which I stand.

-Still, you still have two dishes in a restaurant, not one.

“But I strive to do one thing.” Make one dish so that you can go crazy from this dish! This is an ideal that you can only strive for.

- What did your country barbecue, love of steaks and monoproduct concepts resulted in? How many restaurants have you discovered in the world? And how many subordinates do you have?

- How many restaurants are there? .. I do not think. Don't know. I put the quality at the forefront, not the quantity.

- Lucavive. How can you not know how many restaurants you have?

- I don’t cunning, I really don’t know how many restaurants around the world opened under our beginning. But I think the head of the company I think and I have to know how many people work for me.

- How much?

- In England, we are already more than a thousand people.

- Why did you move to live and work in London? Have you managed to formulate the answer to this question?

- I often reflect on this subject. I can say for sure that I left not because I could not stay in Russia. But because if I had not discovered the Burger and the Lobster, then I would not be able to live. I went to realize my new idea.

- So why didn't you open the Burger and Lobster in Moscow? Why did you need to go to London for this?

- It was necessary. I will not explain emotionally, but pragmatic. Initially, I wanted to open a restaurant only with a burger. I spoke about this to my friends in Moscow: here, they say, I will have an institution where I will prepare one burger, but the best in the world. Friends answered me that they would not go to such a restaurant, because they love to eat a salad first, then soup, then everything else. When I talked about this in England, they reacted differently to me: "Misha, why will your burger be better than those that are already sold in other restaurants?" Do you understand the difference in models?

- Yes. Is this the main reason for your move?

- There is a lot of things. When I formulated my mono -product manifest, I, among other things, described the main values that I can and want to work on.

- What are these values?

- Globalization, tolerance, cosmopolitanism.

- This is all about modern Russia, of course.

I decided not to scream about anything loudly. And quietly and calmly go where it will be comfortable to do what I believe in. To London

- Yes, that's for sure. When I began to talk about these values with comrades and relatives in Russia, I did not find a response. Conservative-rare ideas were seething in their heads. And somehow I came to the conclusion that in Russia it is simply dangerous to even talk about this. I decided not to scream about anything loudly. And quietly and calmly go where it will be comfortable to do what I believe in. To London.

- Listen, you were a very successful businessman in Russia: you had a wide network of popular restaurants, you had extremely advantageous contracts with Russian Railways, but there are a lot of things to do in Russia, and then you sell it all and start life from a clean country in a foreign country along with a lobster and a burger out of love for tolerance, globalization and cosmopolitanism?

- Perhaps I realized that the meaning of life is not in money. Perhaps I realized what strange era I lived in Russia. How to call it right? This is not the era of democracy. This is not communism. Perhaps I thought where I want to educate my children. Perhaps I had a universal value crisis. It really was very comfortable for me to live in the model in which I lived, you are right. In Moscow, I was not just a restaurateur, but part of the system with all its external and internal manifestations. But an internal dialogue always took place in me, according to which I simply realized that I could not physiologically realize my idea with a burger and lobster. That's all.

- So Lobster won the system.

- Yes, this idea was much more valuable to me than all the successes that I achieved in Russia.

Mikhail Zelman

- Did you have stress from this move? Or do you feel like a person of a different generation - Global Russian generation, when is the Motherland and work where you and your computer?

All the difficulties that, under other circumstances, could probably kill me, in this particular case they tempered me

- Global Russians is a very idealistic idea. Even birds are not just given a flight to warm countries, many do not survive. Any move to another culture, especially if your work is not related to the computer (and mine is not connected) is certainly stress and challenge. But I really wanted to do this, I was very powerfully motivated. All the difficulties that, under other circumstances, could probably have killed me, in this particular case they tempered me. But it is not easy to move. There must be very strong motivation for this.

- Who goes to your restaurants in London? Is this a rich audience? Or is it more likely, like the London metro, which is used by both lords and guys in hoods from Bricston?

- Rather, like a London metro, where everyone will find a place. Just depending on the station, more certain people come into the car. Representatives of the financial business come to us in City B. In Soho - tourists. In principle, my restaurants are not cheap, like the London metro. But like the London metro, my restaurants can afford everything.

- How much does a lobster cost in your restaurant?

- Twenty pounds.

- And the burger?

- Also twenty pounds. Imagine, we have not changed prices for five years. This is monoproduction: the ability to focus on one thing. Clients value it. Yes, and mainly those people who share the values that I talked above come to me.

- Tolerance, globalization, cosmopolitanism.

- Yes, but the greatest value that they share is the desire to eat delicious.

Burger and Lobster

- Is it still difficult to get to Burger and Lobster?

- Yes.

- Still an obligatory queue at the entrance?

- Yes.

- On any day?

- Yes.

- Why doesn't interest fall?

- And because from the very beginning I did not want to surprise anyone here. I did not want to bring to the Londoners what they do not have. I didn’t come up with steaks. Burgers, too, were not invented. Lobster ate to me for several centuries. I just wanted to cook the best. And I did it. I have no reason to be nervous that this will cease to be fashionable.

-Did your restaurants in London have any unpleasant clashes with the city authorities? The sanitary and epidemiological station came suddenly?

Here I do not spend time on bureaucratic nonsense, on which I spent a lot of time in Russia

- I work with very good lawyers. And I always do what the lawyers tell me to do. Therefore, I do not have the context that you are asking about. Ninety -nine percent of my time I do directly what I want: I try to cook better, try to improve the service, try to make restaurants even better. Here I do not spend time on bureaucratic nonsense, on which I spent a lot of time in Russia.

- Do the British press praise you? Here is Arkady Novikova The Gardian newspaper, as you know, criticized.

- Now they praise me, then they criticize. London restaurant critics are my psychotherapists. This is important to me, I analyze these articles. They are usually written unpleasant, from the point of view of the language. But, as Evgeny Chichvarkin says, I do not want to read only the necrologist to myself. Everything else is please.

- By the way, about Chichvarkin. What is your circle of communication in London? Are these Russians?

- Different people. Not necessarily Russians. I work with Americans, British, Canadians, Italians. At home I am collecting the near circle of people. These are my friends who speak Russian.

Evgeny Chichvarkin and Mikhail Zelman

- Is it true that your clients eat two thousand lobsters daily?

- If not more. I think there are already three.

-Is it true that you somehow managed to convince the British authorities to cancel the fee for the import of lobsters?

- This is not entirely true. There is always the opportunity to protect your interests if you are a local fisherman or farmer. They have a strong lobby. But there is a lobby that protects free trade. So I began to sell a huge number of lobsters, and this gave the opportunity to those circles that advocate free trade, insist on the abolition of tax on the import of a living lobster. I hope this will happen soon. But at the same time, for example, there are Swedish activists who generally want to prohibit the import of a living lobster; They are afraid that unscrupulous residents of Europe will release lobsters at sea, and this will change the ecosystem. In a word, this is a lively and understandable process.

- Michael, you tried to calculate how much the lobster would cost if you sold it in a Moscow restaurant, and not in London?

- Oh, no. To begin with, he would not cost at all. The import of the lobster is prohibited to Russia that comes to us in London from Canada.

- Now you are probably very rejoicing that you managed to profitably sell a business in Russia, whose economy is going through not the best times. Anticipated? Are you afraid? Coincidence?

-Firstly, I did not sell my business in Russia for some huge money. I didn’t even bargain when I sold. Secondly, I am not happy. I tried quickly to sell everything in Russia and go to London not because of any forebodings. I was in a hurry because in Russia a lot distracted me from business. And these things did not make me smarter and more professional. Regarding the forebodings ... could someone imagine that what happened in Russia will happen in Russia? How could such a quarrel with the West could foresee it? How could you foresee that oil would fall to forty dollars? How could the annexation of Crimea be foreseen?

- I hope the chairman of the Investigative Committee Bastrykin does not read us. With him, such words cannot be pronounced aloud.

- The annexation of Crimea?

- Yes.

- So you and I were born when Crimea was part of Ukraine. But at the same time, it was never a problem for me to go to Crimea. When they say that in Ukraine they violated the rights of Russians, I want to answer: and in Russia they do not violate the rights of Ukrainians?

- And in Russia they do not violate the rights of Russians?

In the modern world, it is impossible to be competitive and successful if you put your own understanding of justice above the right

- Or so. For me, there is no justice in the annexation of Crimea. But for the generation of my parents, this is justice. Because for them Crimea is their Soviet childhood, it is their history of Great Russia. But then the question arises: what to do with the brothers Ukrainians, who at a really difficult moment took what they considered their own? Are relatives who do this in a difficult moment? And what about international law? While we are not respected by international law, we simply cannot be part of this right. And in the modern world it is impossible to be competitive and successful if you put your own understanding of justice above law. If now the whole world begins to reunite in this way, then the war will come not only to the east of Ukraine. This is a very dangerous way.

Mikhail Zelman

- Do you maintain contacts with restaurateurs in Russia?

- I support. For my colleagues from Russia, I make workshop once a year.

- How did import substitution affect their business? Декларировалось ведь, что кризис и продуктовая самоизоляция подтолкнут российское сельское хозяйство к росту и изобретательности. Говорилось, что наконец-то местные фермеры получат шанс полноценно выйти на рынок. Оправдались ожидания?

Сама по себе идея импортозамещения в ответ на санкции для меня выглядит жуткой. Вот есть невежество. И это оно

– Сама по себе идея импортозамещения в ответ на санкции для меня выглядит жуткой. Вот есть невежество. И это оно. Нам говорят, что Россию можно мотивировать что-то производить с помощью санкций! А мы не боимся получить ровно тот эффект, который у нас был в Советском Союзе, когда страна находилась в изоляции и выпускала "Жигули" и "Вятку"? Мне кажется, что в глобальном современном мире люди, которые находятся более-менее в ладах с реальностью, такой вопрос даже ставить не могут: санкции не могут мотивировать на создание высококонкурентного дешевого продукта.

– Ситуация со скотоводством каким-то образом меняется в России? Отечественное мраморное мясо для стейка – это все еще миф?

– То, что я вижу в этой области, меня очень радует. Для меня это бальзам на душу. И я очень горжусь тем, что я какое-то время был вовлечен со своим рестораном Goodman в отечественное мясное скотоводство. Сегодня это стало очень успешным проектом. Российское мясо сегодня по качеству не уступает лучшим мировым образцам. А по цене это мясо значительно более выгодно. И если бы Россия не находилась сегодня в изоляции и могла бы экспортировать это мясо в Европу, то я бы с удовольствием его покупал.

– Успехи российского скотоводства как-то связаны с импортозамещением и санкциями?

– Вообще никак.

– До вашей лондонской жизни добрались телевизионные кадры с уничтожением запрещенных в России продуктов питания? Помните же все эти бульдозеры, давящие персики…

Если долбо**ам дать возможность творить справедливость, то они будут бульдозерами давить еду

– Добрались. Понимаешь, если долбо**ам дать возможность творить справедливость, то они будут бульдозерами давить еду. Как можно к этому еще относиться? Как можно относиться к тому, что книги сжигают? Это долбо**изм. Он наглый, прямой и незастенчивый. Это просто торжество долбо**изма.

– Вас российская повестка дня все еще волнует?

– Российская повестка – это реально очень странный фон. Повестка дня в России для моего философского и понятийного аппарата часто является иррациональной, она далека от того, что происходит в моей жизни. Был один момент, когда эта повестка к моей жизни приблизилась. Я тогда чуть не обосрался. I was very scared.

- What's happened?

– Я имею в виду конфликт России с Украиной. Был момент, когда я сидел и следил за новостями: будут сейчас штурмовать Мариуполь или не будут? Вспыхнет полномасштабная война или не вспыхнет? Я являюсь гражданином Израиля и России. И я боялся, что меня из Великобритании сейчас просто-напросто интернируют. Я тогда реально боялся, что меня выгонят из Англии!

– Как гражданина страны-агрессора?

Михаил Зельман

- Yes! That's right! Yes. Понимаешь, до недавнего времени у русского человека с деньгами, который занимается бизнесом за границей, покупает недвижимость за границей, спонсирует зарубежные футбольные команды, была несколько иная репутация. Богатый русский за границей – это было очень даже cool, классно. И очень-очень быстро это изменилось, когда случилась Украина. Западный мир до конца вообще не понял, что произошло, для всех абсолютно это был большой сюрприз. Даже для самой России, я думаю. Западный истеблишмент вообще не понимал, как на это реагировать, и в какой-то момент сам включил свою пропагандистскую машину, испугавшись, что Россия решила объявить миру большую войну, присоединив к себе все, что только можно, включая Одессу и Киев.

– Вам стало некомфортно ощущать себя частью русской культуры в Лондоне?

– В тот момент стало некомфортно, да. Но потом элиты все же нашли способ отделить мух от котлет, как говорит президент Путин. И теперь в Лондоне снова никого ничего не волнует.

– На работе вас никто к политическим разговорам не склоняет?

У нас-то, конечно, есть ощущение, что во всем мире все всегда говорят только о России. В действительности здесь всем начхать

– Нет, в Англии на уровне простых людей вообще это никого сейчас не волнует. У нас-то, конечно, есть ощущение, что во всем мире все всегда говорят только о России. В действительности здесь всем начхать. И не только на Россию, а вообще на всех. В Лондоне работают очень разговорчивые таксисты. Они, как правило, образованные интересные люди. Мне однажды такой таксист сказал: "Ты понимаешь, нам вообще все равно, откуда ты. Вот ты скажешь, что ты еврей, но завтра ты захочешь стать католиком. А многие католики становятся евреями. Вчера ты жил в России. Сегодня ты живешь в Англии. А завтра в Америку уедешь. Нам это безразлично. Но нам важно, чем ты занимаешься, какая у тебя профессия".

– Михаил, вы успешно живете и работаете в Лондоне. Но ведь вы уже сделали то, ради чего вы уезжали: открыли сеть ресторанов "Бургер и лобстер", внесли свою лепту в монопродуктовую концепцию, вас практически ничего не отвлекает от дел, которые вам нравятся. Может быть, пришло время вернуться домой?

У меня нет мотивации заниматься бизнесом в России. Нет ни одного видимого обстоятельства, которое говорило бы о том, что я должен вернуться

– Адам Смит когда-то сказал, что торговать лучше, чем воевать. У меня нет мотивации заниматься бизнесом в России. Нет ни одного видимого обстоятельства, которое говорило бы о том, что я должен вернуться. Но если бы ты спросил десять лет назад про мой переезд в Лондон, то я бы тебе ответил, что я не вижу ни одной причины, по которой мне нужно переезжать. В жизни все меняется. Есть еще один важный момент. Я люблю будущее. И живу будущим. Я люблю о нем мечтать и думать о том, каким оно будет. А жить прошлым я не люблю. Мне нужно созидать и делать будущее, а Россия очень сильно ностальгирует по прошлому. Прошлое – это тупик. Когда Путин и партия провозглашают стабильность как главный ориентир, это тупик. Какая может быть стабильность, если мы точно не знаем, что будет завтра? Мы стабильно не будем знать, что у нас будет происходить завтра? Я при таких раскладах комфортно существовать не могу и не хочу.

Михаил Зельман

​ – Несколько лет назад вы сказали, что мечтаете построить империю сетевых ресторанов в России и СНГ. Я так понимаю, что вопрос с возвращением в России пока закрыт. Так о чем вы мечтаете теперь?

– Да я как-то перестал мечтать. Я просто живу и удовольствие получаю. Я получаю удовольствие от того, что популяризирую монопродуктовый манифест. Я получаю удовольствие от того, что сам готовлю в своих ресторанах. Я получаю удовольствие от того, что сам работаю официантом в своих ресторанах. У меня вдруг открылось второе дыхание, и от тех вещей, от которых я чувствовал усталость, я научился получать удовольствие.