Alexey Kolesnikov (“Kitchen in the area”): “Demand has fallen. Now every day as a day off "

The project "Russian norms!" represents a special issue "Will there be business after quarantine?" Entrepreneurs tell how the crisis is experiencing those from whom it hit the most painful: small business, retail, restaurants, banks, aviation. One of the heroes of this issue is Alexei Kolesnikov, co-founder of the Express Driver Service of the finished food “Kitchen in the area”. We publish a text version of his interview.

"What will happen in a year, it makes no sense to even guess"

- It was pleasantly surprised that you have now introduced a social menu: a set of food for the whole day for 492 rubles. How did you come to this decision?

- The decision is dictated by the situation. When it became clear how all this [income fall in Russia] is seriously, we quickly looked at what we can come in handy. We have not only delivery - have our own production. It is centralized, large. By a happy coincidence, it is initially designed for a slightly greater power than we needed. And we decided to help him with such sets.

What are their benefits during quarantine is probably obvious. It is clear that people now eat only at home. And one more thing: getting a set for the whole day, you still minimize the number of social contacts.

- I know that you use algorithms, forming a menu. Did the social menu also compose artificial intelligence?

- No, they did without artificial intelligence. Only their intellects used.

In general, in our file cabinet there are more than 1 thousand dishes. In the usual time, we actively rotate them. Every week you can order something new. This is our task - to ensure a constant offer that will not bother. To make a social menu, we just took a file cabinet, looked at what is easiest to produce from the most ordinary ingredients. Of course, we did not include dishes in which some former salmon is used. Instead, a chicken, pork.

- How did your investors react to this idea? You are selling these sets without a margin. You also sell masks, other essential items.

“It’s better to ask them about it.” We now work so much that there is almost no time for communication [with investors].

- You also decided to support a small business and added dishes from restaurants closed to quarantine. Tell us about this project?

- This is my colleague Kirill [Rodin]. The idea is to somehow support not only the population, but also the gastroenthoes. Especially such, you know, warm projects made by cool guys, individuals.

The concept is as follows. There are cool projects with already become significant dishes. They, as we understand, are now the biggest problem - constant payments. For example, no one is going to reduce rental. In our production, we can prepare dishes according to their recipes, sell through our application and share revenue with them. This is if in a nutshell.

- When it all ends, save this program?

“Maybe if she shows himself well, we will transform her into something.”

In general, no one knows when and how it will end. If [quarantine is removed] in two weeks, this is one. If after three months - another. If in a year, now, probably, it makes no sense to guess how it will be.

As for the social program, it will definitely not be preserved in this form. We do it on the anguish. That is, our employees actually work on it for free. This is their enthusiasm. It is clear that this is impossible to do for a long time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9x1n29rose

"People have time to cook independently"

- What is happening to your business now? From the side it seems that you should be won.

- Of course, we are better than many colleagues in the workshop. Our model - its own production, its own delivery is more resistant to this shock. But the revenue fell with us. Now she has stabilized, but did not reach the pre -crisis level. In November last year, our first “kitchen” came to profit. There were very few new ones. Now we have been thrown back.

A lot of publications come out about what will happen after the crisis. It is interesting that, inventing our business two years ago, we believed that he was about the future. We are sure that in the future residents of large cities will not have time to cook at home. And still we think so. But the future that has already occurred [with the introduction of quarantine] turned out to be the opposite in meaning. People now have a lot of free time to cook on their own.

“But the demand has grown?” The fall in revenue is because of the social menu?

- No, demand is now lower. See: we have 29 kitchens, of which 17 are in the center, inside the third transport ring (TTK). There are a lot of offices here. It is clear that with the introduction of quarantine people stopped coming there. And many of them live outside the TTK. Maybe they would order from us, but they cannot do this.

Another thing is that those who live in the center, apparently, began to order more intensively. That is, the average check has grown a little. Accordingly, immediately after the introduction of quarantine, we lost ten percent. Then three or four percent played.

- What is your average revenue in the day now?

- About 6 million rubles. Traditionally, we have everyday life and the weekend turned out to be different. Again, due to the fact that most of the kitchens are in the center. Now everything is smoothed out. The impression is that every day is a day off. Revenue is slightly higher than on the usual weekend, but worse than on ordinary everyday life.

“There are enough worries. We just don't really tell about them "

- Due to the fact that people have already begun to lose their jobs, the turn of those who wanted to become couriers has already lined up?

- We call them riders, not couriers. There is no surge, but we are looking for ourselves, because we plan, perhaps, open a few more kitchens in areas where it is especially necessary. For example, in the Kommunarka area, Bunin meadows.

To be honest, this is very hard, aggressive work, especially now. As practice shows, one of the eight to ten people who have already gone to work remains (at least with us). We are not similar to delivery services. Our riders work more intensively. They do not roam throughout the city, but are tied to a specific kitchen, a specific area, which is reflected in the name of our service. During the day, 40-50 orders are obtained.

- Have you already begun to reduce costs?

- We have been doing this, probably from last summer. Since we work completely in the way, this is not easy. Only due to even more dijitalization. Recently I came to our central production, which we call the Food Rector. They came up with how in a week, a maximum of two, to increase the efficiency of our central production by 20%.

At the same time, we try to achieve greater efficiency without reducing people. So far, this is possible. I do not want to guess what it can reach.

We still work with suppliers, whom we have a lot. The number is changing because we are changing the menu all the time. On average every week we have about a hundred suppliers. Almost everyone is changing the conditions: whose prices are jumping, whose shipping swam, who says that now there will be a different quality. Such a madhouse ...

At the same time, we are preparing from very high-quality products, in fact it is a business class. We have a salmon and avocado, and there is a battle for quality. Unfortunately, the highest quality products are most expensive.

In short, there are enough worries. We just don't talk about them much about them. Because, in my opinion, this is what any business should do.