Arkady Novikov: “I Can Only Rest in Competitors’ Restaurants”
Arkady Novikov opened the first restaurant in 1991. Now there are 265 different projects in the portfolio of Novikov Group. About the difference between a restaurateur and a businessman, Michelin “stars” and the search for a successor - in a selection of statements from an entrepreneur.
Reluctant businessman
“I have never built Michelin restaurants because it is a separate category in my opinion. This is high cuisine, haute cuisine. And I made edals", Arkady Novikov noted in an interview. But the “Michelin” format turned out to be within his power: in October 2021, two Novikov Group restaurants at once received the coveted “stars” of the Michelin guide — the Savva project got one, Artest — two (one can only guess how they would be rated this year — in March 2022, the guide decided to leave the Russian market).
The ability to work with completely different formats - from haute cuisine to inexpensive chain cafés - the entrepreneur explains by observation, experience and thorough knowledge of all processes and nuances. Novikov began his career as a cook in Moscow restaurants. “The most difficult period was back in the days of the Soviet Union, I worked for a year and a half or two at the Havana restaurant. I was the deputy head of production. I was not only involved in control and organization, but every day I unloaded one or two trucks with meat, fish or something else. It was the hardest work. <…> It was a very difficult time, and, probably, it tempered me to some extent,” he recalled.
This experience also influenced Novikov’s style of work, who has repeatedly noted that he loves the “creative” component of the restaurant business most of all - the development of the concept, design, menu discussion with the chef. “Numbers”, in his own words, are of less interest to him. Novikov calls himself a “wrong businessman”: the entrepreneur has always preferred institutions that are different from each other, independent from a managerial point of view, to network projects, although the latter are easier to manage. “The problem is that I, being, in fact, a restaurateur, became a businessman. These are completely different professions that are not very compatible. The task of an entrepreneur is to constantly develop and increase his business, and a restaurateur should have one, maximum two establishments and not strive for expansion”, explained Novikov. However, he notes
Total control
The founder of Novikov Group often repeated that he did not like to go to his restaurants. There he feels “at work”: he checks if everything is in order, carefully monitors that the staff does not make mistakes. He admitted that he “begins a real psychosis” if something goes wrong. He can relax and rest only in the establishments of competitors.
According to Novikov, one of the most difficult tasks for a restaurateur is to find a chef. It is important that he has experience and sincere interest, love for his work, all kinds of diplomas do not play any role. The entrepreneur added that in the current conditions the search is complicated by the fact that a good chef must also be a competent manager - this is a rare combination. “Is it really possible to see a manager in the chef at the moment when you are tasting wonderful dishes? Impossible to see. I think you need to learn along the way. It is not always possible for a chef to be a chef, a manager for a manager, and a director for a restaurant owner,” he said.
And Novikov proposes to evaluate the level of skill by the quality of borscht. “The ingredients have to be right. A lot of people overdo it, put garlic. Many people make beetroot soup out of borscht, some don’t add tomatoes. I like it when there are Bulgarian or sweet peppers in borscht, when there are greens there. Well, that is, there are a lot of subtleties of cooking, despite the fact that this is not the most difficult dish. And not everyone succeeds", he explained.
Inevitable Mistakes
Novikov does not hide the fact that his instinct failed him more than once. So, he regretted that he “overlooked” the potential of Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street in Moscow, unlike many competitors who opened successful restaurants there, although he knows the preferences and tastes of the capital’s residents well.
But it is especially difficult, according to Novikov, to develop business abroad. Both poor knowledge of local culture and consumer behavior, and a completely different approach to business can interfere. For example, an entrepreneur said that his first restaurant in Dubai had to be closed because the wrong location was chosen. “The city is very specific, you can’t act there anyhow. The guys chose the wrong place for the restaurant. The point worked, in fact, only on Friday and Saturday evenings. During the day and on weekdays there was no one there", he recalled.
And in London, he was once deceived by a business partner, a businessman with a solid reputation: first he offered to work together, and then broke off the relationship and stole the concept. “Maybe I should have sued, but I didn’t. I don’t know if I did the right thing or not. The English court is very complex. He is probably fair, but also extremely, excuse me, hemorrhoids. I also talked to people who were suing in London, and stepped aside", Novikov said.
Friends and competitors
Novikov noted that the number of competitors is only growing, and this pleases him. The presence of strong rivals does not allow you to stop there, makes you grow and achieve new heights. The leader sooner or later ends up in second place, so it is always important to be on the lookout.
At the same time, the restaurateur said that he likes to launch projects in cooperation with a variety of people: “I believe that the arrival of a new partner can radically change the fate of the restaurant, give impetus. Sometimes it’s good to have a blood transfusion." Novikov explained that he easily finds a common language with others and “on good terms with everyone.” So, among his friends is Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, with whom Novikov, in his own words, has known “15–20 years.”
Arkady Novikov is an entrepreneur and restaurateur, founder of the Novikov Group.
Novikov graduated from a culinary college, then studied economics at the Academy of National Economy. Plekhanov. For several years he worked as a cook, and then as a chef and administrator in Moscow restaurants Universitetsky, Havana, Olympic Lights and Victoria. In 1991, he opened his first restaurant, Sirena, and two years later, a second restaurant, Club T, appeared. Now Novikov Group owns and manages more than 265 restaurants, including chain ones, in Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Great Britain, Italy and the USA. The holding also includes the Novikov School chain of culinary schools, the Agronom farm, the How to eat ready-made meal delivery service, the Flower Studio 55 chain of flower shops, and other projects.
“Leave everything and rest”
Novikov said that in recent years his attitude to work has changed: if earlier he was completely absorbed in his work, then fatigue accumulated over time. New ideas have become harder to find, because today, unlike the 90s and early 2000s, it is already difficult to surprise a client. The restaurateur said that after his restaurants received Michelin “stars”, he wanted to “quit everything and rest.” “Suddenly, unexpectedly, I received such a pre-retirement gift and realized that it was time to bring down,” Novikov said.
However, it is hardly worth taking these words seriously. The successor, as the entrepreneur himself noted, he has not yet found. Daughter Alexandra is developing her own business, son Nikita wants to build a career in the financial sector. Selling the company, according to Novikov, will not work, since the Novikov Group has a very specific structure, many non-network, difficult-to-manage projects. “The product is painfully specific,” he explained. - For an amateur. It takes the wrong businessman like me."
Sources: TASS, Forbes, RBC Style, Kommersant, Afisha, Tastes of Russia.