‘Such a trend as burgerisation of Kazan and all Russia has appeared’
Restaurateurs of Kazan will have oriented the country to national cuisines by the WC
The administration told about further plans for work and preparation of Tatarstan establishments for the FIFA World Cup and WorldSkills at a meeting of the Association of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Kazan that took place on Wednesday. Moreover, the Tatarstan restaurateurs and hoteliers who have rich experience in the organisation of similar events at world level will 'teach' representatives of the sector from Samara and Nizhny Novgorod who will also host the FIFA WC. Realnoe Vremya tells about details of the events and 'novelties' of Tatarstan presented on the exhibition.
'Burgerisation' of Kazan and 'risky' restaurateurs
The event began with analytics and tendencies in the sector. The president of the Association of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers Renat Zalyutdinov told the participants about the niceties.
'In conclusion, I would like to say that, fortunately, the results are not as bad as last year,' he notes. 'In general, there has been a fall in Russia and Tatarstan. The income of medium price bracket has suffered in particular. The crisis has also affected luxury establishments that lost about 10-20% of middle-class clients.'
Nevertheless, he said the economic perturbations almost affected fast food: on the contrary, it gathered speed. 'Such a trend as burgerisation of Kazan and all Russia has appeared,' the expert tells. 'Burger became a part of menu of many restaurants regardless of their conception.'
An active development of national cuisine, Caucasian and Middle Asian cuisines has been a new tendency. Many coffee houses have appeared: many establishments became cafeterias and coffee houses. What is more, despite economic difficulties, about 50 new different enterprises have appeared in Kazan. It proves the community did not lose its interest and started to look for resolutions of the situation more actively by risking its own money, Zalyutdinov explains.
'As for the forecast for the hotel business, it has been better than last year,' the president of the association continues. He emphasised the community is working together with municipal and regional governments on hospitality, it is what explains these improvements. 'Enterprises have lost a big profit because of high inflation and increase of purchase price. It led to a fall in average bill. At the same time attendance has grown. This is why requirements for enterprises increase day after day. And quality service, the quality of dishes are a crying need, especially if we take into account that there will be many events that will attract a flow of foreign guests, which has increased many times this summer.'
How to prepare for WC and WorldSkills
Zufar Gayazov, the director of the Association of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Kazan, started his speech with the citation 'Domestic tourism is the driver of internal economies' by addressing to Putin's words. He asked not to be indifferent to all events held in the city and develop the sector. Gayazov told about it in detail in a talk to the correspondent of Realnoe Vremya:
'We would like to invite the cities that will host the FIFA WC to HORECA Kazan 2016 exhibition at Kazan Fair from 26 to 28 October in order to discuss catering,' he explains. 'Kazan is one of the best examples of its organisation (Universiade, FINA World Championships). We can share our experience in the organisation of such mass events where only Tatarstan enterprises took part. We did not invite anybody else.'
Moreover, the association created its own programmes for Kazan Arena on how to organise food courts well orienting to, first of all, national Tatar cuisine, the interlocutor patriotically notes. The Executive Committee of Kazan made a good decision so that public catering enterprises would be able to show the whole range of their products to the participants of the Cup: there will be a gallery with Tatar, Russian, Italian and other cuisines near Kazan Arena. And at the moment food courts will be free, so that people will get used to it.
Service improvement in hotels and qualification of personnel are stimulated by the organisation of different contests and masterclasses. So the director of the Tourism Development Center of the Republic of Tatarstan Oksana Sargina told about the current results. She said a stage of a secret guest ended in hotels. And its results have been much better. But bookings have reduced by 20-30% compared with 2014. Despite this, she stressed that Tatarstan will have its own awards – best restaurants of Tatarstan, best hotels. 'The whole market was waiting for our own awards to appear. It will draw the attention of Russia and the world. Our market is so ready that has its own awards.'
Results on best hotels and hostels will be known on 28 October.
What novelties Tatarstan enterprises have to surprise
About 70 participants came to an event held in Milan restaurant. They all could become not only the participants of the session but also know about novelties of the producers from Tatarstan. For instance, a colourful stand of Tatspirtprom (Editor's Note: Tatarstan Alcohol Production) Medny Peregon demonstrated its new products.
'We have a stand that wins all exhibitions before New Year and upcoming World Cup. There are new goods: bitter, moonshine, whisky. Quite good wine has been produced recently,' the deputy director of Tatspirtprom Nabiullin tells. 'We plan to manufacture 50 ml bottles in early 2017.'
A stand of Prosto Moloko (Editor's Note: Just Milk) is one of the first participants who welcome the guests. This brand also had new products: Maasdam cheese and an analogue of Parmesan called Tatar Deluxe, fermented dietetic milk products like acidophilus milk for diabetic patients.
Products of Babushkiny Retsepty (Editor's Note: Granny's Recipes) that manufactures teas are also interesting.
'We produce teas with herbs. We work with hotels both in Russia and abroad where we offer souvenir teas (this brand is also represented in the UAE),' a representative of the organisation tells. 'We also plan to produce not only traditional teas but also Ivan-tea (rosebay willowherb).
She said special equipment will be purchased for this purpose.