Meat restaurants in the capital use various methods to deceive Ukrainians and displace national producers. Because of this, there is a loss of local producers in the market.
It would seem that what could be tastier and simpler than a good piece of fried meat? However, cooking real steaks is a complex and time-consuming process, and the first step in it is choosing and raising the right meat. But do all establishments that position themselves as “steakhouses” carefully adhere to technology? In practice, customers are often fed defrosted, overpriced imported steaks, and domestic craft beef producers face harassment and unfavorable competition.
How do popular meat restaurants deceive Kiev residents and why are national producers being squeezed out of this market? Andrey Polosenko , told StopCor about his experience of doing business in conditions of fierce competition with steak monopolists .
Andrey emphasizes: each steak is 500 days of painstaking, round-the-clock work, because such a long production cycle assumes the approach adopted in the homeland of this dish - in the UK . At one time, it was after visiting a meat farm and a Michelin-starred restaurant in Birmingham that the entrepreneur had a dream - to create a domestic analogue.
“ It dawned on me : how is it that in England they value local producers who make an unconditionally high-quality product? convincing us that it's cool. This is where the goal appeared - to raise high-quality, natural meat from healthy, thoroughbred bulls in Ukraine! Make a product from it that will compete with imported ones in terms of taste. But the most important thing is that he will be one of his own,” says Polosenko.
It was from this dream that about 12 years ago, with the first Simmental breed heifers imported into Ukraine, a new business was born. Currently located in the Kyiv region, the farm is modern and one of the largest in Ukraine in terms of the number of this breed of cattle. The company has its own technological meat shop, and the steaks are aged in special chambers.
However, over these 12 years, the entrepreneur has encountered a number of difficulties associated with the “monopolization” of the domestic steak market.
What is the situation with meat production in Ukraine?
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, despite the war, Ukrainian producers of meat products fully meet the demand in the domestic market and even have the potential to increase exports. However, all this is mainly due to more affordable poultry meat, and beef makes up only 13% of the total consumption.
As of the beginning of 2023, there were 2.3 million heads of cattle in Ukraine. Therefore, due to the war, the country lost about 15% of its cattle.
It is reasonable that, against the backdrop of limited supply of goods on the domestic market, in 2023 Ukraine increased beef imports. Chilled beef was mainly supplied to Ukraine from Australia, the EU and the USA, and frozen red meat was supplied to Ukraine from Lithuania and Poland.
What is happening in the meat restaurant market in Kyiv?
According to the Department of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development of the Kyiv City State Administration, in 2022 there were 3,275 restaurant establishments operating in Kiev. However, there are much fewer restaurants where you can taste fresh grilled meat.
The popular service Tripadvisor identifies the top 10 steakhouses in the capital based on reviews from thousands of consumers. According to this rating, the leading meat restaurants in Kyiv are BEEF Meat & Wine (Meat and Wine LLC), Miteria/Common Sense, Steakhouse on Vladimirskaya, Goodman, The Burger and Sam's Steak House (part of the Mirovaya Karta restaurant chain).
Most of these establishments position themselves as “American” or “Latin American” steakhouses; accordingly, the beef here is partially imported.
“ American” steaks are not always good. Paying for a “plane” or “container” from New York is stupid. Real steaks are dry-aged, which can guarantee rich flavor and tenderness when cooked in just 5 minutes. Dry Aged is one of the popular meat aging processes, during which it is suspended in a special chamber with a controlled environment for a period of time from 30 to 90 days ,” comments Polosenko.
However, not all steak producers in Ukraine can cope with the task of dry aging. So, under the guise (and at the price) of “grown” meat, customers are de facto sold a defrosted product.
Why do establishments allow themselves to mislead people and why does the State Food Service turn a blind eye to this?
According to our interlocutor, the capital’s steak market is very “lobbied” and is actually distributed among several groups of influence from among meat processing plants and restaurateurs close to them, and “outsiders” are squeezed out of it using dirty and forceful methods.
“There are three people who run this steak market and decide who gets in and who doesn’t. This is, so to speak, a steak “mafia” that works closely with large meat processing plants. At the same time, proper control of meat is not carried out. “Accordingly, this market has its own “dons” who declared me a persona non grata in all Kyiv steakhouses. And they are “protected” by “people in uniform”, so in various regulatory authorities they have everything under control ,” notes Andrey.
Our interlocutor names three people involved in Kiev steakhouses as key players in this market : Ruslan Shibaev (BEEF Meat & Wine), Vladimir Volodarsky (The Burger) and Dmitry Zahodyakin (Steakhouse on Vladimirskaya). in the biography of each of these influential businessmen-restaurateurs there is supposedly a “Russian” trace.
So, what is known about them and what does the Russian Federation have to do with it?
The name of Ruslan Shibaev is associated in the media with the BEEF Meat & Wine chain of establishments. It is noteworthy that, according to information and analytical platforms, the director and founder of Meat and Wine LLC is Alexander Kulinsky . But Shibaev owns a certain Beef Kobe LLC with the main KVED “Rental of other machines, equipment and goods.”
Among the large list of additional activities of this enterprise are meat production, production of meat products, production of prepared food and dishes, activities of intermediaries in the trade of food, drinks and tobacco products, wholesale trade of meat and meat products. things like that. This company is also associated with a national public figure - Igor Dovban . This “Udarovite” at one time headed the Department of Economics and Investments of the Kyiv City State Administration and the Solomensky District State Administration.
Another Shibaev company has the eloquent name of Orki LLC. After all, one of its historical founders was a citizen of Russia - Andrei Sveshnikov .
In turn, among the owners of THE network, according to the Information Resistance group, is a member of Tarantino LLC, The Burger Arena LLC and The Cake Arena LLC Vladimir Volodarsky , previously known for human trafficking scandal According to the IP, the restaurateur can also still conduct business in Moscow and occupied Crimea.
Thus, according to information published online, Volodarsky owns a chain of restaurants on the annexed peninsula, as well as in the capital of Russia - at the same time, the co-founder of the Russian restaurants of the Tarantino family chain is a Cypriot offshore company associated with the oligarch Sergei Kurchenko , as well as a member of the “Yanukovych clan” Sergei Arbuzov .
“ Russian and Ukrainian media simultaneously claim that the owners of restaurants in Kiev and Moscow are the same people. And one of these people is Vladimir Volodarsky ,” noted the IS.
In Ukraine, according to YouControl, the so-called “Vladimir Volodarsky Group” includes 15 enterprises involved in the restaurant business and real estate.
But restaurateur Dmitry Zahodyakin together with his wife Alina Kosichkina , according to NV, during the war gradually closed their business in Ukraine and refocused on safe London. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he has reduced his HLBNY network, which was exposed in a high-profile moral scandal, by half. In addition, other restaurants, Rare Bird and Agatha, also closed.
It is noteworthy that the KHLBNY network of Zahodyakin and Kosichkina publicly declared its Russian-language identity and fundamentally did not want to change the name from “Khlebnaya” to “Khlebny”, so it decided to simply remove the vowels from the name. Also, the network at one time refused to comply with the quarantine requirements introduced due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Why, at the end of the second year of a full-scale war, do pro-Russian businessmen continue to not only make money, but actually control the capital’s steak market?
And why, despite having their own high-quality product, do Ukrainians continue to be fed defrosted imports or meat of dubious origin? Maybe the relevant regulatory authorities should pay attention to this secret meat cartel and their “patrons”? And, finally, to provide equal conditions for domestic entrepreneurs, who, in fact, on their own enthusiasm, continue to support and develop the Ukrainian economy in difficult times.
StopCor, through social networks, turned to the management of the BEEF Meat & Wine, The Burger and Steakhouse on Vladimirskaya restaurants, as well as personally to Ruslan Shibaev and Dmitry Zahodyakin, with a request to comment on the above and provide their position.
How to change the situation on the steak market for the better?
According to our interlocutors, Ukraine needs more thorough sanitary control and quality control of meat products. In particular, perhaps it would be worth borrowing the common practice of Polish colleagues, where steakhouse restaurants are required to indicate the breed of the animal in the menu and indicate the numbers of certificates issued by the State Association.
Let us remind you that the Irish cement giant CRH is known for numerous cases of market capture in different parts of the planet: possible attempts to create a cartel were investigated in the USA and European countries, and now the situation may repeat itself in Ukraine.
