Co-founder of ARTEZIANICA Armenia: For entrepreneurs who feel comfortable in risk and uncertainty, current situation is drive and challenge
YEREVAN, May 22. /ARKA/. The interview of Olga Parakhina, co-founder of ARTEZIANICA Armenia, the international company for the production and export of gourmet fish products, with ARKA and Novosti-Armenia news agencies as part of the special project #SaveBusiness
- How has your company changed after the outbreak of coronavirus?
Parakhina - Since its establishment in 2012, we have been building ARTEZIANICA Armenia based on the lean concept, therefore we have entered the crisis well prepared - without bloated staff and other costs, with maximum management processes transferred to online, without credit obligations, with an optimal product portfolio and customer structure.
Therefore, none of the negative COVID factors for our sector - restrictions on air travel, the situation on the foreign exchange market and the closure of HoReCa - has become critical for us. We quickly changed the method of product delivery, made a sufficient reserve of natural European fish feed, and HoReCa's order portfolio did not constitute a significant part of the total.
I can say maybe a seditious thing, but in my opinion, for entrepreneurs and managers, people who are basically comfortable in risk and uncertainty, the current situation is a drive, a challenge, a time when you most acutely feel that you are living, acting and creating.
In my experience, it’s better to do this with “yours.” That is why, on the day of quarantine announcement in Armenia, I decided to act more actively and to join efforts.
It so happened that since September 2019, in collaboration with the best technologists and Moscow chef cooks, we have been working on creating a new line of CHIEF by ARTEZIANICA - natural semi-finished products from our freshly caught fishes, made according to special recipes with the preservation of all nutrients thanks to the technology of shock freezing. Work was carried out in an optional mode, without any clear deadline. Implementation was planned in accordance with the usual scheme - through retail chains of the Russian Federation.
But on March 16, immediately after the declaration of the state of emergency in Armenia, I met with Natalya Antoyan, the owner of the Gouroo Club & Garden restaurant of authorial healthy cuisine, with whom we worked together at Troka Dialog at the dawn of our careers, and have been fruitfully cooperating since the opening of her project in Yerevan.
Having discussed the situation, we began to act immediately. We with Natalya, cooks and our children, who had no one to stay with, actually accommodated ourselves for a few days in the production hall. And in just five days we did what seems impossible now - we launched a completely new production, developed packaging, launched a supply chain, implemented technological maps and trained employees.
Starting from March 20, residents of Yerevan got the opportunity to order seven varieties of the best and healthy fish semi-finished products to their homes from @artezianica's Facebook page. After this successful experience, Natalya transformed the work of her restaurant and, having consolidated her experience in creating dishes without sugar and white flour, launched the Gouroo home edition line of healthy semi-finished products.
Summarizing, I can say that with the beginning of quarantine we began to work more intensively and productively, with even greater enthusiasm and a greater desire to preserve the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Armenia.
- How popular is the delivery service? What do people mostly order?
Parakhina - Our rapid launch of the CHIEF line turned out to be absolutely timely - the implementation is proceeding at a good pace, since it is psychologically more convenient for many people to receive packaged semi-finished products or raw products and do the heat treatment on their own.
To optimize the resources, we decided not to duplicate the functions, and we carry out our delivery in partnership with the Gouroo restaurant.
Now our best-selling products are:
- Goldfish wholesome nuggets for baking - whole trout fillet in a special breading;
- Polpette Fishbowls - small balls of chopped trout, which we specially adapted for the children's menu, adding fresh zucchini;
- and our absolute hit Rainbow - multi-colored mini dumplings hand-made from the finest dough with chopped trout fillet.
All our products, in addition to preserving benefits, strengthening health, improving mood, and ensuring safety, also solve the problem of how to make sure that people who previously thought that they did not like it ate fish with pleasure.
And our beloved and beautiful women, thanks to the CHIEF line, get the freedom to be with loved ones, to live, focusing on what is interesting and important for them, without bothering with the constant question of how to feed your family tasty, healthy and natural.
- Have anti-coronavirus campaigns been launched in the company?
Parakhina - We have already had eight years of food production with the most stringent sanitary requirements. In addition to our own responsibility, we are checked every six months by international food safety experts from retail chains, and in this regard, our requirements for the hygiene of production and personnel have not changed.
- Do you count on state assistance? What specific activities could support the business in this situation?
Parakhina - The economy is cyclical, therefore this crisis is neither the first nor the last. At any time, we work relying solely on our own intellectual, industrial and financial resources. We did not have and do not have loans and other unfulfilled obligations.
As an illustrative example from the past, I can tell you about our experience of passing through the currency crisis of 2015-2016. In Armenia, more than 70 fish farms were then forced to cease existing. Formally, we could easily do the same, writing off the default to the crisis. But we have a different approach - the shareholders of ARTEZIANICA Armenia preferred to capitalize the company at their own account and pay wages and taxes on time and actually credit the budget of the Republic of Armenia for several years in the amount of several hundred thousand US dollars in the form of non-refunded VAT paid.
Responsibility for the industry and the country did not allow refusing to work with small fish farms. We continued to provide them with high-quality Europe-made feed, to acquire and grow the fish products they produced, 100% paying for their products.
In this crisis, nothing has changed; we do not plan to ask for help.
However, there are many other companies that need government assistance. And speaking of the necessary support measures, in my opinion, this is, first of all, the development of the domestic product and domestic industry, the freezing of payments, tax requirements and the provision of credit holidays.
I am sure that the preservation and support of entrepreneurs, the people who, despite everything, continue to create a value-added product, should be included in the number of the government’s priorities.
It is most important for business and government officials to consolidate their efforts and provide people with the opportunity to work and earn money.
Parakhina - I think we can tally the damage to the area no earlier than six months after the end of the pandemic. But in general, in my opinion, now is the time of getting rid of excessive fat and improving health.
In our company, we do not live in the paradigm that the crisis will end. And I wouldn’t focus on that - well, the pandemic will end, and we will calculate everything and live as before.
In my opinion, the virus has only strengthened the already existing trends - awareness of consumption, rejection of excessive lux, sharing, digitalization, AI and crisis "sobering up" will kick off a new conscious creative process with a focus on fundamental, breakthrough, technological aspects.
In this context, the food industry is no exception. Many of our HoReCa partners now have stress and a stop. But people do not stop wanting to eat deliciously. The delivery system will simply change, the cooking system will change and the priorities of consumption will change.
Therefore, for example, I really believe in our new CHIEF by ARTEZIANICA line. The fact of having at any time at hand a wholesome, tasty, safe, nourishing restaurant-quality dish that can be stored for a long time and cooked in minutes is now not just a dream, but part of our new reality.
Each decline is always followed by a rally. Moreover, since a pandemic now came amid the natural downward trend, it is highly likely that the next period of growth will be extraordinarily strong and long.
Therefore, you need to act, look for new niches, finish what you did not have enough time for in the rhythm of endless pre-coronavirus activity (and often this is just the infrastructure for marketing, sales, the introduction of online technologies).
Now we all know what the speed of the decision-making process can actually be, we know that you can work without endless sessions and obligatory meetings for coffee. We are able to quickly launch new products and close unpromising areas, we clearly realized which of the employees work and who only creates a semblance of activity.
Returning to the beginning of our conversation, I emphasize that in my opinion, it is now especially important to be stuck to the Team and the very opportunity to work. And for entrepreneurs and employees, the best thing now is to keep the company, business ties, customers and partners. Then you and your Team will remember the spring of 2020 as the time of trials and victories you are proud of. -0-
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15:11 05/22/2020
