Alexander Orlov: “Without a creative approach, a restaurant cannot work”

The head of the restaurant holding Bulldozer Group Alexander Orlov has already conquered Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, and he is quite successful in the Emirates, having opened such fashionable establishments as Sass Cafe and Toko. His new project is the Novikov restaurant, which we decided to talk about.

Interviewed by Irina Malkova @irmaberg, photos and video by Yakub Islamova @yakubanto

After the successful launch of Novikov in Moscow and London, Dubai was chosen third place. What is the reason for this choice?

This is mainly due to the fact that London Novikov is very popular among the Arabs, who often come from the UAE to London. And they like the restaurant because of the unusual interior, which you can hardly find anywhere, and the excellent Japanese-Chinese cuisine. There is always a large selection of fresh fish and seafood.

By concept, is this a gourmet restaurant or an ordinary one?

Of course, this is not haute cuisine. I do not like haute cuisine. In my opinion, it is tasteless. And here is a normal human kitchen.

Recently, quite a few interesting restaurants of international brands have opened in Dubai. How do you plan to surprise a rather sophisticated audience?

We have a great variety of menus, atmosphere and, importantly, advantageous location (the restaurant is located in the Sheraton Grand Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road). We have been choosing this place for quite some time.

What kind of audience are you counting on?

On different - both on Europeans, and on Arabs. Recently, the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed, visited us for dinner. First, the day before, his protocol arrived, and then he himself. He stayed with us for two hours, received several recipes. After his visit, more locals began to come to the restaurant.

Restaurants for you - is it business or creativity?

Both. Without a creative approach, the restaurant will not work. I’ve been in the profession for almost 20 years, and only a couple of years ago the final understanding of how all this should be arranged came to me. This is a difficult business, but interesting.

And who is thinking over the concept? Do you participate in this yourself?

Of course, always. Even in this restaurant. And I participated, and Arkady Novikov participated - everyone participated.

It is always interesting how the concept of a restaurant is born ...

This restaurant already had a concept, but we adapted it for Dubai, talked with the designer, picked up furniture, made the layout of the object itself.

Tell us where do you buy products?

Here in Dubai. But fresh seafood is brought to us from Portugal twice a week.

Do you have a standard of service in your restaurant?

We take experienced waiters from Europe, as well as local waiters from good restaurants. Naturally, we train them. Periodically, the waiters work in the kitchen as a cook to understand the nuances, the process of cooking and then tell the visitors about it.

They say that waiters in Dubai can earn decent money. This is true?

Yes. This is especially true for waiters who work in nightclubs. Often, people who come to the club have very large accounts, for example, 100 thousand dollars. Therefore, of course, they leave a good tip. Some of my acquaintances waiters earn more than businessmen. For example, one waitress works a couple of months on the Cote d'Azur and a couple of months in Dubai at a nightclub. She can earn 300 thousand euros per year.

Together with Sergei Svetlakov, you opened the Eshak restaurant (Ishak) in Moscow, and if I am not mistaken, you plan to open a similar restaurant in Dubai.

Yes, we plan to open a restaurant in the City Walk area. This is a very large project, which is currently under construction. This restaurant will have Arab-Uzbek cuisine. Sergey Svetlakov, maybe, will take part as a partner.

The fact that you are developing a business not only in Russia, but also around the world, - Is it your own capitalization or are you interested in working in international markets?

Firstly, we diversify the risks, and secondly, it is really interesting. Now we are building one restaurant in Hong Kong. This is a big project - a fish restaurant on the roof of the building. In London, we also make objects. In Miami, we are building several Tanuki restaurants.

Have you been taught the most by Russia or abroad?

Russia, of course. I can tell you - and this is not only my opinion, but also my colleagues from London, Dubai and other cities - there are no such institutions anywhere in the world that you can find in Moscow. They come to Moscow, see what kind of service we have there, what scope, and everyone is amazed. Take, for example, the Pushkin cafe and a number of night clubs. There are no such establishments anywhere else.


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