Review written Trusted user

I’ll tell you about my experience working at MBG Impex.
Let me start with the fact that this office belongs to Sergei Sergeevich Minaev. Yes, yes, to that same faithful Putinist who hosted the “Minaev Live” program (better known as Zashkvar TV), wrote the so-called “books” (“Dukhless” and something else) and became famous for beating up a couple with Eduard Bagirov, journalist Andrei Ryvkin, who wrote badly about them.

This Minaev has a large wine business, namely, he supplies wines from different countries to almost all Moscow and St. Petersburg stores and restaurants. There are shelves with his wines in almost all store chains (Seventh Continents, Perekrestok, Otdohni, etc.) and restaurants (including Mayak).

This man has his literary and television career, as well as connections with Vladimir Putin’s confidants, thanks to his profitable wine business. The volume of wine sold is distributed among several closed joint stock companies, which can often be located in the same offices. This was done, among other things, in case one of them suddenly has problems with a license to sell alcohol - then another satellite company begins selling its product.

So, in Moscow, in addition to MBG (www.mbg-wine.ru, www.mbgimpex.ru), there is Millennium (mwine.ru, vk.com/millennium_mbg), there are companies in St. Petersburg, etc. Almost no one visits the websites of these companies; they are made to have at least some kind of presentation on the Internet; all the main income comes from restaurants and shops.

What is the attitude of the owner of this wine corporation and a faithful government dog towards the employees of his own companies, through whose labor he earns his money?

Let's start with the fact that none of the employees receive a copy of the employment contract. They don’t give it out even if you ask after several months of work.
Irregular working hours are the norm there. Sometimes people have to stay up until eleven o'clock in the evening. There are no prizes for this. But workers are fined for minor morning delays.

To reduce the degree of dissatisfaction, they sometimes give out free wine, namely wine that was written off for not meeting trade requirements (with sediment, sourness, etc.), or that was not accepted by stores or restaurants. But the workers are happy with such “compensation”...

For lunch, much less time is allotted, about fifteen to twenty minutes (half an hour is already a lot).
An employee may be assigned permanent duties that he does not have to perform, and they will not be paid in any way. Sometimes something not related to work has to be done by the entire department - one of the old employees told me about one striking case: office workers were harnessed for the whole day off to help with the move to a new office - carrying furniture, papers. Without paying for it, of course.

According to the same person, all this leads to the fact that normal people do not stay there longer than a year and leave. Those who remain are only those who have no particular prospects of moving somewhere else, or those who believe that everything is as it should be.

The head of the documentation department, Elena Merenkova, requires a separate story (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001233073765). If you happen to get a job in this office, it’s better to go to another department.

It is surprising why even Minaev would keep such an unprofessional, lazy and useless employee on his staff. Even people from other departments agree that this person is out of place. Elena Merenkova never explains anything to new employees, and if something doesn’t work out for them, she does it as if she is doing a great favor. When communicating with subordinates, he behaves vulgarly, puts pressure, tries to unreasonably humiliate or put psychological pressure on him, and always lets employees know that they are nobody.

All this completely destroys the atmosphere of cooperation in the department. She comes to work much later than her subordinates, leaves for a long time at lunch and drinks wine (this is not an exaggeration!!!), and when she returns she begins to tell everyone distracting stories from her life (who she had lunch with yesterday and how long it’s been since she’s had sex - this is, again, not an exaggeration!) She leaves work early, and ordinary workers spend another two hours beyond the norm sorting out documents (her activities are limited to carrying out several operations a day through 1C and sometimes scolding managers who have not submitted reports). She swears at the mess on her desk, while her desk and drawers are in complete chaos (half-eaten rolls, dried out pieces of bread). If a holiday or birthday is celebrated at work, then after drinking he may begin to pester young male subordinates - he sits next to him and obsessively hugs him.

(Minaev also has a couple of his own wine boutiques in Moscow and St. Petersburg www.intendant.ru, www.mbgimpex.ru/bootique_spb)

ELLE In general, does the fact that you are a woman help or hinder you in the wine business?

I.F. It seems to me that everything here is exactly the same as in any other business. Women can do good business because they are more patient than men, and most of them have better intuition. But I am against situations in which women's emotions begin to dominate.

ELLE Do your loved ones share your love for work and wine?

I.F. My husband is my partner in the company, although he is not involved in the operational business. Our son is 23 years old and he understands very well what I do: he literally grew up with it. Unfortunately, work leaves little free time, but I try to have time to give my love not only to my business, but also to my loved ones. In addition to the wine business, I have a company that distributes cosmetics, a beauty clinic, a small beauty institute... We also have two Intendant stores, and one of them is the oldest wine boutique on Kutuzovsky, where it all began. I also have personal projects: for example, the Cantinetta Antinori restaurant, which we opened together with Arkady Novikov. The latest joint project of MBG and partners is the “Bread and Wine” network. I just adore her! A very promising story, almost a wine Starbucks. This is a place where people can not be embarrassed that they don’t know something about wine, but just come here, choose a bottle and order food that will perfectly match their drink.

ELLE Have you ever wanted to start making wine yourself?

I.F. Such ideas came to me, but they were not implemented, which I do not regret: you still need to do what you know how to do. We still have a company that is one of the best brand builders on the market. I simply wouldn’t have enough for my own winery.

Champagne is an amazing drink that is always good

ELLE Is there a fashion for certain wines?

I.F. Can we say that wines from the southwest of France, Austria and Germany have now become very popular? Yes and no. It’s just that now the wines of these countries are represented more widely than before, and many appreciate their pleasant price-quality ratio. Old World wines are out of fashion, but they are somewhat overpriced, which is why most cannot afford great wines. But good wine doesn't have to be expensive!

ELLE Where should you go to try the drink in its homeland?

I.F. Many wines in Moscow acquire a completely different taste, so if you are a connoisseur, wine tourism will bring many discoveries and even revelations. In France, I really like the Loire Valley and Burgundy, especially when combined with local food. In Italy - Tuscany, Sicily and Sardinia. To try excellent Rieslings, feel free to go to Austria and Germany. Spain is an absolutely stunning country in terms of wine and food tourism. And, of course, you need to visit Champagne. Although champagne is such an amazing drink that is appropriate and good everywhere, not only in its homeland.

Irina Fomina can be called the first lady of the wine business in Russia - her company MBG, one of the leaders of the Russian market, is more than 20 years old! She influenced how many people in our country learned to understand wine and discover the most interesting varieties of grapes, and we have never met a better adviser for traveling through the vineyards and cellars of the world. Still arrogantly think that wine is not a woman’s job? We are sure that a frank interview with a successful and beautiful businesswoman about the intricacies and flavors of the profession will convince you otherwise.

ELLE Irina, is alcohol now in fashion or is everyone so carried away by a healthy lifestyle that it is losing ground?

IRINA FOMINA I will express my opinion, which is shared by many professionals. For me, alcohol and wine are not synonymous. Alcohol is a strong drink, but wine belongs to a slightly different category. I'm into wine. And it is definitely on trend. Moreover, if we talk about Russia, in recent years many people have abandoned strong drinks in favor of wines - and light ones.

ELLE You have been running a business for more than 20 years. How has the culture of wine consumption changed during this time?

I.F. Of course, we are making a lot of progress. Previously, people practically did not know wine and perceived it incorrectly. Now we understand it much better, and this is facilitated by the wonderful trait of Russians - their liveliness of mind and thirst for knowledge. We travel a lot, discovering new wines. People deliberately go to wineries for tastings. At the beginning of my career, clients bought cases of the noblest Bordeaux and drank it almost with herring! Now people still understand that great wine must have an appropriate accompaniment. And not only great: any wine can simply be killed by the wrong food. For example, contrary to popular belief, champagne does not go well with chocolate. A win-win company for wine at professional tastings is bread.

People bought boxes of noble Bordeaux and drank it almost with herring

ELLE How did it happen that you got into wine?

I.F. I am an economist by training, graduated from the Faculty of International Economic Relations of MGIMO. In graduate school, I started working in a joint Russian-French company, and my boss was a great connoisseur and lover of wines. In addition, I lived in Paris for several months, traveled around the country from time to time, gradually discovered wine and eventually wanted to try my hand at this business. I didn’t study anywhere specially, I just went to tastings, read a lot... And it should be noted that I had very good mentors. For example, Frank Hardy, my old Parisian acquaintance, taught me a lot. This was the first French sommelier in Russia. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the company’s assortment was created precisely thanks to him.

ELLE There is a story behind the creation of almost every wine. You probably know a million of them. Do you have a favorite?

I.F. I'll tell you one of which I was a participant. I have been working and being friends with the Antinori family for a long time; they have been making wine for more than 600 years. And one of the representatives of this dynasty, Lodovico Antinori, is a truly legendary personality, a great esthete and a very emotional person. And then one day he sold the vineyards of Ornellaia and Masseto that made him famous and founded a new enterprise in Bizerno with his brother Piero. He released one wonderful wine, then another... But he constantly told me: “Irina, give me time, and I will create a great drink!” After five years of work, he came to me in Sardinia, where I spent the summer, with a bottle of his new wine, which he called Alpha. It seemed to me that he chose the wrong name; Lodovico began to explain something to me, we argued for a long time... And in the end he asked me: “And what do you suggest I call him?” I replied: “Name it after yourself!” That's what happened in the end.

About company

It all started in 1995, when one of the first wine boutiques in Russia called “Intendant” opened on Kutuzovsky Prospekt in Moscow, offering its customers the best wines and spirits from the main wine-growing regions of the world for 20 years. It was with the Intendant boutique, whose name was given by the oldest wine store in Bordeaux, L’INTENDANT, that the history of the MBG company began.

20 years for the history of modern Russia is a whole era. The era of active formation and development of business. The time when restaurant and club businesses, retail trade and distribution were actively developing in the country. The MBG company quickly responded to the needs of the market, having over the years gone from a small wine boutique to a professional trading company, one of the three leading importers of alcoholic beverages.

The MBG company continues to actively develop, offering its customers more and more new alcohol brands, expanding its participation in off-trade and on-trade markets and increasing regional distribution. In addition, quite recently a second boutique called “Intendant” opened on Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow.

MBG's portfolio includes a wide selection of wines from the Old and New Worlds, as well as strong alcohol. MBG supplies the Russian market with such legendary brands as Laurent-Perrier champagne, Antinori, Livio Felluga, Allegrini wines, Gordon & Macphail whiskey, Chateau de Laubade armagnac and other worthy brands.

Throughout the years of the company’s existence, Irina Fomina remains the chairman of the board of directors.

Co-owner of the MBG group - RBC: “We wanted to make a wine Starbucks” Co-owner of wine importer MBG Irina Fomina on how to trade expensive wine when the ruble is falling

Wine imports fell by a third last year. How to run a business when prices for your goods are rising and the purchasing power of the population is falling, said co-owner of the MBG group, one of the top 10 importers of wines from Italy, Irina Fomina

(Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)

“Partners from Europe were terribly afraid that there would be an embargo”

— The depreciation of the ruble is a big blow for the business of companies that purchase goods for foreign currency. Have you managed to change your mind?

— We calculated the scenarios, there were several of them. But, of course, no one expected that sharp turn when the euro would cost 100 rubles, as happened on Wednesday, December 17, 2014. We took a breath and froze, but did not stop shipments for a single day. We simply made decisions quickly and manually. Business is structured in such a way that if in the HoReCa channel (hotels, restaurants, cafes. — RBC) you can raise prices quite quickly, but in network retail this is impossible - agreeing on new prices with networks takes a lot of time, and under an agreement with them this can be done no more than twice a year, and no force majeure circumstances play a role. Of course, we could stop shipments in this situation, but we limited ourselves to only excluding a few items. We were one of the last to raise our prices and did it very selectively - we looked at our own markup and analyzed what kind of increase the market would tolerate in each specific case. Because if we raised prices too sharply following the rise in the euro, this would have a negative impact on sales volumes.

— How much on average did shelf prices for your wine increase after the collapse of the ruble?

— The change in shelf price depends not only on us, but also on the specific network - different retailers use different systems for calculating their own markups. Our selling prices were raised by 20-25% on average. Retail prices for our products have increased by approximately 30%.

— And how much did sales drop after that? ​

— Sales fell 15% in bottles and 11% in money. If we look at the segments, the sales volumes of more expensive wines - above €2.5 in purchases - practically did not fall, which is surprising. This is the classic story of any crisis: people who drink more expensive wines cannot be “transplanted” to something else. They will buy less wine in a restaurant, they will try to look for something acceptable in a given price segment in specialized stores, where wine is usually cheaper, and drink at home. The MBG company has never specialized in the ultra-cheap segment; this is not our strong point. When we raised prices for the most inexpensive items, they immediately moved into the mid-price category - and their sales, of course, collapsed. This is where we lost the most.

The average cost of an imported bottle of still wine still remains high. It is higher than that of other players in the market, including our closest competitor, the Simple company, and amounts to €3.35 per bottle.

— Did you deliberately reduce the margin?

- Yes. Because our task was to maintain market share, and we retained it. And now we will expand it as much as possible. We're getting started with this.

— You seem to have a significant share in the Moscow restaurant market?

— A couple of years ago, PricewaterhouseCoopers believed that we occupy 37% of the wine sales market in HoReCa in Moscow. No such studies have been conducted recently, but we are definitely one of the leaders. Especially if we talk about the so-called A- and B-class restaurants. In addition, we are successfully establishing business connections with gastronomic projects of the “new wave” - for example, White Rabbit Family, we have strong long-term relationships with Arkady Novikov’s group. Our ratio is as follows: about 50% - HoReCa, 30% - retail, 20% comes from wholesale supplies to the regions.

— This is the most difficult crisis for me personally and for the company. Now the crisis is structural, and the problem is that there is the price of oil, on which we are very dependent, and sanctions against Russia, there is no access and possibility of financial borrowing. The key rate and the high cost of money are quite problematic. We work with Sberbank, we have a good reputation, we have access to credit resources, and our rates are good by Russian standards, but by the standards of the rest of the world they are very high.

— What do your partners in Europe and the countries of the New World say about sanctions?

“As soon as all this started, they were very afraid that there would be an embargo on wine. They were terribly afraid. The first problem arose with the Americans: we have a very large contract with Chateau St. Michelle is a huge company, one of the world leaders. The problem arose when we practically lost the ability to buy goods on credit through American banks - mainly due to political issues. But we still found a solution and retained the brand. The Americans themselves helped find a solution: we receive the goods through their Baltic distributor and ensure deliveries throughout Russia.

In Europe, we notice regret about what is happening, because, frankly, no one needs the sanctions, which, thank God, wine did not fall under, in general, neither we nor they. In business relations, we saw from our partners only a desire to help: in terms of financing, special prices, and marketing support.

Co-owner of wine importer MBG Irina Fomina (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)

— That is, there were no partners who said: now 100% on prepayment?

— No one has such an advance payment. Another thing is that the insurance and factoring systems that we used for purchases have become narrower for us. But our partners found alternative insurance companies with whom we still work. If factoring through third banks is not possible, then personal guarantees have appeared - for example, Miguel Torres (wine producer from Spain. — RBC).

MBG Group

The MBG company was founded in 1995 by Irina Fomina. According to her, her husband, entrepreneur Valery Kazikaev, gave her money to start a business.

Kazikaev, who worked in the structure of the Ministry of Higher and Special Education of the USSR in 1989, was one of the founders of the Moscow International Higher Business School (MIRBIS), the first educational institution in Russia that trains specialists in the MBA program. At the time of the founding of MBG, Kazikaev was the president of the state holding company Rosexportles, created to trade timber on world markets.

MBG specializes in importing premium wines. The company is among the top 10 importers of wines from Italy and the top 3 wine sellers to Moscow restaurants. MBG's portfolio includes wines from well-known world producers - Torres (Spain), Antinori (Italy), Hugel (France), Penfold`s (Australia), etc. MBG's managing partner is writer and TV presenter Sergei Minaev. Minaev created his first novel, “Spiritless,” largely based on his experience working in the MBG.

The company owns two Intendant wine boutiques in Moscow. Fomina also invests in the restaurant business - she is a co-owner of the Cantinetta Antinori restaurant (with Arkady Novikov) and the Bread and Wine chain (five restaurants in Moscow). In addition, Fomina imports cosmetics and owns the U'Beauty beauty clinic.

According to SPARK, in 2014, the total revenue of the wine trading companies MB Group Impex and Millennium (part of the MBG group) amounted to 4.85 billion rubles, net profit - 109.5 million rubles.

“Calling wine alcohol is a global mistake”

— The rise in price of imported wine has led to an increase in production in Russia. Did you feel it?

— Let’s be honest when talking about Russian winemaking. Are the wine materials mostly not your own? Not their own. The bottles are often not our own, the production equipment is imported. That is, the dependence on the imported component in the price of a bottle is huge. For the powerful development of Russian winemaking, there are not enough volumes of our own grapes - it will take 10-15 years to saturate the market. You can control the quality of wine and its price only when you grow your own grapes, and they bring good harvests for more than one year. When you buy wine material, you depend on market price fluctuations; you cannot guarantee the cost of the bottle.

We tried to make a large Russian wine list for ourselves, but, unfortunately, nothing worked out because the prices of the wines that we tried to collect in this portfolio turned out to be very high. It is extremely difficult to explain to the end buyer or a guest in a restaurant why Russian wine is more expensive than the basic items of the same Antinori, and the quality, by the way, is often inferior. This is simply impossible, they do not take it and will not take it for that kind of money in large quantities. Our portfolio includes products of the Abrau Durso group of companies, which includes the “Divnomorskoye Estate”, “Abrau” and soon – “Vedernikov” lines. Plus, we have a very interesting partner in Crimea - Valery Zakharyin with his autochthonous wines from local varieties. This is all for now, but we are looking. There are already amazing farms in Russia, several of them, they belong to famous people, and a large amount of investment is being made in them. Over time it will be very good.

— You sell Abrau Durso wines, although this company has its own powerful distribution. Why do they need you?

“We can probably do something that they can’t.” We have a clearly built sales infrastructure, in particular in the HoReCa channel. A proposal for cooperation came from them.

— You add strong alcohol to your briefcase. How promising is this direction from your point of view?

— For example, I don’t consider wine to be alcohol. I believe that it is a global Russian mistake to call wine alcohol and equate it with it. We were engaged in vodka, we started distributing Gray Goose in Russia, despite the fact that I had never even tried vodka in my life. But I really liked the Gray Goose story itself. Then, when Bacardi bought this brand (for $2.2 billion in 2004. — RBC), we continued to distribute it, and then Bacardi began to do it themselves. But we initially built this distribution. Then we had Belvedere vodka in our briefcase (owned by LVMH. — RBC). Today we have an excellent portfolio of spirits - Poli grappa, Gordon & Macphail whiskey, Roger Groult Calvados and Château De Laubade Armagnac - excellent premium brands. But we don't put much emphasis on the strong.

— When you started trading, few people in Russia knew about quality wines. How did you build your business?

— I graduated from MGIMO, specialized in France. When I was in graduate school, I started working for a French company - Société commerciale de l'Ouest africain (SCOA), and my boss was a great wine connoisseur. I traveled and tasted a lot. Then I left this company, and we created MBG together with my husband Valery Kazikaev. Friends from the DP-trade company, who rented part of our office, began to import wine, they told me about Ruinart champagne. This was my first contract. The second was with Patrick de Ladoucette (one of the leading wine producers from the Loire Valley. — RBC), then a contract appeared with Pier Antinori (a leading wine producer from Tuscany. — RBC). My friend Frank Hardy, the first French sommelier in Moscow, helped me create the first wine list for MBG. In the end, this is what happened: my partners recommended me to other manufacturers.​

— Your partner in the wine business is the famous writer and TV presenter Sergei Minaev. How did he get into this business and does he do any actual operational work?

— Sergey came to MBG from the large alcohol company William Pitters and headed our sales department, and then became commercial director. Now he is a partner in the company, responsible for marketing and commercial activities. I remember how he brought me the manuscript “Spiritless” to read. I read it and asked if it could be published under a pseudonym? In the book, a number of characters were quite recognizable - for example, from among our partners. But in the end no one was offended. Now, by the way, filming has begun for a multi-part film based on his script, which will be released in the fall on Channel One.

— In addition to wine, you sell cosmetics. HWhat is more profitable - cosmetics or wine?

— Marginality in cosmetics higher. And then sales of cosmetics do not have such regulation - this is not an excise product, there is no EGAIS. As fate would have it, both of these businesses started in 1995. Sales of cosmetics are only 15% of the wine trading company's revenue, but this is an extremely interesting part of the business for me. During the crisis, many left the Russian market, but our sales are increasing.

In a way, it's the same story as wine. I have always been involved in the selective selection of very expensive products that are always in demand. There have never been any advertising budgets to promote them. These are niche products such as Valmont, 3LAB, Dr. Sebagh. During the 2008 crisis, we added a new direction - inexpensive, accessible cosmetics. Then we got a big contract with the Israeli company Yes To at that time. We also started working with the French line of the Corine de Farme brand. All this is sold in hypermarkets and is in great demand.

— Another business of yours is the chain of wine restaurants “Bread and Wine.” It is clear that this is one of your sales channels...

— We wanted to make such a wine Starbucks. Since we transport wine, we have the opportunity to give fair prices for it, and, of course, we have created platforms where we can see how people react to this or that position - this is very important for us. As a result, we got affordable wine bars with a relaxed atmosphere - this turned out to be the key to success. Plus we have tastings and themed evenings there: the educational part is also important.

— The state has decided to legalize online sales of alcoholic beverages. In the West, online trade in wine and spirits is quite a big business. But how big a story could this become for Russia?

— Many years ago, when online trading was not yet prohibited, we had the first online store, which was called alcocity.ru. But then the Internet was not very developed, although we sold very well. Until the legalization law is adopted, this whole situation is in limbo, and I would not be so optimistic about the prospects. There is probably a fairly strong lobby that is against it. It’s like with advertising: wine cannot be advertised, and this is also strange to a certain extent.​