how a former IT specialist sells cheese under sanctions. 9 conclusions in 10 years

I worked as an IT specialist for eight years: first I was a programmer, then I became a project manager in the banking sector. My career was going uphill, but at the beginning of 2014 I clearly understood that I wanted something completely different.

I have been interested in cheeses for a long time: in Europe I went to cheese shops, talked with their owners, tried them, brought them home, read special literature. I was very passionate about this topic, and at some point I became completely immersed in it.

In July 2014, he opened his first cheese shop in a dark alley in Moscow. The premises were rented out without a door; first, it was necessary to cut a doorway. I was saving money for a car, but bought a store instead. I closed it a year later because the place was impassable and people couldn’t find us even on a map.

In the article: how I chose points, decided to stop giving head to employees, fought with Rospotrebnadzor and defeated sanctions, why I decided not to invest “in concrete.” My conclusions from 10 years of business.

1. Open next to a wine library, bakery and ABC of Taste.

I opened my first cheese store in an impassable place and it was difficult to find even on a map. Then we broke even thanks to the online store.

When I opened my second cheese store, I started visiting locations and counting people. I sat in the cafe opposite from 17 to 19 hours. If you count 2000 people, you can take it.

It is also important that the target audience is nearby. For a cheese store, these are wine stores, bakeries, supermarkets: Vkusville, Azbuka, Bakhetle. This will also generate additional traffic. I didn’t consider a super-traffic location, but was looking for walking distance. The bet was on the locals, who should get there.

2. Take your cheese shop with you

The opening of the first cheese store in 2014 cost 700 thousand rubles:

— 300K purchase of goods

— 200K renovation of the premises

— 200K equipment

I saved this money to buy a car, and ended up with a beautiful cheese shop with a cash register and two counters. But the place was inconvenient for buyers and a year later they had to move out, leaving all the beauty to future landlords. After that, I decided that I would not invest “in concrete.” Large investments are not worth it. And no one knows how long you will live in the rented premises: a month or 5 years. Now all our stores are modular – almost everything, including decoration, can be taken out.

3. Stopped worrying about employees and started YouTube.

At the very beginning, I thought that no one could tell me about cheese better than me. I'm so proud of this. But here you just need to step over yourself and understand that you are not the only one who can and knows everything. Other people have strong qualities too. Some have sales, some have analytics. But if you do everything and everywhere, then nothing good will come of it. That’s why I went to talk about cheese on YouTube, and left direct sales of cheese to the specialists.

It is important not to be a tyrant for your team and to trust them. Then, when you exit the operating room, you will not worry that someone put the bucket in the wrong place and you need to give this person a stick.

4. Cheese dries out, sellers steal

In the cheese selling business, it is difficult to find sellers who will not steal. The product is weighty and can be easily left-handed. For example, sell cheap cheese at the price of expensive cheese, and pocket the difference)

One day, a salesman waved a five-thousand-dollar bill at us at the camera. We didn't see him again.

We make gift baskets with cheese. According to technical specifications, we add 200 grams of each cheese. It happened that the seller would add 100 grams each, and then sell the rest of this cheese for cash.

Inventory and MySklad help in the fight against theft. All logs are saved in the program, and if a seller deletes items, it is easy to detect. We have write-offs – they include tastings and drying of cheese per 200g. every week.

We do inventory once every 2 weeks. The system calculates in advance how much and what kind of cheese should remain. 2 sellers count everything in the store. If according to the results there is less cheese than it should be, we fine you. If this story repeats itself more than twice, we fire you.

5. Even if you are right a thousand times, what’s the point if your client went to Rospotrebnadzor?

One day a man came to us and said that the cheese had gone bad. On our part, all storage conditions were met and we began to prove that it was he who stored it in a warm place. The client did not like that we blamed him, and he began to be aggressive. Here we got off easy and the man simply left. But in another case, we could receive 10 negative reviews and a complaint to Rospotrebnadzor. Do we need it?

6. Festival during sanctions

A few months after opening my first cheese store, sanctions were imposed on all European cheeses except Swiss. Switzerland is not part of the EU, so no sanctions were imposed in 2014. There are 8 factories that still supply to Russia.

After the departure of European cheeses, people began to look for a replacement for their beloved Italian Parmigiano. We started going to cheese stores in the hope of finding something similar. I changed my mind and found delicious cheeses in Russia and Switzerland.

We found a cheese festival and agreed to hold a competition “The Best Cheese of Russia”. The best Russian cheese makers gathered there. This way we were able to choose our suppliers.

I know guys who still carry the sanction. But the conditions for transporting such cheeses are questionable.

If they come to your cheese store and find such cheese, they will take you out of the store, run over with a tractor right in front of you and issue you a fine of 1 million.

7. Don’t argue with Rospotrebnadzor

We had cards of European cheeses on our website marked “out of stock.” They did this to attract buyers. A person would come in, see a familiar Cheddar cheese, and we would offer a replacement. Rospotrebnadzor noticed this and told me to remove everything. You have a day to react. There is no point in making appeals and proving that you are not actually selling this cheese. The application will definitely not be considered within a day, and you will receive a fine of 300K.

From time to time they wrote a statement against us even for Russian cheeses. They see the word “Parmesan” and sue. In such cases, we removed the card, changed the link and changed the name.

8. Don’t rely on retail sales of cheese.

Our first cheese store in the outskirts was saved only by the online store. 50% of buyers look online first. Others are those who live nearby or happened to pass by the store. It is important to understand that no one will go to the other end of town for cheese. It’s easier to order delivery or buy at another store closer to home.

We immediately made a website and started promoting through context and SEO. Social networks work worse. Previously, there were a lot of sales from Ungram, but now the coverage has dropped significantly.

Currently, cheese sales are approximately equally divided between the online store and retail outlets.

9. Franchise for joint purchases

I immediately understood that a franchise in our business is not about profit. The main idea when starting is to buy cheese in bulk, which is cheaper. We buy a lot of cheese, sell it to franchisees at cost and make no money on it. But we are increasing our margin in stores, because… We bought cheese cheaper in large quantities. Plus royalties, of course.

The material was prepared for the MySklad blog based on an interview with entrepreneur Alexander Krupetskov, founder of the “Cheese Sommelier” chain.

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