The team of creators and managers of the brand "Beloruchka", which produces traditional health food, is modernizing production and increasing capacity. The products of the brand, popular and beloved in Russia, have been sold in Australia for many years, New Zealand, Germany and the USA are next in line.
The business that brought Galina Sidarok to the Forbes Woman list was born in 2003 with a small production of peeled vegetables and homemade preparations. The income of the Echo company, where she is a co-founder and head, has exceeded the mark of 1.5 billion rubles a year. The idea of selling vegetables fully prepared for use was appreciated by retail chains: Lenta, Metro, X5, large restaurants and, most importantly, buyers. The company is also known as a producer of vegetable preparations according to traditional recipes. The symbol of the brand is sauerkraut, which was highly appreciated not only by Russian, but also by foreign buyers.
What is the key to success, how does your team work?
Shavkat: Everyone is responsible for their own line of work. Galina Petrovna is engaged in certification, product line development, production control. I am responsible for strategic planning and control the financial side of the case. Everything related to issues of interaction with regulatory authorities, financial flows within the company, is supervised by Lyudmila. Artem is engaged in the development of the brand, it was he who gave a new impetus, opening new markets for us – Australia and Europe.
Galina: Shavkat Kamilovich and I make all important decisions exclusively collectively. It is only in discussions that the right decisions are born.
What achievements of the Beloruchka brand do you consider the most significant?
Artem: An important achievement, thanks to which we have become known in recent years, is export supplies. They began in the spring of 2017 with Australia. This contract is still valid, moreover, the partners want to entrust us with supplies to New Zealand. In 2020, despite the pandemic, we signed a contract for supplies to Germany, and all preliminary work has already been carried out.
Shavkat: The pandemic, of course, forced us to work in new conditions, but this crisis, like the previous ones – 2008, 2014 – we survived without any serious shocks. Traditional, healthy, fortified food is always necessary, especially during epidemics, to maintain strength and immunity. Since we produce, including pickled ginger, by the time they said on TV that it was very useful in the fight against the virus, we had a large stock of this product in our warehouses. The product, which was estimated to be sold in three months, left in ten days, and we had to order more.
Your business is based on the principles of friendship and nepotism, what else do you value in your work?
Lyudmila: We appreciate those who work with us. In the entire history of the company, we have not delayed the salary for our employees for a single day. We employ about three hundred people who know that they will receive money stably and on time, and can safely plan their lives. This is correct, and it has a positive effect on the result.
Galina: It is necessary to add that the main principle of the company is not to save on quality. We are engaged in healthy, healthy products, therefore, we control all stages of production. We make our own preparations of raw materials and ingredients necessary for the production. Ready-to-sell tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, which are salted and fermented in the old grandfather's way, are stored in refrigerators. Our products are natural, without preservatives, without any unnecessary additives.
Shavkat: The main indicator of product quality, in my opinion, is when you eat it yourself and give it to your children. Our motto is: "The best advertising of a product is its quality!"
What are the company's immediate and long-term development plans?
Artem: Capture the whole world! We receive a lot of requests from Israel and England, we are profitable for them. At the beginning of the year, we actively developed the American market. In Anaheim, USA, at the Natural products 2020 exhibition, we already had a stand ready. A new brand was specially developed for the Western market, all the preparatory work was carried out, but on the day of arrival it turns out that the exhibition has been postponed indefinitely. When the coronavirus story ends, we will definitely resume work in this direction.
Shavkat: Of course, development is not only about exports, because everything is interconnected. The story of the coronavirus has shown that it is necessary to develop production from the point of view of mechanization. We plan to purchase new automatic production lines that will be able to replace human labor somewhere and speed up productivity.
Galina: Foreign buyers are really very important and interesting for us, we are for the development of exports. But, most importantly, we have become very popular in Russia. For networks, we are a good supplier that attracts customers to stores – they are looking for a "White hand" on the shelves, they ask. Our most important task is to make products for every taste and expand the product range. We will feed our Russian consumers without fail!Text: Natalia Dumkina
Фото: Рита Хорошо
Стиль: Ирина Рыжова
Одежда: Milostore.ru
Образ: Кристина Скворцова
Локация: Галерея Futuro
