MSP Issue 34

INTERVIEW
CAN THE DELI MEAT PRODUCTS
PRODUCED BY “OKRAINA” BE FOUND
IN OTHER REGIONS OF RUSSIA?
– Murmansk market is limited. It
has a negative growth due to the
fact that people are constantly
leaving the Extreme North. That’s
why in 2013, we decided to expand
to the Leningrad Oblast market
which is close to us not only by
distance but by heart too. The
other reason was that many people
from Murmansk going to Saint
Petersburg took our products with
them. In 2014, we launched our
products in “O'KEY” hypermarkets,
and after that in other retail chains
of Saint Petersburg. Currently,
“OKRAINA” holds a prominent
position in the Northwestern
region of Russia: Leningrad Oblast,
Petrozavodsk, Veliky Novgorod,
Pskov. Through the “Metro Cash
& Carry” hypermarket chain, our
products are present in over 40
regions of Russia: from Kaliningrad
to Vladivostok. Surprisingly enough,
the products of “OKRAINA” are in
good demand even in the “meat”
regions with their own production
and strong players!
WHAT OTHER RETAILERS DO YOU
COOPERATE WITH, BESIDES THE
ONES MENTIONED ABOVE?
– Almost with all of them. We
work with the largest federal
chains “Magnet”, “Х5 Retail
Group”, “Lenta”, “Intertorg”, “Dixie”,
“Prizma”, “LAND”, “Azbuka Vkusa”,
etc. We are actively working with
an international store chain and
“Circle Key” shops. We work with all
local retail chains in our region and
with the large local chains in Saint
Petersburg oriented on the consumer
level of our price segment.
The market is moving towards consolidation,
and we often have to
work with distribution centers (DC).
WHICH BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
TRENDS ARE THE MOST PROMISING
IN YOUR OPINION?
– We are currently examining the
practicability of building a new
plant in Leningrad Oblast because
we are very much interested in
Saint Petersburg market. One of
our key tasks today, of course,
is the development of our own
online stores in the big cities of
the Northwestern Federal District.
We are also actively working with
the HoReCa segment, and we have
developed a unique product range
for this channel.
HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF EXPORTING
YOUR PRODUCTS?
– Let me tell you a little secret:
yes, we are planning to expand
to European markets because of
the requests by our partners from
Finland and Norway for product
supply. Particularly, they want to
buy our dry and hard smoked sausages
which are one of our highly
effective projects. However, it’s too
early to speak about this in details.
HAVE YOU PARTICIPATED IN ANY
MUNICIPAL OR NATIONAL BUSINESS
SUPPORT PROGRAMS?
– No, we haven’t. We are depending
only on our own abilities, knowledge
and professionalism.
PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE CHOICE
OF EQUIPMENT AND RAW MATERIALS
FOR YOUR PRODUCTION. DO YOU
PREFER FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC
BRANDS?
– Regarding raw materials, we focus
on the quality, as I already said. And
I must say that the import substitution
task here has been almost
accomplished. Pork and chicken
meat is supplied from Central
Russia, Kaliningrad, while beef is
supplied from Russia and Belarus.
During the raw material acceptance
on a continuous basis, we carry out
quality control. Moreover, we implemented
the Hazard Analysis and
Critical Control Point system which
is mandatory in many countries
around the world.
We use mostly foreign equipment
for sausage production: from cutters
and smoke ovens to packing
lines. However, the convenience
product plant uses Russian
equipment: dumpling production
machines and packing lines. It
must be said that Russian manufacturers
have already achieved a
decent quality of their equipment.
Regarding the production spices,
the main types are supplied from
Germany, Italy and Austria. We also
buy Russian spices, mainly mono
spices.
YOUR COMPANY USES PIC
IDENTIFICATION TO MONITOR
PRODUCTS AND RAW MATERIALS.
HOW AND WHEN HAS THIS
SYSTEM BEEN IMPLEMENTED, AND
HOW DEMANDED IS IT BY YOUR
CUSTOMERS?
– PIC (Product Individual Code) is
a product quality control tool developed
by “OKRAINA”. It was implemented
in 2012 in order to make
meat production more transparent
for the end consumer. PIC is a part
of the WMS automated control system.
Each product manufactured by
our company has a unique PIC. This
code can be used to trace the whole
history of the corresponding prod-
20 | MSP Magazine • October/November 2018