A lecture by the director of "Turandot" restaurant Olga Semanova

The subject of the lecture given by the director of "Turandot" restaurant (restaurant holding Maison Dellos) Olga Semanova to the students of the "Restaurant Business Management" program, was the classification of the dining enterprise and the modern trends of the restaurant industry.

While speaking on the subject of statistics, Olga Semanova said - "In 2008 the market volume of restaurant business in Russia reached 343.1 billion rubles. A year later, due the global economic downturn it shrank to 334.2 billion. The same trend could be seen in the total number of business transactions in the industry, which fell from 1428 million in 2008 to 1396 million in 2009. This is the most recent data that is currently available to us."

In comparison to the West, Russia is lagging behind in the number of operating restaurant facilities. Even in Moscow, today we have not more than 4500 dining facilities, while, for instance, in Paris - there is approximately 14 thousand, and around 17 thousand in New York.

On one hand, it goes to show that our market still has the available niches, and opportunities to start and develop a new business in this industry. However, on the other hand, among other things, this statistics reflect the unfavorability factor, which shapes the behavior of the Russian consumer, who, traditionally, is likely to eat only at home, something that is directly related to their economic wellbeing."

To illustrate this point further, she presented additional figures: "In the US, individual expenditures on food outside home per capita is $1349 a year. In Russia today, this figure is estimated at only 66 dollars a year. Among the states ranked higher than Russia, are several ex-Warsaw Pact states, such as Czech Republic ($329/year), Hungary ($264/year), with states like Kazakhstan ranked lower at only $17/year", - summarized the general director of "Turandot".