LavkaLavka , LavkaLavka is a farming cooperative , a project in the field of social entrepreneurship [1] , which aims to revive agriculture and lost gastronomic traditions in Russia and other countries. It includes an online service in the form of a social network designed for farmers to interact with consumers, as well as a chain of restaurants and retail stores with related farm products.
| LavkaLavka | |
|---|---|
 | |
| URL | lavkalavka.com |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Site type | social network online store |
| check in | Optional (required in some sections for edits in articles) |
| Languages) | Russian , English |
| Server location |  Russia : Moscow |
| Author | Boris Akimov |
| Beginning of work | 2009 |
| Current status | It works and develops |
Content
History
The project was founded in Moscow in the spring of 2009 by three friends: journalist Boris Akimov, IT specialist Alexander Mikhailov and seller Vasily Palshin. The idea of entrepreneurs was to create a public platform for the sale of organic agricultural products free from chemical additives, which is almost impossible to get in ordinary stores. The main objective was to bring farmers and consumers directly without any intermediaries.
For these purposes, they created the Internet resource LavkaLavka, where each farmer can register an account and put up for sale their products. Before the product appears on the site, project members carefully check the farm for compliance with declared standards, for example, what seeds are used when planting crops, how the garden is watered and fertilized, under what conditions livestock are kept, and so on. The company has developed its own system of environmental certification (SES), its main provisions: the rejection of artificial substances as fertilizers , pesticides , herbicides , growth regulators , the use of plant infusions and agricultural techniques to fight diseases [2] . At the same time, the buyer has the opportunity to receive complete information about the purchased products, including photographs and farm descriptions (each individual product is ordered not from an abstract assortment, but from specific farmers from specific farms). Additionally, in some individual cases there is the possibility of eco-tourism , customers can, if they wish, visit the economy of interest to them and personally familiarize themselves with the production process of goods.
In 2011, LavkaLavka specialty restaurants were opened in Moscow and St. Petersburg, specializing in cooking Russian dishes from the same environmentally friendly agricultural products. Restaurants, according to the founders, are primarily aimed at those customers who want to eat healthy rural food, but for one reason or another are not yet ready to order products on the site. The menu again provides detailed information on the origin of all the ingredients used in the preparation of dishes [3] . The menu is compiled with the mandatory ideology of ethical consumption . For example, a restaurant does not order 125 steaks for its needs; instead, the farmer brings a whole cow carcass, which is completely cut, and each piece is prepared in accordance with the gastronomic rules. When the carcass is eaten without a trace, the farmer brings a new one. [4] .
As of 2013, the project had about 4 thousand regular customers, several dozen regular suppliers, and the monthly turnover was 10 million rubles [5] .
Reviews
In 2013, the AmBAR Business Association characterized LavkaLavka as one of the most striking and beautiful social startups in Russia [6] .
LavkaLavka restaurants were also highly rated, for example, the observer of the Kommersant Weekend newspaper assigned four out of five stars to a Moscow restaurant, calling it very relevant against the current geopolitical background and fitting perfectly into the national import substitution program [7] . According to the results of an open vote on the specialized Menu.ru portal, the LavkaLavka cafe received the “Best Restaurant of 2013” award, winning the nomination “Menu of Russian Products” [8] .
The activities of the project were also positively evaluated by some well-known foreign publications, which often note in their articles and reports that the success of organizations such as LavkaLavka is especially high under the economic sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia . The project was consecrated by such authoritative news portals as Euronews [9] , The New York Times [10] .
Notes
- ↑ Harvest Festival with LavkaLavka . Our future (September 18, 2014). Date of treatment May 5, 2015.
- ↑ Anastasia Karimova, Svetlana Mentyukova. Environmentally friendly PR . Kommersant (April 15, 2013). Date of treatment May 5, 2015.
- ↑ Elena Denisenko. More than a store . Expert (March 19, 2012). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
- ↑ Danila Suslov. Restaurant LavkaLavka opened its doors to all comers . RBC (June 4, 2014). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
- ↑ Yuri Mitin, Mikhail Khomich. Products with a name, or LavkaLavka Project Success Story . Kommersant (May 21, 2013). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
- ↑ Social entrepreneurship. Trend? A new kind of business? . AmBAR Business Association (November 14, 2013). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
- ↑ Daria Tsivina. Gastronomic dualism. Daria Tsivina about Beer & Brut and “LavkaLavka” . Kommersant (April 17, 2015). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
- ↑ Winners of the Prize: “Thank you all!” . Menu.ru (January 27, 2014). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
- ↑ Russia: who instead of importers of food? . Euronews (April 13, 2015). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
- ↑ NEIL MacFARQUHAR. Organic Farms Become a Winner in Putin's Feud With the West . The New York Times (November 18, 2014). Date of treatment April 27, 2015.
Links
- LavkaLavka.com - official site of the project