Russian restaurants are having problems purchasing premium quality beef. This was stated by Sergey Mironov, Vice President of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers (FRiO), owner of the Meat & Fish chain at the Forum of Food Business Leaders at the WorldFood Moscow 2021 exhibition.

According to Mironov, there were no interruptions in the supply of marbled beef until ABH Miratorg began to develop the Chinese market. For another two years it was enough for everyone. The rest of the suppliers cannot provide the required volume due to the more modest scale of the business: in fact, there is no competition in this segment. According to the expert, it is necessary to cancel the ban on imports of beef from Argentina, introduced by the Rosselkhoznadzor.

Countersanctions are in effect. Russia does not buy meat from Australia and the United States. From 2018-2019, supplies from Argentinean exporters selling marbled meat are limited. Meanwhile, a vacuum has formed in HoReCa: restaurants simply do not have meat for quality steaks.

The picture becomes clearer if you listen to the restaurateurs with their own raw materials base. The manager of the Primbeef Bar chain Leonid Lytvyn said that their establishments lack premium quality meat. The PRIMEBEEF brand belongs to the Zarechnoye group of companies, which develops the production of marbled beef in the Voronezh region, but the supply does not match the demand. Guests cannot be lured by alternative steaks (machetes, denver, etc.), which remain unclaimed and end up in warehouses. Subsequently, this negatively affects the cost.

“Despite the fact that we are part of a corporation, restaurants often get on stop-lists,” said Lytvyn. He clarified that three premium positions are needed: ribeye, striploinand filet mignon, which are very difficult to find on the domestic market. In addition, the bar chain manager has no doubts that beef prices will continue to rise due to the lack of plant-based feed.

Source: meatinfo