Azbuka Vkusa (), translated in English as Alphabet of Taste, is a premium supermarket chain founded by Maxim Koscheenko and Oleg Lytkin. The first store was opened in Moscow in 1997. As of 2015, it operated 90 stores in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and its suburbs.
Operation As of January 2020, the network included 102 Azbuka Vkusa supermarkets, 57 AB Daily mini markets, 3 Enotheques and one AB Bistro restaurant, most of the stores are located in Moscow, some supermarkets are in the Moscow region and St. Petersburg. The standard retail area of the supermarket is .
Revenue for the 2020 fiscal year amounted to 75.2 billion rubles.
In 2015, Azbuka Vkusa certified its culinary production (factory-kitchen) in Moscow according to the international standard ISO 22000, and then the scope of the standard was expanded to the bakery and confectionery production of the company.
Private Labels Azbuka Vkusa launched their store brands in 2011.
Azbuka Vkusa has expanded steadily since 1997, balancing external acquisitions and internal growth. The table below charts that growth using figures provided courtesy of the company. Year Revenue in US Dollars Number of Stores Floor Space in m2 1997 Unavailable 1 223 1998 Unavailable 2 949 2001 Unavailable 3 1 639 2003 Unavailable 6 3 941 2004 Unavailable 8 4 372 2005 102 000 000 11 5 671 2006 177 000 000 19 11 122 2007 303 000 000 22 14 472 2008 315 000 000 24 16 190 2009 393 000 000 26 17 920 2010 568 000 000 40 27 355 2011 806 000 000 47 32 154 2012 879 000 000 53 37 066 2013 1 200 000 000 64 46 960 2014 1 600 000 000 90 60 000
Owners and management As of 2013, the founders of the network Maxim Kosheenko and Oleg Lytkin controlled more than 50%. 6.9% belongs to 14 top managers of the network. The rest of the package was in the hands of V.M.H.Y. Holdings Limited, owned by the former owners of Expobank — Andrey Vdovin, Pavel Maslovsky and Peter Hambro, who gradually acquired the package from two other co-founders of the network - Oleg Trykin and Sergey Vereshchagin, who finally resigned from the shareholders by 2011. Over 12% of the network belonged to Pavel Maslovsky's sons, Yuri and Alexei, as well as Kirill Yakubovsky, who sold them his share in August 2014.
The founders of the company, Maxim Kosheenko and Oleg Lytkin, own 42.6%. Another 12% is owned by V.M.H.Y. Holdings Limited, 4.4% are under the control of the top management of the retail chain. The remaining 41.1% are owned by Millhouse and Invest AG.
Denis Sologub is the president of the network, Maxim Kosheenko is the Chairman of the Board of Directors.
References