All my childhood, almost every Sunday we went to church. Russian Orthodox.
We went there with my parents, and it was terribly reluctant to get up, it seemed that my throat hurt, it seemed - that's all, just not to go.
And then, for example, Easter. And parents are driven to sleep during the day, because at night there is a service. And here t They dress you up in some beautiful skirts and take you to church at night. There are cops in front of the church, trying to keep them out, trying to insult their parents. But all this is the norm. And the church is the norm, part of life.
And here I am sitting on the floor, for example, I am 6 years old, and there is a crowd of people around, stuffy, the air can be cut into pieces - it is so concentrated and saturated (is there even such a word?), Priests in multi-colored cassocks, and the whole church shouts in unison "Truly Resurrection",
And then you go out into the street - and from somewhere you have the strength to immediately run around, scream, fight, have fun,
Then at home a huge table, and the battle hard boiled eggs, and, of course, it is impossible to eat them all, Easter cakes, and royal Easter, which is wildly difficult to make and which of all the families I know, only ours makes, and how delicious it is!
Or on the Trinity, when everything is in the branches, everything is green and procession in the middle of summer
Or we, Anya, Mitya, mother, all of us, and Father Alexei Uminsky, stand in an empty, locked church and pray for little Alyosha.
Or weddings, when "a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife; and the two become one flesh,"
And christenings, and babies screaming with resentment that they were suddenly dipped into the water with their heads without warning.
And confession, of course.
I don't like how the church smells, I don't know exactly what it is - incense? But even this smell is some kind of such a huge part of me that it is already impossible to tear it out.
I can't help but belong to this church.
This is my church.
And you, Father Chaplin, have nothing to do with her.
Somehow it turns out that for many people, and more and more for me, the border between My Church and the Russian Orthodox Church thinner and thinner, and more and more disappointment, resentment, the feeling that something is happening that cannot happen in principle,
The Volga stopped flowing into the Caspian Sea, and now it flows into the Black Sea, and I don’t know how I can live with this.
I can’t endlessly explain to my friends - don’t put an equal sign between Orthodoxy and the Russian Orthodox Church, I can no longer persuade them,
I know for sure that it is not gay parades, dances at the altar and jokes about the patriarch that are killing the church, it is you, Father Chaplin, and your numerous and amazing like-minded people who are killing it.
Maybe some enemies are paying you? Perhaps you have been possessed by a demon? Because everything can't be explained so simply that you're just such an idiot?
Do you really not understand what you are doing?
What are you doing with My Church.
It's very hard.
Very.
In Moscow, the cafe "Children of Paradise" is closing, which lasted 6 years. In recent years, he has been haunted by a series of failures: a fire, a flood, officials, an invasion of the Revizorro program (ended with a complaint to Rospotrebnadzor) and the last straw - the reconstruction of Nikitsky Boulevard, due to which all approaches to the cafe turned out to be. Varvara Turova, co-owner of Children of Paradise, told Inc. why she refused crowdfunding, how she kept the restaurant afloat and why she dissuades her from doing business in Russia.
“In the last year, as a shareholder, I did not receive a penny”
- What was the last straw after which you decided to close the Children of Paradise cafe?
There were so many that I can't even remember. When, after months of a torn road, mountains of dirt and sand (it was impossible to get to us), the sidewalk was widened on Nikitsky Boulevard, we were delighted and thought: we could finally get permission for a full-fledged veranda, which we had never had in 6 years. But literally the next day, the whole house was loaded into scaffolding and they began to repair the facade, so that we were no longer visible from the street. We are located in a fairly passable place, but due to the renovation of the building and the torn road in recent weeks 30 people came to us a day. So you can't survive.
- How many people came "from the street"?
Enough. It always seemed to me that if you only have “your” audience, you are doomed. The number of guests must increase all the time. It did not decrease, but there were a huge number of problems. In the spring we had a fire, then a flood. And all this time we had a schizophrenic war with the neighbors from above: they hated us to such an extent that they stuffed rags, sand and other garbage into their toilet and flushed it all down with water - as a result, a plumber went to us as if to work .
"Children of Paradise" was opened in April 2011 journalist Varvara Turova and musician Alexei Paperny. By the time the cafe closed, 25 people were working. In 2014, a branch of "Children of Paradise" was opened in St. Petersburg - and closed at the beginning of 2016.
According to SPARK, until June 6, 2017, Alexei Paperny, Liana Zeynalova and Yuliana Slashcheva, the former general director of the STS Media holding and wife CEO TASS Sergei Mikhailova. Another 15% belonged to Turova and 10% to Natalia Sichkar. In June of this year, Slashcheva left the company. The revenue of Bulvar LLC for 2015 amounted to 10.5 million rubles, and the profit - 15 thousand rubles.
How did this losing streak start?
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, there have been several moments of crisis when we thought - should we close? But every time they swam out, clung, hoped that it would become easier. But it only got worse. Because of the sanctions, prices have risen sharply - not only foreign, but also Russian products have risen in price. Our expenses have doubled. But we couldn't afford to raise prices.
How much did you raise them?
A little bit, but not in such a way that it becomes profitable. Otherwise, we would lose the loyalty of the audience. With the same number of people, we began to earn much less than 4 years ago. Then I lived only on my share of the profits from the "Children of Paradise", and this allowed me to travel and exist normally. And for Last year I, as a shareholder, did not receive a penny. IN best months we went to zero or a tiny plus sign.
Did fewer people visit you?
No, on the contrary, we have developed and become quite a popular place. But the economy of the restaurant is arranged in such a way that a lot of things need to be taken into account: payroll, rent, public utilities. Not to mention that the rules of the game change all the time, and sometimes officials do it retroactively. For example, last year they came to us and said: “We are not extending your lease because you do not have a separate room for storing wine.” We answered: “Excuse me, for the previous 5 years we managed with wine shelves and a cabinet and there were no complaints.” But it turns out that they introduced new rules - and they had to build a partition, make a separate room. Naturally, officials do not pay these costs. Because of the mass of such trifles, the business turns into a struggle for survival.
- When did you decide to close?
We fluttered to the last and tried, like that mouse from the parable, to beat the butter so as not to drown. They tried to find an investor and change something, turned to various restaurant chains and business sharks, but nothing happened. They themselves are not doing well (which was a big surprise for me). No one wanted to take risks, because it is very difficult for everyone.
- What role did the Revizorro program play in your closure?
After their visit, our revenue fell by 2-3 times. It took about a month and a half to restore it. That day I was at home, our employees called me and said in a trembling voice: "Revizorro" has come to us. I say: why did you let them in? But it was impossible to stop them - film crew came with the camera turned on and, without hesitation for a second, immediately went to the kitchen. Once again I will say: they were not interested in dirt, but in scandal, and everything that is shown there is a lie. You can come to the cleanest operating room and muddy chamber with gloomy music to remove such horror that you will feel crawling snakes there. In addition, the journalists of the Pyatnitsa TV channel wrote a statement to Rospotrebnadzor, which came to us with an extraordinary check. Well, you can guess how we resolved the issue with the inspectors. Actually, no one can solve these questions differently. So there were, shall we say, additional expenses.
- How much did "Children of Paradise" earned last year?
I can't name the numbers, but I'll give you an example: three years ago, the revenue on Fridays and Saturdays was 280-300 thousand rubles a day. And in the last year it was 130 thousand rubles a day - with the same number of people. The average check has almost halved: the prices of our suppliers have increased, people have become much more economical - they ordered less and left less tips. I don't blame the closure, only the evil ones external forces. To think through the economy in these new circumstances, you need to be super-professionals. Neither I nor Alexei Paperny are such. I am busy in the theater, Alexey is a musician and playwright. We spent a lot of energy on the "Children of Paradise", but this was not our life's work. Unlike their fellow professional restaurateurs, they devote all their time to the business and therefore stay afloat.
- Is the closure of "Children of Paradise" connected with the departure of Yuliana Slasheva?
We were not dealing with her, but with her husband, but no - this is in no way connected. Because neither Yuliana nor her husband Sergei Mikhailov have had anything to do with the management of the "Children of Paradise" for many years. Once upon a time they were our original investors.
- Have they invested in cafes in recent years?
No. We have not had any working relationship for many years - only friendly. (Yuliana Slashcheva, in a comment to Inc., noted that she left the founders of the company a year and a half ago, but the data on her exit were published in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities only on June 6 of this year).
Why did they decide to go out of business?
This is a question for them.
- Do you feel sorry that "Children of Paradise" are closing?
How can I explain to you? I can not live without opera house, but without "Children of Paradise" - I can. But, of course, I am sad - I spent 6 years of my life and quite a lot of energy on this. Of course, it's a pity.
"Open a business anywhere but here"
You recently wrote that your business never worked out, but it turned out to be “a place in which many felt good, important, warm.” Isn't that enough to make the cafe profitable?
There should be a clear priority - why are you doing it. I am sure: our so-called colleague Mitya Borisov (restaurateur, Jean-Jacques, John Donne, Mayak - Inc.) opens absolutely all his places to earn money. He succeeds. And when we opened a cafe, we put other things in the foreground - for example, the atmosphere. It's not that we are such a carefree, lyrical intelligentsia - we wanted to make money and we did it. But it was more important for us to treat friends who came to visit than to refuse it for the sake of additional revenue. I am not a commercially oriented person, and I don’t have a business mindset - that’s why we didn’t succeed in cutting costs, firing someone, acting tough ... It has always been important for us to help someone, treat someone for free, arrange various charitable topics. As a result, we are without money, and I do not remove our collective responsibility at all. To be a ballerina you have to be flexible, but to do business you have to be tough. I'm not a tough person, Alexey too.
- When you started "Children of Paradise", what did you think of this institution?
We didn't have ambitions to be a trendy DJ bar. We wanted to open a nice cafe where you can come after work or a hard rehearsal. To make it cozy, tasty and no unjustified show-offs - this is when the girls ask you from the doorstep “Are you expected?”, And then they follow you around the hall. In a word - to feel at home. In this sense, we have succeeded - if not to talk about business, but about the implementation of the idea. "Children of Paradise" has become an important place for many: the number of people who wrote that our closure for them is a personal loss shocked me. I absolutely did not expect this and am very grateful.
Ekaterina Zaklivenetz/Inc.
- Why didn't you turn to all these people for help, didn't do crowdfunding?
There was such a thought. Moreover, we would certainly have collected the required amount - we have a large credit of trust. But my partner and colleague Alexei (Paperny, musician and co-owner of Children of Paradise. - Inc.) was against it. He said that this is a business, and in business you can’t ask anyone for anything - we ourselves have gone bankrupt and are to blame.
Have you tried hiring a manager?
This is what we did in Masterskaya - we hired a management company that managed our business for a good fee. But she began by offering to redo everything. For example, in the "Workshop" there were many different lampshades in one line, and it was very beautiful. And the manager says: lampshades are not fashionable, it's like in a country house and you need to remove them all in order to make a fashionable place. I tell him: places are different, and we are good at creating a homely atmosphere, which means that you need to work with this product. So the last attempt to hire a manager did not lead to anything (the Masterskaya club, which was opened by Varvara Turova and Alexei Paperny, closed in November 2016. - Inc.)
- What would you do differently now?
I would not open Children of Paradise. If someone comes to me tomorrow and says: “Here's a lot of money for you, let's open Children of Paradise!”, I will say no. IN modern Russia you have to be crazy to be in business. It seems to me that everyone who has money should invest in business abroad. This is caused by my feeling of the air around. Leveling, tightening screws and so on will continue, and there is no way out of this. There was simply no more unfavorable moment to start a business in Russia. People often write to me: “We want to open a small cafe, what would you advise us?” I dissuade them and advise them to open a cafe in Berlin, Tel Aviv - anywhere but here.
- Do you want to finish with the restaurant business?
I'm going to finish doing business in Russia for good. I love to feed people, I like it when guests come to me, I like being a hostess - this is mine. But in Russia, until this power is replaced, it is not worth even trying. I say this without disclaiming responsibility for the fact that we went bankrupt. But everything that happens around kills business. And small, and medium, and any.
- And abroad?
As long as I live here and I don't have a concrete plan of moving. Now I am interested in opera, my efforts have been directed there for 4 years. I study in St. Petersburg, and in June I entered office work in Moscow - you need to live on something. I am very sad that there will be no more “Children of Paradise”, but in a sense it is right - you can’t do everything.
Next news
On June 30, one of the main points of attraction for the Moscow intelligentsia, the Children of Paradise cafe, closed. The institution became widely known last fall, when the Revizorro show descended on it - Elena Letuchaya and her team found expired food and an open sewer in the restaurant. The owner of the cafe, Varvara Turova, cites a series of failures that happened with the "Children" and the reconstruction of the street, which made it difficult for visitors to get into the institution as the reason for the closure. "360" tells what "Children of Paradise" and its founder became famous for.
"Children of Paradise" were located in the center of the capital - on Nikitsky Boulevard. “We understand nothing about fashion, concepts, currents and foams. We want to make a place that will please us, and hopefully you. "Children of Paradise" is our favorite film. The film is about the theatre, about paradise - a gallery where real life boils. theatrical life, about love, genius and talent. The children of the paradise are us. We live in a district - a small territory, as if separated by a wall from the rest of the city, from the rest of the country, ” says on the cafe website.
The owner of the cafe, Varvara Turova, is a musician, actress and publicist, known among creative intelligentsia Moscow. Her columns can be found on the websites " such cases », « Orthodox world », « snob ».
Varvara Turova. Screenshot: youtube. be/ii2PplHdeoI.
The last year of the existence of "Children of Paradise" was overshadowed by scandals associated with both the cafe and the personality of Turova herself. For example, in November last year, Turova posted on her Facebook a big text dedicated to the intelligentsia, to which she referred herself and her entourage. The post was widely shared on social networks, many users reacted to it with irony, although others supported Turova.
All my life I thought that it was called "Intelligentsia", but it's probably more accurate to call it bohemian. My mom is a lawyer, my dad is an art critic, jeweler, journalist, editor, musician, whoever else. We never had money, but our house was always full of guests. And as soon as the guest entered the threshold, I, a four-year-old, five-year-old, how many years old, instantly knew whether I belonged or not.
— Varvara Turova.
One of turning points in the fate of "Children of Paradise" occurred in November 2016, when the release of "Revizorro" was released - a program that inspects restaurants for cleanliness. Presenter Elena Letuchaya found expired food and a cockroach in the cafe, and also discovered that the general sewer drain runs through the kitchen.
Screenshot of the release of "Revizorro" from "Children of Paradise".
Turova herself later stated on Facebook that some of the requirements of Flying are fair, and some are biased. Her words leads.
Some of the requirements of the host program are fair and justified and I think we are all grateful to her for the difficult work that she does. Some are absurd and impossible. Believe me, absolutely any, for example, a Parisian cafe, would simply be closed immediately after her visit. But this does not prevent either you or us from eating and drinking in these same Parisian cafes.
— Varvara Turova.
In a recent interview with Inc. Turova admitted that after the release of the show, the revenue of "Children of Paradise" fell two to three times, it took a month and a half to restore it. “They were not interested in dirt, but in scandal, and everything that is shown there is a lie. You can come to the cleanest operating room and muddy chamber with gloomy music to remove such horror that you will feel crawling snakes there, ”she added.
Turova said that journalists from the Pyatnitsa TV channel wrote a statement to Rospotrebnadzor, because of which an extraordinary inspection descended on the cafe, which led to "additional expenses."
Well, you can guess how we resolved the issue with the inspectors. Actually, no one can solve these questions differently. So there were, let's say, additional expenses.
— Varvara Turova.
In the same interview, the woman said that restaurateur Mitya Borisov opens establishments in order to earn money, while Turova was guided by other priorities. In response, the famous journalist Anton Krasovsky
When I was four years old, I think, I was sent to kindergarten. Some very good. For fuck's sake. A week later, something unpleasant happened to me there, and I became numb. Well, that is literally. Eyes began to look different sides. They treated me for a year, dragged me to the doctors, then miraculously (by pull) they sent me to the luminary-professor. Cured. And I was never sent to any collective sections again. School doesn't count, it couldn't be avoided, and I didn't feel bad there either. There was nothing.
Or, for example, in the village, in the summer. Chernozem, Tambov region, children from good families, our grandmothers were friends, our mothers drink on the terrace, our older sisters make lampshades and patchwork quilts. The consonant buzz of insects, Antonovka with branches to the ground. Paradise. We, ten-year-old children, spend the night with the Sarabyanovs in the hayloft. There are fifteen of us. And I'm not bad, no, I'm separate. I'm having fun, arguing with younger brother, fall in love, and sing in two voices with my sister. Everything is fine. I still don't understand what is separate. I do not understand that the word "friends" is not a synonym for the word "like-minded". I don’t understand what I lack only the feeling of closeness. And without it, paradise is not paradise.
I'm already twenty, and someone says: "Do you have LiveJournal"? I am instantly drawn in, of course. Into this very closeness, into the illusion of closeness, all the more beautiful because it was decidedly invented. Random. I lose my head from the feeling of almost a Masonic lodge: LJ is for the few, for the elite, and they are all wonderful. Oh, do you have LJ too?! Yes, we are made for each other, what a coincidence. Two or three years pass, and suddenly someone writes nasty things in LiveJournal. Or, for example, someone writes nasty things about you. "Varvaraturova, as usual, in his repertoire, read, vomited."
And you, for example, wrote about something that was of no value in the process, and was once incomparable with a midnight conversation on LiveJournal (it seemed that there was nothing more important in life than these, until 5 in the morning with a stranger talk about “Return to Brideshead” or “Spring in Fialta”?) - about just a village, Antonovka, about how Kolya Sarabyanov rolled you on a frame along Podlesnaya Street, or better along Butyrki, because there are solid bumps on Podlesnaya. Wrote, shared with a distant, unfamiliar (and not the fact that existing) friend. And he read and vomited. Like this? After all, this is masonic lodge. After all, it's only cool beautiful people write in LiveJournal. There is no unpleasant people! It is impossible to understand why someone needed to write a post about “read-vomited” there.
I have many foreign friends. Each of them has a Facebook. Every time I tell them about my (and not my) conflict on Facebook, they are terribly amazed. They ask again. Where did you fight? They cannot imagine that Facebook can be a platform for a serious/heavy/important/poignant conversation. They post photos on Facebook from the New York City Marathon, a vacation on a Greek island, or a concert. I can’t imagine that one can go down every day to the “Azbuka Vkusa”, which I have below, under the house, only to find out, in all seriousness, the fundamental questions of life in line at the checkout.
My foreign friends don't understand how you can quarrel on Facebook, just like I don't understand why swear in line at Azbuka Vkusa. My foreign friends have real freedom, I guess. And there is no need to defend every opinion on every issue, as the first time. As the last time.
Recently, I arranged a meeting in our club "Workshop" following the results of the mayoral elections. I called there people with very different opinions. I really wanted a normal exchange of these views. Among all my acquaintances, with great difficulty, I found one person who voted for Sobyanin. Because he likes Sobyanin as mayor. (Not for me, if anything.) This man came to an environment that was absolutely alien to him, and some women began to shout “shame on you” at the very first minute. And you know what? He was the only one to give way to a woman who arrived late and was left without a chair. It happened, I understand. But nonetheless. He stood up and offered her a chair. My Democratic friends didn't budge, of course. I'm not saying that my friends are worse than him. By the way, I have best friends in the world. Or that Sobyanin is better than Navalny. (I don't understand this.) That's not why I'm saying this. I'm just hinting at this amazing fact, again. If a person does not share your views, this does not mean that he is a goat. This does not mean that he is a nonentity. Or that he is "out of his mind." This means nothing. He just doesn't share your views.
It seems to me that the end of the world has come, everyone is aware, but I missed something. I missed the moment when everyone agreed with each other: "Guys, let's do this now, disagreement on a number of issues automatically means the abolition of elementary rules of decency." The people around had no braking mechanisms left. Why slow down, when we are going straight to the underworld anyway? It's the end of the world. Sometimes it seems to me, what a pity that life is not a pioneer camp (which I have never been to in my life). What a pity, I think that does not exist general rules behavior. But in fact, the problem is not the lack of rules. Rules - the sea. They are chasing us at every corner, jumping out from behind every turn, do not lean against, do not stand under the arrow, there is no traction - you cannot use the device, do not climb in - it will kill you, 10 commandments, in the end (more precisely, at the beginning of the beginning), and "Wikipedia generally says bluntly: “Be objective; in particular, don't write about yourself." The problem is not that there are no rules.
The problem is, when you're sledding down an icy hill or rolling into the underworld, you've seen these rules in your coffin. The problem is that, having seized upon the feeling of freedom in the 90s (as once before the feeling of intimacy), the so-called "we" clung to it, to this freedom, to this, sorry rough tongue a stamp, a heady chance of freedom, a stranglehold, and remained so - in a state of passion, drunk, bound hand and foot, but with freedom in their teeth.
It doesn’t stop people around that the person they write nasty things about (or like nasty things about) is the husband of their girlfriend. Or brother. Or daughter. That this man, for example, had just nearly died. Or, on the contrary, saved someone's life. Nothing stops, go for a walk, flaw, I think he's shit, why should I restrain myself, "don't deceive me"!
There are a million explanations for this. Almost all will be true. Well, in the sense that “how they strangle us,” and we, like springs, rest against the walls with our hands, and rudeness is better than lack of freedom. About how tired everyone is. About how everyone can not agree with each other. About the fact that too little time has passed since the 90s, and we have not yet learned how to exist in such a way as to act together, to protest together. To finally replace the illusory feeling of closeness with real closeness. To sober up.
But here's the thing. My old and long-dead piano teacher, seeking muscle freedom from me, said: “Freedom and laxity are two different things, Varya.” Freedom also means obligations. Freedom is not only the ability to say what you think. Freedom is also the ability to give up freedom. Freedom of speech includes the ability to remain silent.
You know, the world won't collapse if you just don't write outrageous rudeness once, even if you're writing about the most unpleasant person in the universe.
Windsor Castle will stay without you, the world will not collapse without your opinion, without your rudeness, without your anger and without your aggression.
And without mine, yes.
Varavara Turova
culture art society Man snob, varvara turova
In Moscow, the cafe "Children of Paradise" is closing, which lasted 6 years. In recent years, he has been haunted by a series of failures: fire, flood, officials, the invasion of the Revizorro program (ended with a complaint to Rospotrebnadzor) and the last straw - the reconstruction of Nikitsky Boulevard, due to which all approaches to the cafe were limited. Varvara Turova, co-owner of Children of Paradise, told Inc. why she refused crowdfunding, how she kept the restaurant afloat and why she dissuades her from doing business in Russia.
“In the last year, as a shareholder, I did not receive a penny”
What was the last straw after which you decided to close the Children of Paradise cafe?
There were so many that I can't even remember. When, after months of a torn road, mountains of dirt and sand (it was impossible to get to us), the sidewalk was widened on Nikitsky Boulevard, we were delighted and thought: we could finally get permission for a full-fledged veranda, which we had never had in 6 years. But literally the next day, the whole house was loaded into scaffolding and they began to repair the facade, so that we were no longer visible from the street. We are located in a fairly passable place, but due to the repair of the building and the torn road in recent weeks, 30 people have come to us a day. So you can't survive.
How many people came "from the street"?
Enough. It always seemed to me that if you only have “your” audience, you are doomed. The number of guests must increase all the time. It did not decrease, but there were a huge number of problems. In the spring we had a fire, then a flood. And all this time we had a schizophrenic war with the neighbors from above: they hated us to such an extent that they stuffed rags, sand and other garbage into their toilet and flushed it all down with water - as a result, a plumber went to us as if to work .
"CHILDREN OF RAYK" WAS OPENED IN APRIL 2011 by journalist Varvara Turova and musician Alexei Paperny. By the time the cafe closed, 25 people were working. In 2014, a branch of "Children of Paradise" was opened in St. Petersburg - and closed at the beginning of 2016.
According to SPARK, until June 6, 2017, Alexei Paperny, Liana Zeynalova and Yuliana Slashcheva, the former general director of the STS Media holding and the wife of the general director of TASS Sergey Mikhailov. Another 15% belonged to Turova and 10% to Natalia Sichkar. In June of this year, Slashcheva left the company. The revenue of Bulvar LLC for 2015 amounted to 10.5 million rubles, and the profit - 15 thousand rubles.
What started this losing streak?
Since the beginning of the conflict with Ukraine, there have been several moments of crisis when we thought - should we close? But every time they swam out, clung, hoped that it would become easier. But it only got worse. Because of the sanctions, prices have risen sharply - not only foreign, but also Russian products have risen in price. Our expenses have doubled. But we couldn't afford to raise prices.
How much did you upgrade them?
A little bit, but not in such a way that it becomes profitable. Otherwise, we would lose the loyalty of the audience. With the same number of people, we began to earn much less than 4 years ago. Then I lived only on my share of the profits from the "Children of Paradise", and this allowed me to travel and exist normally. And over the past year, as a shareholder, I have not received a penny. In the best months, we went to zero or a tiny plus.
Are there fewer people visiting you?
No, on the contrary, we have developed and become quite a popular place. But the economy of the restaurant is arranged in such a way that a lot of things need to be taken into account: payroll, rent, utilities. Not to mention that the rules of the game change all the time, and sometimes officials do it retroactively. For example, last year they came to us and said: “We are not extending your lease because you do not have a separate room for storing wine.” We answered: “Excuse me, for the previous 5 years we managed with wine shelves and a cabinet and there were no complaints.” But it turns out that they introduced new rules - and they had to build a partition, make a separate room. Naturally, officials do not pay these costs. Because of the mass of such trifles, the business turns into a struggle for survival.
When did you decide to close?
We fluttered to the last and tried, like that mouse from the parable, to beat the butter so as not to drown. They tried to find an investor and change something, turned to various restaurant chains and business sharks, but nothing happened. They themselves are not doing well (which was a big surprise for me). No one wanted to take risks, because it is very difficult for everyone.
What role did the Revizorro program play in your closure?
After their visit, our revenue fell by 2-3 times. It took about a month and a half to restore it. That day I was at home, our employees called me and said in a trembling voice: "Revizorro" has come to us. I say: why did you let them in? But it was impossible to stop them - the film crew came with the camera turned on and, without a second's hesitation, immediately went to the kitchen. Once again I will say: they were not interested in dirt, but in scandal, and everything that is shown there is a lie. You can come to the cleanest operating room and muddy chamber with gloomy music to remove such horror that you will feel crawling snakes there. In addition, the journalists of the Pyatnitsa TV channel wrote a statement to Rospotrebnadzor, which came to us with an extraordinary check. Well, you can guess how we resolved the issue with the inspectors. Actually, no one can solve these questions differently. So there were, shall we say, additional expenses.
How much did Children of Paradise earn last year?
I can't name the numbers, but I'll give you an example: three years ago, the revenue on Fridays and Saturdays was 280-300 thousand rubles a day. And in the last year it was 130 thousand rubles a day - with the same number of people. The average check has almost halved: the prices of our suppliers have increased, people have become much more economical - they ordered less and left less tips. I do not blame the closure only on evil outside forces. To think through the economy in these new circumstances, you need to be super-professionals. Neither I nor Alexei Paperny are such. I am busy in the theater, Alexey is a musician and playwright. We spent a lot of energy on the "Children of Paradise", but this was not our life's work. Unlike their fellow professional restaurateurs, they devote all their time to the business and therefore stay afloat.
Is the closure of "Children of Paradise" connected with the departure of Yuliana Slasheva?
We were not dealing with her, but with her husband, but no - this is in no way connected. Because neither Yuliana nor her husband Sergei Mikhailov have had anything to do with the management of the "Children of Paradise" for many years. Once upon a time they were our original investors.
Have they invested in cafes in recent years?
No. We have not had any working relationship for many years - only friendly.
Why did they decide to go out of business?
This is a question for them.
Are you sorry that "Children of Paradise" are closing?
How can I explain to you? I can't live without the opera house, but I can live without the "Children of Paradise". But, of course, I am sad - I spent 6 years of my life and quite a lot of energy on this. Of course, it's a pity.
"Open a business anywhere but here"
You recently wrote that your business never worked out, but it turned out to be “a place in which many felt good, important, warm.” Isn't that enough to make the cafe profitable?
There should be a clear priority - why are you doing it. I am sure: our so-called colleague Mitya Borisov (restaurateur, Jean-Jacques, John Donne, Mayak - Inc.) opens absolutely all his places to earn money. He succeeds. And when we opened a cafe, we put other things in the foreground - for example, the atmosphere. It's not that we are such a carefree, lyrical intelligentsia - we wanted to make money and we did it. But it was more important for us to treat friends who came to visit than to refuse it for the sake of additional revenue. I am not a commercially oriented person, and I don’t have a business mindset - that’s why we didn’t succeed in cutting costs, firing someone, acting tough ... It has always been important for us to help someone, treat someone for free, arrange various charitable topics. As a result, we are without money, and I do not remove our collective responsibility at all. To be a ballerina you have to be flexible, but to do business you have to be tough. I'm not a tough person, Alexey too.
When you started "Children of Paradise", what did you think of this institution?
We didn't have ambitions to be a trendy DJ bar. We wanted to open a nice cafe where you can come after work or a hard rehearsal. To make it cozy, tasty and no unjustified show-offs - this is when the girls ask you from the doorstep “Are you expected?”, And then they follow you around the hall. In a word - to feel at home. In this sense, we have succeeded - if not to talk about business, but about the implementation of the idea. "Children of Paradise" has become an important place for many: the number of people who wrote that our closure for them is a personal loss shocked me. I absolutely did not expect this and am very grateful.
Why didn't you turn to all these people for help, didn't do crowdfunding?
There was such a thought. Moreover, we would certainly have collected the required amount - we have a large credit of trust. But my partner and colleague Alexei (Paperny, musician and co-owner of Children of Paradise. - Inc.) was against it. He said that this is a business, and in business you can’t ask anyone for anything - we ourselves have gone bankrupt and are to blame.
Have you tried hiring a manager?
This is what we did in Masterskaya - we hired a management company that managed our business for a good fee. But she began by offering to redo everything. For example, in the "Workshop" there were many different lampshades in one line, and it was very beautiful. And the manager says: lampshades are not fashionable, it's like in a country house and you need to remove them all in order to make a fashionable place. I tell him: places are different, and we are good at creating a homely atmosphere, which means that you need to work with this product. So the last attempt to hire a manager did not lead to anything (the Masterskaya club, which was opened by Varvara Turova and Alexei Paperny, closed in November 2016. - Inc.)
What would you do differently now?
I would not open Children of Paradise. If someone comes to me tomorrow and says: “Here's a lot of money for you, let's open Children of Paradise!”, I will say no. In modern Russia, you have to be crazy to do business. It seems to me that everyone who has money should invest in business abroad. This is caused by my feeling of the air around. Leveling, tightening screws and so on will continue, and there is no way out of this. There was simply no more unfavorable moment to start a business in Russia. People often write to me: “We want to open a small cafe, what would you advise us?” I dissuade them and advise them to open a cafe in Berlin, Tel Aviv - anywhere but here.
Do you want to end up in the restaurant business?
I'm going to finish doing business in Russia for good. I love to feed people, I like it when guests come to me, I like being a hostess - this is mine. But in Russia, until this power is replaced, it is not worth even trying. I say this without disclaiming responsibility for the fact that we went bankrupt. But everything that happens around kills business. And small, and medium, and any.
And abroad?
As long as I live here and I don't have a concrete plan of moving. Now I am interested in opera, my efforts have been directed there for 4 years. In June, I took an office job in Moscow - I need to live on something. Every day I go to work by 10 am and leave at 6 pm. I am very sad that there will be no more “Children of Paradise”, but in a sense it is right - you can’t do everything.
