LavkaLavka – supplying eco-friendly products from Moscow

The young Moscow-based business LavkaLavka delivers eco-friendly products to customers in Russia and abroad. Linking the country’s capital with eco- clean regions of the country and providing healthy options for the citizens is one of their most important goals. The team works on educating consumers, supporting local, sustainable farming and selling traditional and natural specialties. Much emphasis is put on the safety, eco-friendliness and taste of their products. Their clear, transparent communication with farmers and consumers and a constantly evolving range of products are rewarded by a growing customer base. The company is one of the most successful start-ups in Moscow. (Picture: View over Moscow)

LavkaLavka was launched by Boris Akimov, Aleksandr Michailov and Vasiliy Palshin in 2009. The company started off as a small delivery service, the first of its kind in Moscow, and soon evolved into a bigger and more progressive company. Nowadays, they deliver their eco-friendly products to more than 2,500 customers in Russia and abroad. About 90 % of their customers live in Russia, according to Bojan Dimitrijevic, manager at LavkaLavka. The remaining 10 % are in Japan, France, Germany, the UK, the USA and the Netherlands. To the company, it is not only important to supply their products to local people, but also to gain the trust of foreigners, especially in countries in which the market for natural and organic products is already well developed. In the rare case of a product not meeting the customer’s requirement, it will be replaced or refunded. (Picture: The Founders)

Besides supplying tasty, natural products, the main priorities of LavkaLavka are to form eco-aware consumers and to communicate the values of safety, taste and sustainable agriculture. Their work starts with the choice of products. Before one is added to the range, someone from the company visits the farm and makes sure that it meets with all requirements: sustainable production processes and safety play a very important role. (Picture: Turkeys at the ecological farm of Igor Simkin)

At the moment 35 people are employed, and the company works with more than 30 farmers all over Russia and even in Greece. Among the suppliers are Brodovskiy and Novichihin, certified according to the EU standard. Because of bureaucracy, it is still very complicated for a Russian company to get their business certified organic. Therefore, not everything the company is able to supply is certified organic. Whatever is supplied, however, has to meet their own strict standards. Currently, about 350 to 400 products are available, depending on the season, and about half of the range is organic.
 

The range consists of bakery products, greens, vegetables, dairy products, veal, pork, rabbits, goat meat and lamb, as well as fish and game. Especially their range of bird produce is broad: besides chicken and ducks, they offer pigeon meat, guinea fowl, smoked goose, turkeys and much more. Whenever possible, products are sourced from their area or at least from Russia. Other products, like olives and olive oil, are imported since the Russian climate makes it impossible to produce them locally. In their own kitchen, raw materials supplied by the farmers are made into Russian and Ukrainian specialties like pelmeni, the Georgian khinkali, marinated vegetables, stewed fruit etc. (Pictures above: Products made by LavkaLavka, kitchen)

LavkaLavka’s goal, in the long run, is also to expand the support of local Russian farmers. Agriculture is in a poor state, in comparison with  other European countries, and government support does not seem to be promising either. Russia is vast and therefore hard to control, but the potential of the country is huge, Bojan explained to Organic-Market.Info. They also aim to work on the gastronomy system in Moscow - still a very complicated topic. Step by step, they are trying to do their bit.

The company is currently working on the translation of their web page into English. However, every single product and farmer has their own space on the website, and various recipes and further services are offered to customers. So it takes time, but once finished it promises to be of great help to non-Russian speaking people to learn more about the ecological offer in the country.

Tip: LavkaLavka