Russians get a taste for snails
delicacy -snails. Frozen food giant NP Kairos has joined forces
with Escargots, a specialist supplier of grape snails, to supply
the Russian market under the brand Russkaya Ulitka, writes
Angela Drujinina.
In the past, Russians turned away in disgust at the word snail on a restaurant menu, but the delicacy is now available in many upmarket French restaurants in Moscow, and interest is growing all the time.
"When we entered the Moscow market, we were very surprised by the high demand for our products. We are sure that the gourmet food market is still far from saturated," Sergei Maximov, director of Escargots, told CEE-foodindustry.com.
Escargots has been processing grape snails (Helix Pomatia) for more than five years and is the only company of its kind in Russia. The snails are collected and processed in an environmentally clean area in the Kaliningrad district, and the entire process conforms to EU quality control standards. Indeed, Escargots sells its snails in other EU countries, including Germany, Lithuania and even France.
Sergei Aparkin, Horeca manager at Kairos-Moscow, said that the company would not limit itself to restaurants, with the brand also available though food retail outlets.
Nikolai Kuznetsov, Kairos' marketing manager, added:"The Russian snails will be sold only in frozen form at the beginning, so we will compete in this particular segment with Paris Gastronomy, the main supplier of imported snails from France."
Russian snails are only 10 per cent cheaper than the imported ones, a gap much narrower than for most other food products, but this has not deterred the producers. They believe that with strong promotion (which the foreign producers and importers lack), they will be able to become one of the leading companies in this small but promising market.
Muscovites currently enjoy snails in brine, produced by Escargots and distributed by Ratan-M, as well as Bulo chilled snails, Bulo boiled snails and canned snail meat imported by Paris Gastronomy.
There are no exact figures on sales and consumption of snails in Russia. But it is believed that about 90 per cent of all snails sold in the country are imported (primarily from France). However, the consumption of domestically produced snails is growing.
"There is no tradition of snail consumption in Russia, and this, plus a lack of advertising, means that consumption levels are still low," said Kuznetsov. "But more outlets are serving snails - not just French restaurants but also Japanese - and we believe that this is a positive sign from the market that the product can succeed in the wider distribution channels."
