Andrey MalkhanovCommunity profile

**Chef at Restaurant "Tengis"** Baikal Plaza Hotel, Buryatia - Brand Chef 2008-2017 White Rabbit Restaurant, Moscow - Intern Chef 2016 "Buuza Bao" Restaurant Chain (Republic of Buryatia, Irkutsk, Angarsk, Chita, Trans-Baikal Territory) - Chef, Owner, Franchiser. 2017-2022 "Krasnodar" Restaurant, Moscow, Bolshaya Dmitrovka St. 9, Bldg. 1 - Chef 2020-2022 Restaurant "Ayan", Chita (Brand Chef) 2023 Restaurant Ayan, Redondo Beach, California - Executive Chef 2023-2025

Irkutsk Region, Kachugsky District Article about me Archive No. 4 from 2018 Buuzas - to Hong Kong The most media-savvy chef - about the prospects of Buryat cuisine and the difficulties of the catering industry Favorite of "the terror of all restaurants" Elena Letuchaya, a person who fed Vladimir Putin, an entrepreneur who opened an establishment of a new format for Ulan-Ude, the owner of the business awards "Silver Arrow-2017" and "Young Entrepreneur" - Andrei Malkhanov frankly talks about the price of success in the "Self-Portrait" section. First money I am from the Irkutsk region. I was born into a large family: we are six brothers, I am the oldest. I came to Ulan-Ude to study, lived with my aunt and grandmother. When I was 14 years old, I wanted to buy a phone, and I generally needed money for life, so I started looking for a job. That's how I got to a cafe. The first money came through sweat and hard work. The first month I washed dishes, the next month I peeled vegetables, then all summer I was butchering meat. To earn 150 rubles a day, I had to grind 75 kilograms of meat - two beef or pork hams - in a manual meat grinder. The meat grinder was old, homemade. It was, to put it mildly, hard. I studied at a school in Komushki - a working-class district, the atmosphere of which is difficult to call prosperous. My surroundings were like that, and I understood that sooner or later it would lead to nothing good. Therefore, I did not see the point of continuing my studies at school. I decided that I needed to learn a profession, and after the ninth grade, I went to a vocational school to become a cook. At the same time, I continued to work in a cafe, and at the age of 15, I became a cook. Imagine: a 15-year-old cook is cooking, taking orders. Some people didn't trust me, but I had a good foundation. Even then, at the age of 15, I realized how great it is when people, after trying the food you prepared, almost shake your hand and say "thank you." The task of any restaurant, cafe, or snack bar is to give the guest more than they expected. And when this happens, and they express gratitude, you get a huge flow of positive energy. I continued to work in the kitchen while studying at the VSGUTU, majoring in "Hotel Management". At the age of 17, I interned at "Baikal Plaza" - at that time, it was one of the most luxurious restaurants and hotels in the city. One night I was walking down the hallway of the restaurant, looking at the chandeliers, which are so bright and beautiful. At that moment, I thought: "Someday I will be the chef here." I don't know what it was - some kind of vision, ambition, but I really wanted to create, do something useful, be an example for my younger brothers. And it happened: I became the chef, and then the brand chef, that is, the chef in charge of all the chefs, the entire "Grand-Buryatia" company (a chain of restaurants - "Tengis", "Orange House", "Buryatia"). Bold menu I am not afraid to experiment with products, ideas, and concepts. The menu of the "Tengis" restaurant is very bold for our city. I am always dissatisfied with the result and always want to improve it. It was the constant refinement of my skills that allowed me to achieve my goal. And I am not ready to stop. What are the signature dishes that I created? "Sagudai cooked in smoke," we called it "Fog over Olkhon" - it's a five-minute brine of freshly caught omyul. I put cold smoke in it, and the guest could feel the smell of a bonfire when they opened the lid. Last year we went to the village of Orlik, where they breed yaks. We tasted the meat and thought about what could be made from it. As a result, a dish appeared - a Heineken rib with yak meat. No one in Ulan-Ude and throughout the Siberian region cooked yak - this is a rather specific and tough meat. It had to be simmered in special equipment for about 15 hours to achieve a certain taste at a low temperature. Ideas for dishes come during travel, on the road, even when I'm sitting in the office. Smells, shapes, and colors inspire me. In general, 90% of the dish is created outside the kitchen. The remaining ten percent is how to cook it, how to serve it, and so on. Bankruptcy at 25 At the age of 24, in addition to working as a chef, I was involved in business: first, it was chocolate fountains, then the delivery of greens from Israel. At the age of 25, I went bankrupt. As a chef, I know other chefs, and I know what they need, but it turned out that I didn't understand logistics, sales, retail, and so on. In general, I lost about 400,000 rubles. It was very painful, upsetting. I even cried and vowed never to do business again. But something didn't let me rest. There was a struggle inside me: on the one hand, I wanted to start doing something new, but on the other hand, I thought I had a stable job and a good salary of 150,000 rubles, why bother? In the end, I decided that I still had to do what I was good at. I've been cooking Buryat cuisine since I was 14. And I think my mission is to promote it. At one point, I took a break from "Grand Buryatia," refused my salary, and went to Moscow. There I went to intern at White Rabbit - this is the only restaurant that has been in the top 50 best restaurants in the world three times. It is still the leader of the Russian restaurant business. To get there, I wrote them 11 letters over a year and a half. The internship was free, with the condition that you work for three months. At that time, one day of internship cost 100 euros. Chefs from all over the world interned at White Rabbit: from Mexico, Italy, Spain, Australia, Georgia, and so on. It was a tough networking event among chefs, a test of yourself. I sorted through herbs, cleaned oysters, scallops, crabs - I did everything! I worked at every station, saw how all the processes are organized, how everything should be. Buuzas will be known all over the world I came to Ulan-Ude and decided to open my own restaurant, specifically a buuza restaurant. About 20-30 people from my close circle said that the idea was a failure: "How can anyone need your buuzas?!". "Are you crazy?". "You'll fail!". But it didn't stop me. My wife fully supported me. For six months, we lived on her salary. For a certain time, I worked in a "high" cuisine restaurant. The main guests at "Baikal Plaza" are officials of ministerial and presidential levels. And if in Moscow the daytime and evening service are not different, then in Ulan-Ude you have to wait for someone to come during the day. This bothered me. I wanted to create a fast-paced establishment where people would always be, with a good atmosphere, where it would be pleasant to return, so that it would be democratic - this was the key factor: the check should not be 1,500-2,000 rubles. The pace of life is increasing, whether it's Moscow, Hong Kong, or Ulan-Ude. More and more people prefer to eat on the street. The whole world is moving in this direction. Cuisine is moving away from minimalism, French standards. High-end restaurants will remain, but street food establishments with democratic prices, an atmosphere, interesting and unusual dishes prepared to a decent level will be in demand. I set a goal to open "Buuza Bao" in 50 days. This is due to the fact that we are located in the center, where the rent is high. And every day of delay meant that you were getting more and more into debt. We opened in 62 days. It was a difficult, first experience. We made a lot of mistakes. Now I understand what mistakes they were. I would not say that we achieved success, but we are definitely on the path to it. We have a strong idea and a great product. In any case, for the republic, we are a fresh and interesting format. We are expanding geographically. Our goal is to open ten outlets in Ulan-Ude, in other cities of Russia, and beyond. Now we have received many applications to open a franchise, about 15 of them we have approved - these are Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Angarsk, St. Petersburg, Moscow. Yes, they will be eating Buryat buuzas in other cities. And this is just the beginning. I am sure that in three years we will open "Buuza Bao" in the USA and Hong Kong. Before starting a business, I had to quit my job and work for food. I worked in the kitchen for 15 years - this is 20,000 hours, which had to be spent to understand how to properly work with products, manage staff - this is the foundation that was necessary for me. Without stepping out of your comfort zone, you will never achieve success. It is important to believe in your dream and not betray it. It was hard, but, I think, over time you realize the value of the people around you. Ekaterina Lonskaya, "Number One".