Russian restaurateurs propose to introduce parallel imports of alcohol

As Gleb Marach, managing partner of the Nome restaurant and the True Cost chain, told the Prime agency, stocks of imported strong alcohol in Russia "will be enough until August, early September."

“It is difficult to say what will happen after this period, restaurateurs are counting on parallel imports and the fact that we will import all the same items through Kazakhstan, Armenia and other CIS countries,” the businessman added.

According to Marach, in the case of the introduction of parallel imports, all foreign brand alcohol will continue to enter the country, but the price will rise 1.5 times.

Ruslan Mingazov, head waiter at the Folk restaurant, also believes that alcoholic beverages from other countries will rise in price, but by 30-35%. According to the expert, if the government of the Russian Federation does not include strong alcohol in the list of products for parallel import in the next six months or a year, the proportion of counterfeit alcohol in the country will increase.

Mingazov suggested that the current situation would lead to the emergence of domestic producers of strong alcoholic beverages, including craft ones.

Representatives of the Villa Pasta chain, the Mziuri and Saiko restaurants, as well as the Rex bar told the agency that they are already establishing work with Russian manufacturers.

"They will not be expensive, we already know the prices, since all possible increases have been made, taking into account the logistics of raw materials," said Vera Sadovnikova, territorial manager of the Villa Pasta chain and the Mziuri restaurant, commenting Las advantages of national brands.