Culinary happiness on wheels: how a Belarusian in Washington feeds Americans with Russian pancakes - ForumDaily
The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.
Переклад цього матеріалу українською мовою з російської було автоматично здійснено сервісом Google Translate, без подальшого редагування тексту.
Bu məqalə Google Translate servisi vasitəsi ilə avtomatik olaraq rus dilindən azərbaycan dilinə tərcümə olunmuşdur. Bundan sonra mətn redaktə edilməmişdir.

Culinary happiness on wheels: how a Belarusian in Washington feeds Americans with Russian pancakes

Alexey Vorobey is the owner of Bel-Feast Food, which has been successfully feeding Washington and its residents Russian and Belarusian food for several years. Having moved to the USA, Alexey acquired a “food truck” - a popular type of business in the city. He told his story Voice of America.

Photo: video frame VOA

I'm Alexey Vorobey, and I'm the one who sells Russian food in Washington.

I've always liked to cook. Since childhood, the kitchen has attracted me like a magnet, I feel very comfortable there. I still don’t have ideal recipes - it’s always some kind of trend. You still follow some recipes, the basics, but you add something every day, every time you cook something different.

Photo: video frame VOA

At the moment I have a food truck as a business. I always thought that it was the same as a tent on the market. That is, this is some kind of tray that rides and sells.

Photo: video frame VOA

Catering is when you have an order in advance. You just do it according to the list, bring it and sell it. Catering in DC is very profitable. I really like it: it’s a drive, especially in the last hour, when you’re running and you need to be on time, and it’s a profitable income.

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I am from Belarus, from the hero city of Grodno. There I got a law degree, after that I got a job in a computer company, worked there for a long time, worked as a director and in 2011, when the financial crisis came and the country's economy was declining, I did not see any great prospects and therefore decided try your life in another country. I moved to the USA.

Photo: video frame VOA

He moved to New York, then lived in Philadelphia and for the last 6 years I have been living in Washington. America turned out to be a very interesting country. Everything went in stages, at first I worked as a loader for my Russian-speaking friends, then I began to study English, because I did not have it for the first 2 of the year. Then he started working on Uber. I learned English there. And when you already know the language, you can move on. I rode on DC and saw everything that was happening. Yes, and just talking to passengers led to the fact that one of them turned out to be a buddy of a food truck driver and talked about what a cool business this is. And it somehow caught fire.

Photo: video frame VOA

I was looking for a business, looking for what to do. And I love to cook. All this was mixed into one cool pile. By the way, Uber helped a lot: I got an official salary there and was able to take the first loans. After that, I started looking for a food truck. Perhaps this is some semblance of fate: everything went as if on rails. I saw a food truck and realized that I could get it. Resources were found. At first I thought that I would build a food truck myself: I already bought a used FedEx truck, drove this tin can here, and already started to figure out how I would and where to do it all. It turned out to be a big problem: in Washington it is very difficult to find where to do all this officially, and there was no garage as such.

Why did I say "fate"? Because I kept looking at ads for food trucks and a photo of the food truck I have now pops up. The man who was selling it played for 6 months and decided to sell it: he thought it was easy and simple. I was lucky, I bought it for $45 instead of $000 - and it was new. I also invested money in stickers, and for 80 months, when I came home after work, I covered the truck myself for 000-2 hours a day.

Photo: video frame VOA

Of course, initially we could not guess all the preferences and tastes; this came with experience. The first year was fun, interesting, but unprofitable and very difficult - we earned 2 times less than anyone else. Then we adjusted it: at first we made a huge portion - 2 pancakes and a salad - for 11-12 dollars, and we started making one pancake and a salad for 8 dollars. And they started buying. Moreover, I began to earn more on eight dollars than on twelve. Why didn't you quit? Yes I like it! I didn't even think about quitting. It was hard, sometimes my nose would bleed from extreme fatigue. But I still didn’t think about it. I worked 90 hours a week, which is twice what the average American works.

Photo: video frame VOA

Everything has leveled off. Through 2 of the year, stability appeared and profits started. Now I have done everything so that I do not work on Saturday and Sunday. It happened literally in the last year: these days of the week I am engaged in family. And it’s very cool. I’ve been in the country for 8 years and for the first time went on vacation last year. It seems to me that this is not very clear to those who did not do this, but the life of an immigrant is quite complicated in the early stages, you have to invest a lot in yourself.

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Finding a place for a truck is not so difficult: we already know 15 locations in DC. The city hall, which controls all organizations, specifically made sure that all 300-400 trucks in the city end up in good places every day. To ensure that they were all on an equal footing, a lottery was created that cost $200 a month. I choose the places where I would like to be, pay a 25 dollar entrance fee and around the 10th day they tell me the result. If the result suits me, I pay the rest of the amount and next month I will be able to install the truck on the days and locations that I have chosen - they will all be behind me. It's smart, convenient and correct.

Our concept: we cook in the kitchen. In the truck we only collect the dish. We cook pancakes separately and fillings too. We warm and serve to the client. Everything is logically configured in the track, we have been doing this for a long time. My assistant Marina stands at the workstation and makes pancakes with fillings, I stand and sell them.

Photo: video frame VOA

We are the only food truck on the entire coast. There is no Russian truck in New York, nor in Philadelphia, where there is a huge Russian community, and only here I discovered Russian food. And all at once: “Well, what are you going to sell? Borsch? Dumplings?" Yes, I sell both borscht and dumplings.

We cook everything in our kitchen, it's called a Certified Commercial Kitchen. This is a kitchen for cooking various businesses: catering, confectionery, food trucks, Korean food, coffee production. This is a brilliant idea for small businesses. Washington is an expensive city, rent here is off the charts, and business simply won’t survive. Sharing kitchen - you pay for a small place. Business grows - you take up more and more space. We live in this kitchen. Sometimes I see my wife less than some Korean woman.

Photo: video frame VOA

We prepare pancakes for several working days at once, we do this in advance. It is very profitable and very convenient. Pancakes are very well stored if stored properly.

The base of the pancakes is flour and 2 cups of milk. I don’t know why - but the absolute truth is that the first pancake is always lumpy.

For 4 years, we sold approximately 50 thousand pancakes. This is some terrible figure, but it is real.

Photo: video frame VOA

Initially, I opened a food truck, but our menu was immediately “tailored” for catering. A food truck is a great key for this. The food truck gave us a good name and recognition. Today I'm doing a food presentation: the client doesn't pay anything the first time, but it's worth it for the future. A presentation is usually preparing food for 10-15 people. You have to spend something in order to get it later. As a rule, you show this to office managers, some employees, they nod their heads: “Yes, yes, yes,” and if yes, they call back and invite you.

Photo: video frame VOA

I'm thinking about expanding and adding a new menu - it makes sense to attract new customers. This also increases turnover with old clients: they have already tried everything and want something new. I will experiment on people: they will be my friends, let's see what they say. My friends have different nationalities and tastes, it's always good to learn about customers' tastes.

Photo: video frame VOA

I am married, my wife Ekaterina is from Grodno. We've been together for a long time. We have a son who was born in the USA. We met in Grodno at a disco and there was no feeling that this was a stranger. She helps me in business, and even because she gets into it, but doesn’t interfere.

Photo: video frame VOA

“We created the project together and even started working together,” says Ekaterina. - But then Misha appeared and we decided that I would take care of the child and the house, and Lesha went completely into business. I really like all his ideas and developments, the fact that he consults with me. Everything that goes out to people does not pass me by.”

Photo: video frame VOA

One day, a parishioner of the Russian church came to me and told me about an upcoming event,” continues Alexey. I tried it, brought them our food and they all liked it. Half of the parishioners are Americans, they have a Russian background. In the USA you preserve your cultural traditions and no one interferes with you. Washington is exemplary, there is a little bit of everyone here, balance in everything. I'm a little flattered that we drive here, near the White House. I like it.

Photo: video frame VOA

The most important thing is that people buy and come back. This is a spiritual feeling that you like your food, your product.

Photo: video frame VOA

The stressful years are over, now is the first year of calm - and I like it. I do what I like, and it's just a blast.

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