What is known about the owners of “Kitchen on the District”, “Gastroport” and “Savon-K”
On Tuesday, June 18, in Moscow after mass poisoning three people were detained with ready-made food – the heads of the companies “Kitchen on the District” and “Gastroport”. We tell you what is known about companies that sold ready-made food throughout Moscow and how Chinese beans got into their dishes, causing dozens of people to become infected with botulism.
Whose “Kitchen in the area”
After more than a hundred people across Russia (*aggressor country) were hospitalized with suspected botulism (an acute infectious disease), the leaders of Kitchen in the District announced that they were temporarily curtailing the operation of the application and not delivering food.
According to Kitchen in the District, people could have been poisoned by Lobio salad, for the preparation of which the company's cooks used canned beans from a certain supplier.
The ready-to-eat food delivery service has become especially popular during the pandemic. Rodin said that Muscovites began not only to order dishes from them more often, but also to fill portions for the whole family, which is why increased average check.
The main owner of Kitchen on the District is O2O Holding, which was created by VK and Sber. This holding also owned the IT developer for restaurants Foodplex, the car rental service Citydrive, and the online grocery store with delivery Samokat. In 2022, they divided their assets: VK took over the food delivery service Delivery Club.
Part of “Kitchens in the area” (6.19%) belongs to Alexey Kolesnikov. He was one of the founders of Rocketbank, which attracted young entrepreneurs and startups, gave away socks, smartphones and even American Tesla cars. The bank belonged to Qiwi group and closed in 2021.
Another 6.19% of “Kitchen on the District” belongs to Oleg Kozyrawoo, who, together with Kolesnikov, opened Rocketbank. Now Kozyrev owns two companies LLC “R1” and “R2”. Both opened in 2021. Their main type of activity is “advertising agencies” and “online trading,” but we were unable to find out what exactly these companies do.
Kozyrev’s Instagram profile* contains a link to the English-language website Para, which offers income assistance to content creators.
The general director of “Kitchen on the District” is Anton Lozin, he also owns another 2.58% of the company. He has been working in the food delivery industry for a long time. In 2011, Lozin opened the company “EdaSyuda.ru”, which was responsible for the delivery of dishes from restaurants. In 2015, the entrepreneur created the Red Frog telegram channel. Through it, users could order food from any restaurant or catering outlet.
Kirill Rodin is also responsible for “Kitchen on the District” – he owns 0.32% of the company. The entrepreneur was born in Balashikha near Moscow, dropped out of the military university and went to work in construction. In 2014, he got a job at Rocketbank. And then he joined Kozyrev and Kolesnikov, who were developing the “Kitchens in the District” project. Rodin is also listed as a co-owner of LLC R1 and R2.
“Take it Easy”: what is known about the company “Gastroport”
Before the pandemic, in February 2020, another ready-to-eat food manufacturer opened in Moscow, Gastroport. They do not have their own delivery, but the products of this company are on the shelves of stores with different price segments: “Azbuki Vkusa”, “VkusVilla”, “Magnit”, “Perekrestok” and others. Gastroport operates under the Take eat easy brand.
— For us, there is nothing more important than providing quality products and saving our customers time. At every stage, we check the freshness and naturalness of the ingredients, as well as the quality of the product,” says the company’s website.
“Gastroport” belongs to Elena Lebedeva. The entrepreneur opened another company in 2020, Sattva Foods, which, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, sells fish products. The CEO of both companies is listed as Vitaly Smirnov. He also holds a similar position at Landmest LLC, which sells nuts, dried fruits, honey and beans.
Chinese beans: who supplied canned food to “Kitchen on the District”
The 73-year-old general director and owner of the Savon-K company was detained in the case of mass poisoning of Muscovites. Anatoly Shina. This company was one of the suppliers of Kitchen in the District, writes Baza. The company has been operating since 2010, its legal entity is registered on Yegoryevskaya Street in the Lyublino district.
The company's website is currently not working. But as MSK1.RU found out, “Savon-K” sold wholesale funchose (bean vermicelli), seaweed, pickled ginger, mushrooms and beans under the “Home Meal” brand. Among the partners of Savon-K in the basement of the archived version of the site are the food chains Subway, Kroshka Kartoshka, Stardogs, the Azbuka Vkusa store and the Remit meat production.
And beans and asparagus “Savon-K” purchased from Chinese supplier Xuchangbou Baby Food Co., Ltd.
According to Baza, this is what the packages of canned red beans looked like, which became the cause of botulism infection.
The production address is Novomiletskoye Shosse, 3 in Balashikha near Moscow.
Anatoly Shin also owns the Podmoskovnye Traditions company, which produces canned meat. The company operates on Novomiletsky Highway, 3. According to Kontur.Focus, the company has only one employee. And the company’s balance sheet at the end of 2023 was 5.4 million rubles.
Anatoly himself is well acquainted with food production. As MSK1.RU found out, the entrepreneur previously worked at the Ostankino dairy plant in the Butyrsky district of Moscow and at the TAALA grocery store.
Meanwhile, the number of people hospitalized with suspected botulism in Russia (*aggressor country) has reached 149 people. Among Muscovites, residents Kazan And Nizhny Novgorod.
We collect everything that is known about mass infection with botulism in separate story.
* Activities of Meta Platforms, Inc. sales of products – social networks Facebook and Instagram – on the territory of Russia (*aggressor country) is prohibited.