The passion for foreign cooking has long led to the fact that our festive table decorate intricate cakes, gourmet pastries and cookies, fruit jellies and soufflés. You don’t see gingerbread cookies often, and they are often inferior in taste and “style” to sophisticated foreign baked goods. But in New Year holidays in my family it traditionally comes finest hour gingerbread
Like my mother once did, now I bake gingerbread cookies and gingerbread houses for my children, family and guests. Everyone will receive their own personal New Year's gingerbread sweetly enticing health, prosperity and good luck for the coming year.
Making holiday gingerbread at home
Initial investment: 15 tr.
Monthly profit: 30 tr.
Payback period: 1 month.
Gingerbread in Russian holiday tradition
Gingerbread is a product made from dough, richly flavored with all kinds of spices (ginger, lemon zest, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, mint, nutmeg, etc.), honey bread was considered the predecessor of gingerbread until the 12th century in Rus'. With the opening of the spice trade, this delicacy most likely appeared. By the 16th century, gingerbread had spread everywhere, and their own dynasties of gingerbread bakers appeared. And by the beginning of the 18th century, the gingerbread business was flourishing; masters opened their shops in Berlin, London and Paris. Fairs, weddings, name days, church holidays were unthinkable without an abundance of all kinds of gingerbread.If the baking of printed gingerbread cookies with various fillings and ritual motifs flourished in Rus', then Europe was “responsible” for the appearance of gingerbread cookies in the form of houses. Some believe that the Germans were the first to bake them, and others that the Poles were the first to bake them. But the real boom in gingerbread houses began after the publication of the fairy tale story of the Brothers Grimm about “Hansel and Gretel”; since then the fashion for houses has not dried up and has reached our doorstep. Very good and kind fashion.
Dough recipe for gingerbread houses
I will share with you a proven recipe for gingerbread dough and the basis for gingerbread houses, which has never let me down. Of all the “budget” recipes I’ve tried, this is the one that makes the dough the most successful for me, and working with it gives me great aesthetic pleasure. They say that it is very similar to the recipe for Tula gingerbread. I don’t know the real recipe for them, but appearance and the taste is quite close.So:
- 600 g wheat flour;
- 125 g softened margarine;
- 200 g granulated sugar; - 2 chicken eggs;
- 3 tablespoons of honey;
- 1 tablespoon of soda (do not extinguish);
- 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon + you can add dry ginger, or nutmeg, or ground cloves.
In an enamel cup or stainless steel, mix sugar, eggs, honey, spices and soda, add margarine. Without stirring the mixture too intensively with a whisk, place in a water bath for 12-15 minutes. We patiently watch the mixture, not forgetting to stir it. You will get a very beautiful airy substance, add 1/3 of total number sifted flour, mix thoroughly with a whisk and now put the container with the dough to cool in cold water(we use a bowl with a wider diameter) for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the remaining amount of flour little by little to the cooled but still warm dough, mixing with a whisk, then by hand.
As a result, we get an elastic beautiful dough, from which, on a table generously sprinkled with flour, we roll out layers of the thickness we need and “cut out” according to the prepared templates. For gingerbread houses, I roll out a layer 0.5 cm wide, you can do it at your discretion. Bake at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on the oven, the honey dough bakes instantly. If you're already busy baking gingerbread cookies, you can't be distracted by other things.
We decorate gingerbread houses and houses using all the methods available in your arsenal, using unbridled imagination. We hang gingerbread figures on the New Year's tree, beautifully pack gingerbread houses and hide them under the same tree, or delight everyone with amazing fairy-tale products for Christmas.
Gingerbread houses - baking business
The days before the New Year are a general pleasant bustle and anticipation, but also a tense, responsible period in production and service (summing up the results of the year). Working women are torn in search of gifts, necessary products, and jewelry. Everyone is ready to spend money at this time without hesitation or regret, so that the holidays in the coming year will be fun, joyful, and remembered for something special.You can go several ways:
1. Choose a recipe for a good universal gingerbread dough, make houses of different sizes and decorate them so that it is impossible to take your eyes off them. We pack it in transparent food cellophane and look for points of sale.
2. We scour the Internet far and wide and find an exclusive recipe for gingerbread dough (there are some), the gingerbreads from which are stored for more than 3 months and have an incomparable taste and aroma. The cost of such products is higher, so products from them can be made more simply, not in the form of houses, but, for example, as Christmas tree decorations for children, or gift souvenirs. Such gingerbread cookies can be beautifully painted with icing with various wishes.
3. If you are an expert in gingerbread making, then why waste time on trifles? We take everything at once! We build an almost life-size castle from exclusive dough, decorate it with all the breadth of talent, and can present our masterpiece at one of the New Year's fairs or sales exhibitions.
The costs for this type of business are very small, no more than 15,000 rubles. With full sales of products, income will be 30,000 per month.
The profitability of gingerbread production is about 20%. Taking into account the fact that you are preparing an exclusive product, calculate your costs, evaluate the resulting result and take advantage of the opportunity that is provided once a year, feel free to add at least 40% above the cost.
No joke, if you suddenly become interested in gingerbread, then good news: New Year's is followed by many other holidays, Christian and secular. Gift and ritual baking can become not just your hobby, but a stable home business. Study the history of gingerbread making, improve your skills, create personal page V social networks, make yourself known. May good luck accompany you in the coming 2016, and may life be as delicious as Gingerbread!
Gingerbread production is one of the most profitable types a business that can be undertaken even by a person who is not very knowledgeable in the intricacies of culinary art. Moreover, the prospects for the development of the gingerbread business are truly stunning. Thus, according to marketing research data from the STK Group company, the capacity is only domestic market has prospects for direct growth in consumption of about 3.7 thousand tons of finished products various types gingerbreads and gingerbreads similar to them, according to the market segment occupied and production technology. We should not forget about the possibilities of exporting products, which have been talked about a lot lately.
Gingerbread technology
Gingerbread is a confectionery product, rectangular, round, oval or complex shaped, made from special gingerbread dough, with the addition of jam, spices, chopped berries, nuts, honey or candied fruits. Typically on top of the gingerbread plate in various ways an inscription or a simple design is minted and a layer of confectionery glaze is applied.
The peculiarity of the gingerbread dough in the finished product is its long shelf life, which is why this culinary sweet is popular as a souvenir.
It should also be noted that domestic gingerbread makers have good and glorious long-standing traditions, known abroad. So, in particular, family Tver gingerbread cookies, back in late XIX centuries, they maintained their own branded stores in major European capitals and made great money from it.
Pros and cons of the business of preparing and selling gingerbread
The most important, and in many ways, determining factor, is that this kind of production, of course, not on an industrial scale, can be located at home. At the same time, a very significant expense item, rent of premises, is crossed out
Gingerbread dough, unlike yeast dough, does not place increased demands on the quality of flour. This is also an extremely important factor. Since when preparing a number of the same bakery products, the indicators of gluten and IDK in the grain of the food group and the flour obtained from it are decisive. We are talking primarily about the possibility of using cheap 2nd grade flour
The finished product is stored for a very long time, which makes it possible to reduce the urgency of the issue of efficiency and speed of sales of the finished product and its reserves by several orders of magnitude.
A fairly simple technological process of preparation, operations such as proofing and maturing of dough do not require increased requirements for temperature and humidity conditions
Basic components for production are available and do not require special conditions during transportation and storage
The most labor-intensive processes of kneading and shaping dough can be easily mechanized using available means
It is clear that the gingerbread business, like any other, has its pitfalls and negative sides:
High competition, and many players in the market have long-standing and proven production traditions. Entering the market and carving out your niche is not easy
One of the conditions for winning the sympathy of the consumer is the production of a high-quality product and exclusively from natural ingredients, which allows us to exclude large, but ordinary manufacturers who base their own recipes with various kinds of modifiers, essences and other ersatz products. It follows that your own recipe, based exclusively on natural products, will have an inflated cost and, as a result, reduced competitive potential
In the case of using exclusively manual labor for kneading and shaping dough, the fund increases significantly wages, if we are talking about attracting hired workers to production, the maximum possible mechanization of manual labor requires increased requirements to the amount of initial capital
The production of food products causes certain difficulties in terms of compliance with sanitary and hygienic requirements, both for premises, transport, and personnel
How much money do you need to invest and how much can you earn from making and selling gingerbread?
Having weighed all the pros and cons of a purely organizational nature, we can begin to develop a disposition on the economic front.
We will make the calculation using the example of the “Tula anniversary gingerbread” recipe, which is distinguished by its technological simplicity and stable yield of the finished product.
2nd grade flour - 100 kg, /of which 0.75 kg for the dust of the molding table/
Granulated sugar, for dough and glaze - 35 kg
Molasses – 45 kg, /in the case of using natural honey, conversion factor 0.45/
Margarine – 2 kg
Vegetable oil – 0.55kg
Baking soda - 0.4 kg
Conditioned drinking water with moisture capacity – 26 l
Mixture of spices: ginger powder, cloves and crushed cinnamon – 0.04 kg
Output of finished products: 175 pcs.
Based on the fact that prices for the products and finished products specified in the recipe can vary significantly in the regions of the country, for an objective calculation you should substitute objective figures for your area, subtract the associated production and non-production costs and obtain cost and projected profit indicators.
Thus, on average in the Russian Federation, the average cost per kg of the finished product is 28.47 rubles, with the same average retail selling price being 62.74 rubles.
As general information, it should be added that for a small production with a finished product output of about 1000-1400 kg per month, the expected level of profitability should be in the range of 45-60% and should not be lower than 35%.
Permit and OKVED code for a business selling gingerbread
It should be recalled that the production of gingerbread and gingerbread is regulated by OKVED 10.72.32. and before production begins, it is necessary to obtain the necessary package of permits.
As a conclusion, I would like to note that having started with a small production of gingerbread, as an exclusively family business, an entrepreneur in short terms will be able to massively increase not only production volumes, but also the range of sweet baked goods. It is worth actively seeking opportunities to reduce costs by optimizing costs and, of course, looking for new markets, without stopping at already well-developed ones. Excellent safety of products, their excellent transportability and resistance to adverse factors open up very broad prospects for both qualitative and quantitative growth of your enterprise.
Step-by-step plan for opening a business for preparing and selling gingerbread cookies
Organizing a gingerbread business is not much different from other activities related to baking confectionery products. The entrepreneur's action plan includes:
- Registration of activities with the tax service, obtaining permits.
- Rent of premises and its arrangement in accordance with the standards of regulatory authorities.
- Purchase of equipment.
- Purchase raw materials.
- Find a sales market.
- Conduct advertising, create a website.
Conducting marketing research and drawing up a business plan will greatly simplify the work of a novice entrepreneur. Having an action plan in hand, starting the production of gingerbread is much easier.
How to choose equipment for business
For the automated process of preparing sweets, you will need to purchase special equipment:
- Dough kneading apparatus;
- Cauldron for cooking gingerbread;
- Apparatus for product design;
- Electric oven for baking products;
- Packaging equipment.
Equipment is purchased depending on production needs. In addition, it is necessary to buy furniture for arranging the warehouse, and special uniforms for the staff. To deliver gingerbreads you will need a car.
What documents are needed for business
The first thing you have to do is register an individual entrepreneurship or LLC. Next, we need to obtain approval from the SES for the premises, approve the recipe and production plan. In addition, the entrepreneur must enter into agreements for garbage removal and disinfection of premises.
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Olga Kuzhnenkova, 31 years old, founder, owner and director of an online store of painted souvenir gingerbread cookies "IcingMania". Born in Moscow. Graduated from MSUT "MAMI" (department of "Automobiles and Tractors", specialty "Service and technical operation of motor transport systems"). Before launch own business worked as a senior HR manager management company"GK Independence" Married, raising a son.
How GlazeMania began
Olga Kuzhnenkova considers her education “uncharacteristic of a girl” - her choice of mechanical engineering university was probably influenced by her father’s frequent visits to his father’s car service: “ He can still rebuild the engine of some racer until three o'clock in the morning, because this passion is so interesting. Actually, my dad is a manager at a car service center, but he can’t help but work with his hands - it runs in the family.”
In Olga’s case, “working with her hands” was preceded by a typical search for herself: studying at a university, independent studying labor legislation, advanced training, seven years in the HR department, senior manager position, maternity leave.
“Suddenly I had free time, a lot of time. – Olga recalls. - I remembered my creative interests, which I somehow gave up on - I didn’t have enough time. Exhibitions, drawing, embroidery, sewing, a sea of recipes... At some point I realized that I would probably never return to the office.”
Business was not even in my head at that time. There were gingerbread cookies. The first people to think that you could make money from gingerbread were the young mother’s friends. “Listen,” they said over and over again, “how can you eat this? This should be sold as souvenirs!”
The friends, of course, were flirting - in the sense that they ate Olga’s gingerbread cookies with pleasure. However, they planted an interesting thought in the hostess’s head. Luckily, at the same moment, Olga’s nephew urgently needed gifts for teachers on March 8th. The deadlines were running out, there were no ideas, and then the student’s mother jumped at the idea of giving the teachers sets of beautiful gingerbread cookies. She also came up with the name of Kuzhnenkova’s future store – “GlazurManiya”. I also made beautiful labels.
So, thanks to her friends, daughter-in-law, nephew, Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg, Olga felt herself in an unusual role - the role of an entrepreneur: “I didn’t plan to earn a conditional million. And I still don’t plan to. I just love doing two things more than anything in the world: cooking delicious food and drawing. Painted gingerbread cookies successfully combined both. The movement from a hobby to a business began when, figuratively speaking, I felt cramped in my kitchen - I wanted to go beyond it.”
“When it comes to cooking, I can honestly admit that I am obsessed. For example, once I decided to make ginger cookies, I was faced with the problem of choice: dozens of recipes were offered. I chose for a long time, painfully, and finally left four. Total: four different tests, five hours at the stove - and a mountain of cookies to the delight of friends and relatives"
Roes: our own, relatives
Olga decided to specialize in painted Arkhangelsk roe deer. Due to its composition, this Pomeranian delicacy can be stored for a whole year without loss of quality. B Thanks to the bouquet of spices, roe deer have a distinct taste, and in general - “their own, dear ones.” Their cost is low, but painting requires time, diligence and skill.
According to Olga, the market for painted gingerbread in Moscow is saturated enough so that the buyer is not left without goods, but there is also a place for new craftsmen. The main thing, as in any handmade- find your style.
“I know other craftsmen - the community of gingerbread fairies seems to me to be very friendly, although anything can happen.” Olga learned the art of painting from one of these fairies - even before her memorable first sale. Of all the gingerbread cookie recipes she tried, Olga liked the recipe from craftswoman Victoria Bredis the most - she also posted a description of the painting technology on the Internet. Olga caught fire: “I want to learn the same way!” To everyone’s joy, it turned out that Victoria conducts in-person master classes, so the young mother’s wish soon came true.
Where do gingerbread come from?
The cost of gingerbread starts from 30 rubles. It depends on the size of the product (gingerbread can be 8 or 30 cm in length, limited only by the size of the oven), on the amount of glaze. A few days before baking, the master makes the dough - it takes one hour. Up to 50 gingerbread cookies are baked at a time - another two hours. Painting depends on the complexity of the design; it is usually done in two stages and takes from 10 to 40 minutes per gingerbread. The cost of one gingerbread is from 100 to 1500 rubles, depending on the size and complexity of the design.
“I use natural ingredients,” says Olga. - For the gingerbread cookies themselves, these are flour, sugar, butter, honey and spices. No amplifiers, substitutes or stabilizers. Glaze - professional confectionery. The dyes are professional, synthesized, very high quality, brought from the USA. This is important for me - I myself spend a lot of time searching for quality products for my family.”
If Olga worked 8 hours a day, she could make 50 gingerbread cookies “per shift.” But such workload does not happen in reality. The little son is nearby 24 hours a day, so working hours The craftswoman does not have standards.
“I didn’t count the percentage of defects when baking, but I think it’s no more than five. I have a large family: husband, son, parents, brother and family, grandmothers and great-grandmothers, aunts, uncles - a total of 15 people. We all often meet and communicate at family dinners, so there is no problem of “recycling marriage”.”
Olga's working tools are quite extensive. So, confectioner Kuzhnenkova needs: an oven, a stove, pans, spatulas, a rolling pin, a non-stick mat, a million and one cookie cutters (recess), trays for drying. The artist Kuzhnenkova needs pastry bags, nozzles for them, cornets (she makes them herself from special film), toothpicks. Entrepreneur (also a packer) Kuzhnenkova uses boxes, bags, ribbons, a computer, printer, camera and telephone.Holidays and everyday life: how to build promotion
“I can make gingerbread for any event, be it New Year, February 23, wedding, christening, professional holidays, but in the end it’s still the same carrot. – explains the entrepreneur. - The complexity is determined by the drawing. The simpler it is, and the more identical gingerbreads are required, the more profitable the batch. Group orders are, as a rule, corporate gifts for state and professional holidays. I also see people ordering gingerbread cookies with company logos. True, I haven’t had anything like that yet.”
Olga gets ideas for painting from everywhere. There are classics, which are made by many masters, and there are original sketches based on various motives. This could be a painting (Art Deco and Art Nouveau are in favor), knitting on a sweater, monograms on a fence, fresh flowers. Thus, one of the Easter series was inspired by Slavic Easter eggs, and there are plans for Indian stories. Ethno is a fashionable topic; with such products you can go to specialized exhibitions and fairs.
Olga does not have her own website, because it is not the most effective tool sales in the field of souvenir cooking. “GlazurMania” uses a platform popular among handicrafts - “Crafts Fair » . Another active advertising channel is specialized groups on social networks. In the new season Olga plans to test advertising in Avito and Facebook. The entrepreneur handles the filling of pages, promotion, production and sales herself. In fact, she is the only employee in the entire store team.
“I buy ingredients for gingerbreads in hypermarkets and specialized stores for confectioners. The packaging is right there. I bake gingerbread cookies, do the painting and packaging myself. Of course, I keep an eye on the prices of raw materials, finished products from other masters. I carry out calculations so as not to be at a loss, but I don’t have professional analytics.”
The surge in orders for painted gingerbread cookies is clearly associated with the holidays: demand grows on the eve of the New Year, Christmas, and Easter. In the summer the store feeds weddings. Painting has its own fashion and trends (for example, when the cartoon “Frozen” came out, there were countless gingerbread cookies with its characters; or the Tiffany color is also a trend), but in general this area is quite stable.
Who will think about vegetarians?
Uniqueness, individuality, piece work - this is the specificity of the “gingerbread” business. Especially when it is not a finished product made according to the author’s idea that is sold, but an order is fulfilled according to the sketches and wishes of the client. It is difficult to put things on stream: other hands will do everything differently.
“My client is a person who loves it to be tasty and beautiful. Values not only quality, but also individual approach»
The last three orders were: gingerbread cookies for a christening from the godmother, and two sweet tables for a children's birthday.One of Olga’s market advantages is that she offers not only traditional gingerbread cookies, but also vegetarian ones - without using eggs in the dough or glaze. Officially, these are all souvenirs: food products must be certified, and for this, a full-fledged enterprise with its own production line must be opened.
“My deepest dream is to open a pastry shop where people without dietary restrictions, vegetarians, and allergy sufferers could have a delicious meal,” admits the entrepreneur. “I know firsthand the problems of finding tasty food for such people. For husband and son - food allergy. There is no meat or poultry in my diet.”
Olga considers the idea of expanding the business, cooperating, and reaching a larger volume to be premature. It's not even a matter of the client base - we are solving this issue. The craftswoman is not sure that the “conveyor” will bring her the same pleasure as working alone.
“I am very inspired by examples family businesses with many years of history. I remember one Italian whose family makes olive oil for more than a hundred years. He told how his great-grandfather squeezed oil with this very device, which his descendants kept and deliberately did not replace with a new one. He told it with such love, with such awe. This is what is called spirit, continuity"
Rules for yourself - advice for others
During the year of GlazurMania's existence, Olga Kuzhnenkova made several business conclusions, which she formulated for herself as rules. Perhaps they will be useful to all beginning entrepreneurs:
Don't be afraid to start something new - everyone has done it at some point.
Don't give up what you love when faced with an unpleasant experience - it will pass.
To be absolutely sure that your work is needed and useful to someone.
Allocate time for rest, and do not sacrifice it in favor of work.
Don't do business on something that doesn't bring you joy personally.
Plan your time correctly.
Gingerbread became not just edible amber sarcophagi of Russian roots, they also became the opposite, the antonym of extremely common sadomasochistic pleasures pedagogical system Tsarist Rus' and modern Russia. Carrot and stick, misconduct and praise, pain and pleasant sweetness in the mouth. Probably, cooking gingerbread is preparing Russian happiness, compassion and hope for tomorrow. To find out for sure, we talked to the maker of “gingerbread with a dream” Pryansk"— Nikita Putmakov.
Why do you say in the title that your gingerbread cookies come with a dream?
Once, several years ago, my wife and I, and then our two daughters, went to travel to different Indian cities for a month and a half. And when we arrived back in our February Novosibirsk, we suddenly realized that we had several new “understandings”.
We realized that we definitely don’t want to live in a metropolis.
Moreover, this was not some kind of logical conclusion, under which there was some kind of well-thought-out sectarian theory. It was simply an unmotivated feeling that the metropolis (and it doesn’t matter - Russian Novosibirsk or Indian Mumbai) is an environment for normal human life Completely unsuitable with children.
We realized that we want our circle of communication to include not only our compatriots, but also people from other countries.
It was a revelation to us to discover that you might have more in common with some people on the other side of the border than with some on this side.
We realized that we really missed normal, simple food cooked over a fire and fresh produce.
And in general, that we want to know our cuisine, history and culture better. After all, you must agree, this is an abnormal situation that we live in Russia, a country that claims to have one of the key roles in the world, but at the same time we have no idea what food from a Russian oven is. As my friend told me: “Russian cuisine? Does she even exist?” We need to do something about this!
We began to think about how we could combine all this and decided that a guest house or, in international terms, a guesthouse would be the ideal solution to all these problems. And we decided to start making this dream of a guesthouse come true with rye gingerbread - one product that we would not be ashamed to meet guests from other parts of the planet with now. Here's why.
Why did you decide to bake gingerbread cookies and not another product to build a guesthouse?
Until the guesthouse was built, we needed a product that could be served outside the home. The gingerbreads went well. But there was another story that made us pay attention to gingerbread. Once two travelers from Germany stayed with us. As a gift to us, they brought world-famous Nuremberg gingerbread cookies; their most popular type is “Elisen-lebkuchen”, which are made from almond flour and candied fruits.
It was incredibly delicious!
And I thought, is there really no normal gingerbread in Russian cuisine, but only this something that is sold in supermarkets and which I personally never liked?
We picked up the surviving recipes and tried to cook them. And it turned out that our kitchen also has delicious gingerbread.
Still, for you, are gingerbread a means or a hobby where you can realize not only your culinary, but also your creative potential?
Probably all at once. Since for now I’m combining this whole “gingerbread project” with my main job as an interior designer, from this point of view it can be called a hobby. On the other hand, we want to grow a new one from this small grain big project with a guesthouse, then this is the remedy. In general, looking at people who give the impression of being successful and harmonious, I came to the conclusion that most of them have no division between work, hobbies, business and leisure - they gradually make their lives more and more holistic, combining all their talents, interests and needs into a single process of self-realization. We strive for the same.
What is special about the production of “Priansk”?
The peculiarity is that, firstly, gingerbread cookies are made exclusively from rye flour, as gingerbreads should be in real Russian cuisine.
Secondly, they add a lot of taiga honey, which we take from our friend from an apiary in the taiga in the north of the Tomsk region, thirdly, I add my own composition of 10 freshly ground spices to the gingerbread cookies.
And who comes up with slogans when designing a product?
We are apparently talking about the stickers that we put on gingerbread boxes for the holidays. It all started on February 14, when we realized that we were bored of making gingerbread cookies in line with the usual “cute” “Valentine” gifts. We decided to offer an alternative view of the issue.
And they made gingerbread for those who at the moment there is no one to give valentines to, and also for those who are “forced to celebrate” but secretly hate this holiday. I did a little googling to find different sayings that would fit my idea of what was missing from the usual assortment of Valentine's gifts. This is how gingerbread cookies appeared with stickers “let’s hate everyone together!”, “I love you because you don’t care about February 14th”, “I don’t know who to give a Valentine to - myself or me” and the like. People liked it. Then they made similar alternative series for February 23 and March 8. In general, this is how slogans appear: first an idea, then “okay, Google” - and forward.
What can your gingerbread cookies tell foreigners who are encountering Russian culture for the first time?
If gingerbread cookies could talk, they would probably tell their rich history, about how about a thousand years ago in Rus' they began to make the first ritual cakes from honey and rye flour. How, from about the 13th century, merchants began to bring from India and Central Asia spices, which also began to be added to these cakes, which began to be called gingerbread. The fact that by the beginning of the 20th century in Russian Empire They produced many different gingerbread cookies, which were very popular in our country, and were also exported to Europe.
The fact is that merchants kept gingerbread recipes secret and did not write them down, which is why after the revolution most recipes disappeared into oblivion.
When you build a guesthouse will you continue to cook gingerbread?
Why not. We generally love to cook. In the city it is almost impossible to cook on a live fire, except perhaps on gas, if you have one. In the summer at the dacha we usually cook in a cauldron. It would be cool to build a Russian wood-burning stove in the guesthouse. As we see it so far: half of the menu would be dishes of real non-pop Russian cuisine, and the second half would be various other dishes based on recipes brought from travels.
Finally, give a recipe for gingerbread that everyone can make at home.
First, make caramel syrup: melt 120 grams of sugar over high heat, pour 50 grams of boiling water into it and cook for a while until the caramel dissolves in the syrup.
Separately, melt 300 grams of honey and add 5 grams of a mixture of spices so that the spices release their aroma into the hot honey. Options for spice mixtures may vary. The most basic gingerbread spices are cinnamon, ginger, cloves.
Pour the hot spiced honey into the caramel syrup. Brew 250 grams of rye flour with this mixture. Add 90 grams of butter, stir and leave for 30 minutes to cool to room temperature.
Then put in 1 egg and 2 yolks (leave the whites - they will come in handy), a pinch of soda and another 200 grams of flour. Knead the resulting dough thoroughly. It is advisable to let the gingerbread dough stand for at least a couple of hours - it will be more elastic.
We form gingerbread cookies and bake for 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees, depending on the size. Make glaze from 1 egg white and 140 grams powdered sugar and grease the not yet completely cooled gingerbread cookies with it. We are waiting for everything to cool down.
Or better yet, wait until the next day and... try real Russian cuisine!
The general director of Gingerbread Studio Sofi, Olga Chekhoeva, removes a frame with a piece of paper under glass from the wall. “This is an invoice from our first wholesale customer,” she explains. “We kept it as a souvenir in our office.” The customer, the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, returned all the gingerbreads a day after shipment, since the product did not have labels indicating the composition and expiration date. And, accordingly, he paid nothing. The products were sold out. And over the next four years, the bakery’s revenue increased 25 times, to 100 million rubles.
About 7,000 gingerbread cookies are removed from baking sheets and painted here every day. There is a characteristic smell in the director's office - the bakery is located behind the wall. “I have long wanted to start working for myself,” recalls Sofi co-owner Andrey Shurygin. In 2011, he retired from a large metropolitan enterprise of low-alcohol drinks, where he headed the regional sales department for several years. My father-in-law and brother-in-law, who ran a cafeteria next to the garage cooperative, gave 10 square meters free of charge. m for your business. Using their personal savings, 200,000 rubles, Andrey and Olga bought a small stove, a display case, and a bar counter. The company was named after their one-year-old daughter Sofia.
The business was simple: baked goods were made from frozen semi-finished products. What didn’t sell out was thrown away the next day. The entrepreneurial spouses completed the first year with the same amount that they invested - 200,000 rubles. Just not profit, but revenue. Andrey admits: if they paid rent, they would have given up in a couple of months. Once, when her husband was on a business trip, Olga baked a gingerbread house for his arrival. Andrey suggested making these for sale. “Before the New Year, many people came to us to buy gingerbread houses,” says Chekhoeva. “Later we started baking small painted gingerbread cookies that are suitable as gifts for any holiday.” It turned out that this was more profitable than baking from semi-finished products, and Sofi switched to gingerbread. Relatives provided another 20 square meters. m for production.
Andrey and Olga baked and painted gingerbread cookies with the help of two employees. Now the company employs 70 people (bakers, artists, packers, sales department), and production is located on 500 sq. m. Olga and Andrey recall their confusion when in December 2012 they received back gingerbread cookies from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, which they had been baking for 10 days without rest. Having learned that the PIR gastronomic fair would be held at Crocus Expo, they hastily rented a place there. And they sold the entire lot, earning twice as much as they wanted - 600,000 rubles. The money was used to purchase ovens and racks for drying gingerbread.
“To our surprise, we discovered that none of the major competitors - Pokrovsky Gingerbread, Tsarsky Gingerbread, Tula Gingerbread - work with chain retail,” says Olga. It was impossible not to take advantage of the fortunate situation. Andrey Shurygin remembered his sales experience and established distribution in less than a year.
The capacity needed to be expanded again, and in 2014 the bakery moved to a separate building. Today, gingerbread cookies from Sofi are sold in Perekrestok, Globus Gourmet, Ya Favorite, AV Market, Victoria (Dixie group of companies) stores and 30 other chain retailers. Sales through networks bring the bakery up to 50% of its annual revenue. The Victoria chain sells gingerbread from Khlebny Dom, Polet, Yashkino, and Maski, but only buys curly gingerbread from Sofi (“A unique assortment with a themed design,” Dixie explains).
Globus Gourmet, according to Olga, initially refused Sofi products, considering them not exclusive. Then the bakery came up with a separate collection of gingerbread cookies. “The studio offers a huge assortment, every season new items appear. They are ready to quickly change the design and packaging, taking into account all our wishes,” comments Ksenia Yakovleva, senior category manager of the Respublika chain (Sofi has been supplying her with gingerbread cookies for more than two years, and since the fall of this year, Respublika has been ordering her sweets under its own brand ).
Tsarsky Gingerbread, which appeared in the mid-1990s, does not disclose its financial indicators and does not comment on the activities of competitors. Its capacity is three times greater than Sofi's - about 3 million painted gingerbread cookies per year. General Director Anna Yosifova assures that the range allows you to satisfy any client’s needs and the company also works with networks, such as, for example, “Your House” and “Dobryninsky”. Soon “Tsar's Gingerbread” and “Gingerbread Studio Sofi” will be next door on the same counter - in a souvenir shop Tretyakov Gallery.
“Our secret: no restrictions on distribution channels,” say the owners of Sofi. Their gingerbread cookies are sold in bookstores, stationery stores, theaters and gas stations. Plus corporate orders - from Russian Railways, Lufthansa, Beeline, Russian Standard Bank. “We even had a production collapse: there was a catastrophic shortage of products,” Olga recalls. - We stopped accepting corporate applications and increased prices. But people kept ordering." The excitement, however, only happens around New Year. In November-December, the studio earns up to half of its annual revenue. To overcome seasonality, Sofi is expanding its range: making sweet art kits, cookies and bars made from dried fruits and cereals. Its owners plan to take the bars to chain pharmacies and fitness centers.
“If we had the opportunity to start all over again, we probably would not agree to repeat this path,” Andrei Shurygin unexpectedly sums up. - How many nerves went into everything! But, of course, we are glad that we succeeded.” His words are interrupted by a phone call, and the co-owner of Sofi is immersed in negotiations with a new partner - about the supply of a large batch of gingerbread to China.