Hotel, Restaurant and Cafe Expo

April 4- 7 saw an expo on the boardwalk at Lighthouse Beach.  About 100 exhibitors were there to sell products and services to the hotels, restaurants and cafes in Sochi.  We attended and took photos of the event. Sochi is adjusting to its changing market with new hotel providers such as Hyatt, Marriott and Hilton.  Radisson is adding another property.  New restuarants are opening to appeal to Sochi's increasingly international visitors. However, Sochi has a shortage of catering companies that can satisfy the demands of outside organizations for events. We are working with several companies that are expanding into Sochi and at least one restaurant with foreign ownership is planning to expand into catering to meet the demand.

Workforce Accommodation in Sochi

The situation for companies seeking workforce accommodation in Sochi is complicated by several factors.  One issue is that with traffic and construction workers will face commuting delays, even when living relatively close to their workplace.  Apartments in older buildings in Sochi are individually owned and new buildings are usually quickly sold out to indiivdual homeowners.  Sometimes the process is completed even before the building is finished.  So, there are no large apartment complexes that are owned and managed as rental properties. This means assembling a number of apartments in one location will be very difficult. 

We have a database of apartment owners and projects where rentals are available.  The objective is to identify properties with the standards that foreign companies and workers will expect.  Then we find individual owners who rent apartments in those projects.  Since there are very few owners with large inventories, it is complicated. We also anticipate the shopping and transportation needs of workers, so that when companies come here, they will have the information necessary to make the best selection possible.  We also provide help with negotiation and legal documentation and have several packages of services to meet the homefinding and eventual departure needs of executives and workers coming to Sochi. 

Please visit the site, DestinationSochi.com to learn more about our services and the ways in which we can offer expert help.   The site has contact information, also.  

We advise companies and organizations to contact us as quickly as possible to discuss planning.  Because of capacity issues, costs will rise and favorable locations will be unavailable for late entrants.

March 8- International Women's Day

Russia celebrates Women's Day on March 8 each year.  The day was a holiday for most businesses and schools , which were closed both Thursday, March 8 and Friday, the 9th.  (To compensate, businesses and schools will reopen on Sunday, March 10.)The holiday is celebrated with gifts, flowers and candy for the women in each man's life.  To say it is an important holiday here in Russia is an understatement and one that would be nearly impossible and certainly unfogiveable to forget.  

I spent the day at a party in Dagomis, which is part of Sochi, but northwest of the city center along the coast. There were about 20 people at the party, which centered around a large meal that included, shashlik (barbeque grilled pork), chicken salad, potatoes, stuffed mushrooms, many other dishes and a large cake for desert.  The day cooperated with sunshine, although the streets were wet from the previous night's snow fall melting.

Pavel Lesnevsky

Physicists say that a perpectual motion machine is a natural impossibility.  None seem to have met Pavel Lesnevsky.  This human beehive with phones stuck to each of his ears, multiple architectural projects on his computer, people sending him messages, a rambunctious golden retriever at his feet and a beautiful, serene business partner wife at his side, never stops moving. 

Pavel comes from a family of architects.  His father is an architect, so his sister and an uncle.  His mother seems to be the only one who strayed from the path, but as a well-known Russian painter, she is creative, too.  Anya Suhorukova, his wife, comes from an architectural family, too.  Her mother is an architectural engineer. Her father is an architect.  Her brother is an architect.  Her brother's wife is an architect.  I almost asked Pavel if they were going to try to get Sam, their Golden Retriever, admitted, too. 

 Anya and Pavel live in Sochi, where her family has one of the most well-known and successful architectural firms, SochiArhProekt, in the city.  Pavel, born in Saint Petersburg, moved to Sochi in 2006 from Rostov, where he studied architecture at the Southern Federal University and finished an advanced degree in Modern Design Technology.  During the university period of Pavel's life, he spent his evenings and weekends developing a thriving music business.  He was a successful and well-known DJ in Russia and Ukraine and was invited to perform at clubs in western Europe numerous times.  Pavel performed at the huge festival KaZantip in 2006 held annually in the Ukrainian resort city of Popovka.  He and his musical partner, Anatoliy Shemuratov, also signed a recording contract with Sirup Records, the leading Swiss dance music company, and is listed on their site.  Pavel's musical specialty is Electronic/House/ Techno and although he has a busy career as an architect, he is very active in the music world through his own music and by producing the music of local talent, like Lux Leopard.

I asked Pavel about working as an architect by day and a music producer (ClubStars) at night.  Besides the obvious fact that he is both talented and hyperkinetic, Pavel told me that the creative process and vision are what unify his two professional worlds.  He relishes being at the center of activity and using his creative vision to help his architectural clients and the musical talent he is finding and nurturing in south Russia.

As if that is not enough to keep him busy, Pavel is a well-known blogger and social media expert in Sochi.  His site LookSochi has a devoted following in Sochi's hipster crowd.  It is easy to see why, Pavel is both connected and socially-skilled and in the emerging Olympic boomtown of Sochi, he is a Sochisider with a future.

Affliction Grand Opening

The new franchise of the clothing retailer Affliction, celebrated its Grand Opening in Soch, January 28.  Fedor Emilianenko, the Russian mixed martial arts champion, was on hand and signed photographs and took pictures with shoppers and fans for the well-publicized event.  Mr. Emilianenko is a popular in Russia and drew a large crowd.  

I spoke to one of the franchise owners.  He mentioned that it is the 6th franchise of Affliction that they have opened in Russia, where the brand is appealing to the growing middle class. 

Fedor Emilianenko