In the federal retail there will be a new brand of dairy products - "Valaam" from the company "Valaam products", connected with the Valaam Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery. But she herself will only pack and sell sour cream, cottage cheese, milk and kefir, purchased from Econiva's Stefan Durr. For five years Valaam products expect to reach turnover of up to 3 billion rubles, including bread and confectionery products.

Econiva Company Stefan Dürra will become a supplier of dairy products to Valaam Products JSC, which will sell them under the brand Valaam. About this, "Kommersant" was told in the agency Depot WPF, participating in the development of the brand. In "Econiva" and "Valaam products" information was confirmed, saying that the negotiations at the final stage. We are talking about the supply of sour cream, cottage cheese, milk and kefir. Finished goods "Econiva" will only be packed on Valaam.

Valaam Products JSC was registered in Moscow in August 2017. According to Kartoteka.ru, its founders are Vladislav Zherdev and Diana Tyurina. Vladislav Zherdev is the worldly name of Bishop Pankraty, who since 1993 is the governor of the Valaam Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery. Madame Tyurina previously engaged in organizing concerts of the monastery choir. The general director of "Valaam products" Oleg Temirov, according to the newspaper "Vedomosti", in 2004 headed the development department of Trade House "Perekrestok", which was engaged in the construction of supermarkets of the same name. In 2007, on behalf of the company "Talai", he announced a project to build a retail park in Voronezh for 80 thousand square meters. m, which was not realized. In 2009, Mr. Temirov developed his agency for brokerage of commercial real estate Temirov & Partners.

The Valaam Savior-Transfiguration Monastery exists in Karelia since 1407. It is popular with pilgrims, in particular, it is regularly visited by Russian President Vladimir Putin. As Depot WPF explained to Kommersant, since 1881 the Valaam Farm has been operating in the complex, which now has modern Swedish and Italian equipment.

According to Oleg Temirov, under the brand "Valaam", five dairy products are already on the market, they are represented only in the Privolzhsky Federal District in the "Line" and "Gulliver" networks. "In August, we plan to enter the network of St. Petersburg, Leningrad region and the Republic of Karelia, and from the autumn the brand will actively take up shelves of supermarkets in the Central Federal District," he said. In "Lenta" and "Magnit", "Kommersant" was not answered. In "Auchan" they said that they do not negotiate with "Valaam products", in "Pyaterochka" (included in X5 Retail Group) "Valaam" is not represented.

The general director of Infoline-Analytics Mikhail Burmistrov believes that Valaam products will be positioned in the price segment "medium plus", where, for example, the Vukusville network operates. According to the expert's calculations, at the current stage, investments in the project may amount to several million rubles. The owner of the Kaufman agency Stanislav Kaufman considers it a good idea to link the Valaam monastery with dairy products. But, in his opinion, these goods should not become massive: "In the mind of the consumer, the brand is perceived as something produced by a limited number of people with a quivering attitude towards the product. If you make it mass, then the perception is blurred, it can cause mistrust. " Taking into account the contract with Econiva, one of the largest agricultural holdings already supplying products for its own brands of large retailers, such positioning will also not correspond to reality.

Mr. Temirov says that in the future "Valaam products" plan to start the production of confectionery, bakery and agricultural products. Some of the items will be delivered directly from the Valaam Monastery, for the other part suppliers are sought. The company expects that over three to five years, its annual turnover will reach 2.5-3 billion rubles. in year. According to Mikhail Burmistrov, for this period Valaam products are more realistic to reach annual sales of 300-400 million rubles.