THE GEORGIAN-AMERICAN BUSINESS STORY OF ARKAD KEKELIDZE

THE GEORGIAN-AMERICAN BUSINESS STORY OF ARKAD KEKELIDZE

Arkad Kekelidze Businessman, Founder of Tamani Food Company

The name of Arkad Kekelidze is well known in US business circles. His name is associated with the export of Georgian products, such as all kinds of cheese and the mineral water “Nabeghlavi”. 20 years ago, what started as a small endeavor with a personal car, today is a large distribution system: with huge trucks, warehouses in California and soon a new distribution network in Miami as well.

“In the beginning I had to challenge myself – I wanted to test my abilities, whether I was competent enough to start a new life from scratch in America,”– says Arkad Kekelidze, in his interview with Turning Point. His first job was a position of a waiter in one of New York cafes, though he stayed there just for two days. He received an offer both to work and study the jewelry business; so he spent two years in the diamond district and got acquainted with Georgian Jews, long-time emigrants, there. His close relationship with them gave a new business idea. “I have always wanted to find an occupation that would be interesting and at the same time the one that would give me the possibility not to lose contact with my homeland, Georgia,” – says he, and recollects that the thing that helped him to ensure such contact, turned out to be the national pickled vegetables: to import “jonjoli” and ‘Tkemali sauce to America.

Arkad Kekelidze: those emigrants, I mean the Georgian Jews, I used to work with, were quite well-off already. They who came toAmerica about 30-40 years ago, and had already managed to find their place in America and were working at the most expensive street in the world. I noticed that their everyday talks would go round the Georgian cuisine: about its taste, “jonjoli” and “tkemali”; they would long for these products and wished to have a chance to taste them again. This made me to try and bring Georgian products in one flight. I filled the first container, brought it to the US and started selling them from my car. Most of the emigrants used to live in a very rich district – Long Island Beach. I found their addresses and visited them. These people who had such expensive cars as Mercedes, Bentley, and Rolls-Royce in their garages, would open their trunks and fill them with jars of Jonjoli. During my first venture I brought only “jonjoli” in jars. I could not have imagined that there would be such a big demand; they were so happy that I sold the whole container in a blink of an eye.After that, I added pickled garlic and peppers. In short, my endeavor was successful. Then these people helped me with contacts. They would tell local shop owners that I was a good man and could deliver tasty food, etc.

– What is the most popular Georgian beverage/food product inAmerica?

– Mineral water “Nabeglavi” and “green tkemali”. By the way, in October, during the election of the Mayor, we introduced Georgian “Nabeglavi” to the City Hall of New York too.

– Under the condition of such competition how could a man manage to make an ordinaryAmerican, who presumably has never heard anything about Georgia, buy Georgian “tkemali”?

– Yes, it really is rather difficult to make the owner of a shop in New York to assign a place for the display of your goods that nobody knows, will find their buyers or not… I have chosen very specific method of marketing: those who were unwilling to allocate my products I would leave about 50 boxes of mineral water of tkemali or some sauce, as a present. Those were the products that I planned to offer them. I wanted them to taste the products, to know what had they been offered. This way I tried to find my place and now I already have my own distribution system. If we take just one product, e.g. “Nabeglavi”, per year, I ship 50 containers of this mineral water for export. I would always tell this to the owners of Georgian restaurants in America. Correct marketing and branding are necessary; everything is important, even packaging, and of course giving information about Georgia. Years ago, when customers of Georgian restaurants called to order “Khachapuri”, a deliveryman would have put the order in a box under pizza and thus deliver to the address. I was very irritated by the fact and later I started production of special boxes for packing “khachapuri”, with Georgian and American flags on the top of the box, along with the name of the product; there is a map of Georgia and the name of the country, there, too. When buying even one “khachapuri”, one more person will have some information about Georgia, won’t he? This is my goal.

New York is a BigApple. This is the nickname of this city and I think that the logo of our company Taminfood, a green apple, very harmoniously fits Georgian-American relations. For a certain period, I even imported the juice of green apples from Georgia and they used to be rather popular among customers. Apart from that green is the color of life, the color of healthiness and the symbol of biologically clean products too.

There are people who are only interested in buying and selling and are just counting profits. For me, however, the essence of the matter is more important. On the one hand there is business and profits, where I have achieved considerable results (for example, so far I have imported to the US 4 million units of packed spices). On the other hand, there is the popularization of my country, assistance and support of the people and charity. The happiness that is connected with giving the Georgian children the possibility to participate in the competitions of classical music; the pride that I presented Georgian flag embroidered by hand and a clay jug to a senator from New York, the fact that I have been working on barcode wine label more than a year, which will enable anyAmerican to open the map of Georgian in his phone, find Kakheti and read information about Georgian wine history… all this list is not only just sales and export. For me, it is much more important to create a story – a story of the popularity of Georgia in the US.And afterwards, let this story create its own path to success.

Georgian Cheese

As for the cheese export, it is a very serious line; I have already imported around 150 tons of cheese to the US so I know about local demand and the particular challenges. As according to American standards the demand is ever growing, you need to catch up with the dynamic, avoid failures. To prevent any undesirable delays in export, I had to work out some additional guarantees. Though I cooperate with a number of Georgian producers, who cheese satisfy all high standards, I have understood that I still need an additional factory, which would guarantee that in case of stock shortages from the cheese providers, exports would not stop. Therefore, I’m going to make 70 000 Euros worth investment in Misaktsieli, in the Mtskheta region of Georgia, to build a cheese factory in accordance with European standards; With 50 future employees I will be at ease, because thanks to my partner providers and my factory, I will not have problems with exports.

In the village Sarkineti, in Dmanisi, “Swiss Agricultural School Caucasus” was opened with the initiative of Mikheil Svimonishvili and his partners; the collage that was founded according to Swiss standards, is a big step forward for milk and cheese production in the region. Naturally, we cooperate with them. This means that we export Georgian made Swiss cheese to America.

– How many Georgian producers do you cooperate with?

– We cooperate with 12 large Georgian factories. We have a special partnership with Marneuli Food Factory – I export full range of products from this factory to the US and the demand is increasing. In general, the list of products that we import is very long: delicacies, mineral water “Nabeghlavi”, cheese, lemonade, canned goods, honey, Tasiko popcorn, coffee, countless Georgian souvenirs, which I offer as a decor to American consumers. I would also like Georgian readymade dishes to become popular in America. I have always been trying to make my friends taste Georgian cuisine. I am absolutely sure that the popularity of our dishes will increase in future.

In Georgia I have founded LTD Lucky, which along with logistics is focused on non-factory products, including the branding of Georgian spices (our share in spices and cheese export from Georgian market equals 70%). We have a registered oil brand from Kakheti with the Mikho Papa (Grandpa Mikho) label.

– What does one need to set a goal and achieve it as accurately as you did?

– Probably you need to be born this way. I know many smart, intelligent, successful people, but I see that they cannot accomplish some things. They try hard, but in the end, they find themselves working for some employer. They cannot create anything by themselves. I was born this way; I have no other explanation. Since my childhood I’ve been always been trying to create something and that interest in life and adventures has never abandoned me up to this day.

არკად კეკელიძის ამერიკული ბიზნეს-ისტორია

პუბლიკაციაში არკად კეკელიძის ამერიკული ბიზნეს-ისტორიაა მოთხრობილი: ქართველი ბიზნესმენის, რომელიც ამერიკაში ქართული პროდუქციის, მათ შორის ყველა სახელობის ყველის და მინერალური წყლის „ნაბეღლავის“ ექსპორტიორია. 20 წლის წინ საკუთარი ავტო-მანქანით დაწყებული საქმიანობა დღეს მსხვილი სადისტრიბუციო სისტემაა: დიდი სატვირთო მანქანებით, კალიფორნიაში საწყობებით და სულ მალე – უკვე მაიამიშიც ახალი სადისტრიბუციო ქსელით.

არკად კეკელიძე: „არიან ადამიანები, რომლებიც მხოლოდ ყიდვა-გაყიდვით ინტერესდებიან და შემოსავალს ითვლიან. ჩემთვის კი შინაარსი უფრო მნიშვნელოვანია. ერთ მხარესაა წმინდა ბიზნეს-მოგების ნაწილი, სადაც ძალიან კარგი შედეგები მაქვს, მაგრამ მეორე მხარეს არის ქვეყნის პოპულარიზაციის, ხალხის დახმარების, ხელშეწყობის, საქველმოქმედო ინტერესები. მთელი ეს ჩამონათვალი მხოლოდ ექსპორტი და გაყიდვა არ არის. ჩემთვის უფრო მნიშვნელოვანია, შევქმნა ამბავი – საქართველოს პოპულარობა ამერიკაში და ამ ამბავმა შემდეგ შექმნას თავისი წარმატების გზა.“