Kuzina Opens New Outlet After Years of Decline

Kuzina, popular in previous years, has opened a new pastry shop in Novosibirsk — for the first time in recent years. Prior to this, once the largest Novosibirsk coffee chain had been steadily shrinking, besieged by lawsuits from suppliers and complaints from employees. Observer Stas Sokolov tried to figure out the current situation at the company.

The new outlet opened in a one-story pavilion at the corner of Sacco and Vanzetti Street and Tolstoy Street. Judging by the color of the building, it was built for a Pyaterochka store, but from the start, small shops became tenants, and their composition has already changed. Now Kuzina is accompanied by an alcohol supermarket, as well as stores selling Belarusian products and seafood.

Until recently, this spot was a large area of private housing. The pavilion«s closest neighbors are still wooden one-story houses. But lately, the area has been actively built up. In the same block on Tolstoy Street (but on the other side), for example, there is the new Zoe residential complex, where an expensive bakery and pastry shop »Urozhay« operates; across the intersection there is a 16-story residential complex, and an entire block opposite awaits the start of construction, with all houses already demolished.

The pastry shop was opened under a franchise by entrepreneur Dmitry Pankrashkin. According to him, he was choosing between Kuzina and another chain.

«What attracted me was that all products arrive fresh, just baked, I consider that a big plus. The company is not in its best period, but they are working hard on this now,» the entrepreneur explained.

Who are the competitors

The opening of one chain pastry shop, of course, would not be of much note. But for Kuzina, this is the first new establishment in recent years. At its peak, the chain had more than 50 outlets in Novosibirsk and Moscow, with one even operating on Pushkin Square. At the beginning of this year, the number of points fell to 26.

The reason for this situation is partly tougher competition. Initially, in the genre of compact chain pastry shops, besides Kuzina, there was essentially only one player — the Dudnik chain. But in 2019, a producer from Kyrgyzstan, Kulikovsky, entered the market, and in 2023, outlets of the Krasnoyarsk-based Green House chain began actively opening under franchise. The Wiener Wald chain, long present on the market, also operates in a similar format.

At one time, Kuzina was one of the first coffee chains to open outlets in the metro. At the end of last year, its latest micro-coffee shops closed at the Lenina Square station. But the pavilions stood empty only briefly, immediately taken over by similar establishments of a new project.

The main company, LLC Kuzina, reduced its revenue from 2021 to 2024 (no data for 2025 yet) from 512.4 million rubles (about $5,693,300 at current rates) to 330 million rubles (about $3,666,700). According to Kontur.Focus, over the past year, the Arbitration Court ruled to collect almost 28 million rubles (about $311,100) in claims against the company filed by contractors, the tax service, and employees. And given that compared to the beginning of 2025, the chain has lost more than a dozen more points, this year«s results are unlikely to be better.

At the end of last year, the company received a blow from an unexpected direction. Its founder and main owner, Erik Shogren, died. In recent years, he lived in his homeland, the United States, in Minnesota.

Debts — a manageable situation

Kuzina«s head, Yevgenia Golovkova, admits that since 2020, indeed, «some of the pastry shops have closed.»

«It’s no secret that since 2021, the Federal Tax Service has been conducting a tax audit of our legal entities, accusing us of business fragmentation. The financial situation was exacerbated by the restriction of bank accounts, and we had difficulties with payments. Landlords panicked, and since Kuzina’s pastry shops are in top locations, some of them reassigned our premises to competitors. We won the court cases against the tax service, but the closed points cannot be brought back,» Golovkova admits.

As for the company«s debts, according to Golovkova, the main unfulfilled obligation of LLC Kuzina today is a bond loan that was placed on the Moscow Exchange. For other debts, the company»s head considers the situation «manageable.»

«Many suppliers have been working with Kuzina for more than 10 years, believe in the company and offer maximum support; for our part, we fulfill payment obligations. The personnel situation is difficult for all operators in the restaurant market, but we are proud that our team includes employees who have worked for the company for more than 10 years and are essentially brand ambassadors,» Golovkova emphasized.

Yevgenia Golovkova admits that the death of Erik Shogren was a serious loss for the company. But, according to her, Erik left many ideas «that will last for 10 years ahead.»

«We will continue working; the company’s operational activities have not depended on the founder’s presence for many years,» Golovkova notes.

Novosibirsk’s restaurant business is going through difficult times. At the end of January, it became known that the Burger Records chain changed owners. Read about what they plan to do with the famous burger joints in a report by observer Maria Tishchenko here.