Khamzat Khasbulatov: biography, photo, nationality

The first Russian restaurant of the McDonald's brand was founded during the Soviet era in 1990. His first top manager was Khamzat Khasbulatov. He chose a very convenient place for the restaurant - Pushkin Square. At first, in order to get to the restaurant, people stood in line for hours. Only for the first day of work it was visited by more than 30 000 clients. And in front of the restaurant was waiting for a long and fruitful road. Later in the article, we will tell you about the life path and how it happened that Khasbulatov Khamzadovich Khasbulatov stood at the head of the Russian representation of this global company. His biography will surely be interesting to many. Our narrative will also be about how the company developed for 27 years.

Khamzat Khasbulatov: biography

The future businessman and restaurateur was born in 1956 in Kazakhstan, in the Chechen family. In the late 30's and early 40's, his parents, like many Chechen families, were deported from their native land to Central Asia. His childhood Khamzat spent in the small Kazakh village of Sas-Tube. After the death of the leader of the peoples, many of the settlers decided to return to their native places, to the Caucasus. The school Khamzat Khasbulatov, whose photo you see in the article, has already gone to Chechnya. He studied very well, was a purposeful, inquisitive boy with a great outlook, with excellent mathematical abilities. His uncle was for him a mentor in his life, and he advised his nephew to continue his education after school in Moscow at the Plekhanov Institute, which at that time was considered one of the best, and fashionable in the country.

Khamzat Khasbulatov: biography of the Moscow period

At the university, studies were given to him as easily as at school, and after his graduation the youth was sent to work as deputy restaurant director at a closed facility in Tushino. Apparently, this connection helped him in this matter. However, several months after the appointment, Khamzat Khasbulatov was drafted into the Soviet Army. Two years later, after returning from service, he settled in another restaurant for the same post. Probably, he had a special gift for the proper management of the restaurant business, and noticing this, the Moscow Trust of restaurants began to transfer Hamazata from one catering enterprise to another. Wherever he worked, the restaurant began to flourish. Thus, he earned a reputation as an excellent specialist in crisis management. And when, from the side of "McDonald's" was offered to open the first restaurant in Moscow, Mosrestorantrest as the future general manager recommended it to Kh. Khasbulatova.

Moscow McDonald's

In two years, the first institution of the world famous fast food chain McDonald's was opened in the Russian capital (at the time, the main city of the USSR), that is, in 1988, a contract was signed for the creation of a joint venture, Moscow-McDonald's, And Khamzat Khasbulatov was chosen as its leader (and is to this day). Prior to that, he was deputy director of the famous capital restaurant "Budapest". He was invited to an interview, which was attended by many other candidates, but the American side preferred the thirty-two-year-old restaurateur, who differed in unusual for his time thinking. After signing the contract, Khasbulatov went to the American continent to the USA and Canada, where he stayed for about a year and learned to understand the nuances of managing this type of restaurant. By the way, MosRestoranservice owned 51% of the company's stake.

Life in Canada

Thus, in 1988 Khamzat Khasbulatov found himself in the Canadian city of Toronto. He did not speak the language, and that was his main problem. However, he possessed high abilities and very quickly mastered the language from scratch. In the New World, he began to look at many things from a different angle, his life was filled with contrasts. Before that, he had only been abroad twice, and even then, in the countries of the socialist camp, and here in the country of "rotting capitalism" he realized how far we in the country of the Soviets have lagged behind life. Here he first saw houses with two swimming pools, underground and multi-storey garages. I saw many-tiered streets and highways. At every step, a shock awaited him, he, like all Soviet people, was not accustomed to such luxury. However, he collided with the other side, behind all this visible beauty and luxury was incredible, just hard labor of the employees of enterprises. In none of the Moscow restaurants where he worked, the share of employees was not as heavy as in the Canadian McDonald's.

Western experience

In fact, Khamzat Hamidovich in Canada began to comprehend the basics of the restaurant business from scratch. He even had to wash floors in the restaurant, along with 15-year-olds. Then, when he mastered the language, he was already behind the cash register. Because he was given access to the "holy of holies" - the kitchen. That is, he at an accelerated pace comprehended all steps of the career ladder. Then he went to the States, Chicago to study the science of "Hamburgerology" in a special institute. Incredible, huh? It turns out that in the West there are even higher educational centers, where you can learn the technology of cooking hamburgers. All the acquired knowledge helped Khasbulatov in the future correctly organize the activities of the first McDonald's restaurant in Russia, and then create a network.

The first steps of "Mukdonalds" in Russia

Returning to Moscow, Khasbulatov, enriched with impressions, decided not to limit his activities only to work in the restaurant business, and also founded a real estate business. This he also learned in Canada. The formation of the Moscow "McDonald's" was not quite smooth. It was difficult to adapt to Russian realities. However, Khasbulatov tried to solve problems as they arrived. He even had to agree on the cultivation of special potatoes in Solntsevo, and for this he brought seeds from the States. Khamzat Khamidovich set a goal, and this was what the general management of the company demanded: everything had to correspond to the generally accepted parameters for the entire firm, and not a single step away from them. In 1993, McDonald's built a multi-story office building in Gazetny Pereulok.

Difficulties

Initially, most of the raw material (80%) was imported from abroad, but after the collapse of the country and the beginning of new market relations import of imported products became extremely inexpedient, and then he began to think about which of the local suppliers can address this issue. This uncomplicated question turned out to be, perhaps, one of the most difficult. Khasbulatov traveled all over the country and searched, found and recruited producers. Thus, the first serious Russian supplier was the firm "Belaya Dacha". However, the goods supplied by her, although they were better than many others, but did not quite meet the requirements of McDonald's. Khamzat Hamidovich also found a solution for this: the staff had to be trained all over again. For this purpose, internships were organized, and the best of them were sent for consultations abroad or, on the contrary, foreign specialists were invited. For supplier firms, McDonald's provided the latest technology. So, the restaurant has local quality raw materials: fresh herbs and vegetables, both in fresh and marinated form. At the same time, thanks to Khasbulatov, these products began to be delivered to restaurants in other countries, which was a great help for the Russian manufacturer. Surely many people have a question about how Khamzat Khasbulatov managed to arrange all this. His nationality, as you know, is a Chechen, and that says a lot. He knows how to achieve everything, to achieve the planned plans. "Mountain people" are striving for the summit and do not stop at any obstacles.

Today

Khasbulatov Khamzat Khamidovich is currently the manager of the entire Eastern Division of McDonald's in Europe. Over the years, the firm has had a significant growth: the McDonald's chain of restaurants has more than 20 establishments, and McCaffe 38. Since 2002, the project "Breakfasts at McDonald's" has been launched.