Eat Easy in the healthy food market

In the last few years the healthy-food market in Ukraine has been rapidly developing, and Nikita Izmailov Eat Easy project is a striking representative. The difficult and long way has finally led to the desired result.

Initially, the idea came from the social network Instagram, and there in the beginning was the distribution of products. Business was built almost at random, as such experience was simply not there. Initially the idea did not come to Nikita himself, he was active in the Pari Match company, and his wife Tatiana began to handle everything. But already in 2016 Izmaylov himself joined in.

The beginning was too optimistic, and simply the market was not ready for this. According to calculations, the main part of the client base was people with an average income level and above. But in fact, the demand was an order of magnitude lower than expected. Initial investment paid off very long and the amount of 2.5 million dollars for expensive equipment would have justified itself in a situation of sales of at least 200 servings per day. And very rarely managed to exceed the established norm a little. But it was not without complications, for example, rations, the price of which was 2500 hryvnia, sold for 1200.

How did the changes begin?

We had to do something about it, and nine more marketing experts joined the staff. Of course, in a business like this it does not work that way. Lately the marketer position has been empty at all and there is no problem with that.
The plan was to cover most of the market and new outlets were opened. But the demand never increased, there were not more than 500 customers a day, and to increase at least 2 times it was necessary to seriously invest.

Moreover, the company employed nearly 100 people, and the service came out about 50-70 thousand dollars every month. There was not even a clear plan on how to proceed, spending was changing with new investments. It was not until 2019 that the decision was made to hire a new CEO to transform the company.

The CEO immediately said that the company was just sputtering and there was no focus, which was fundamentally wrong. Immediately half of the staff left and a restructuring plan was developed. The idea was to simplify everything and to focus on beverages. It was necessary to wind down production and close the stores, and it was a very emotional shock for the owners, especially the additional investment of 2.5 million dollars in equipment was required. And as the main product was presented kombucha, the demand for which is growing to this day.

At the moment, the company sells about 80,000 bottles each month, and covers a quarter of the entire market. There are numerous outlets, but initially it was not even clear which category the product belonged to. Against all odds, a complete restructuring was the right decision, and only after that began active development and increased sales growth.