Who accepts berries for sale from the population. How I earned money for a car by picking wild berries

The first mushrooms appeared on the shelves of the capital's markets a few days ago. To the question: “Where do chanterelles come from?” - the sellers grin: “Local, from the Moscow region.” But it turned out that the traders were lying. Mushrooms are now mainly brought to the capital from the Vladimir region.

That's where I decided to go. I think I’ll buy it there and then resell it in Moscow. I'll try my hand at the mushroom business...

"COME EARLY!"

A mushroom picker I know, Volodya, advised me to go and stock up at the market in the Vladimir town of Sobinka, which is 150 km from Moscow. Local residents bring goods here from surrounding forests. I leave by car at nine in the morning, but due to traffic jams I arrive in Sobinka only at noon. Here I am disappointed: there are no mushrooms on the shelves!

Son, you should have come in the evening! - the grandmother selling blueberries pities me. - Mushrooms are picked early in the morning. Buyers come to us for them, with boxes. And they buy in bulk.

Yeah, and give them only small mushrooms, don’t take big ones so they don’t rot in a few days,” the woman mutters displeasedly from a nearby spot. - And the money they pay for this is meager - only 100 rubles per kilo of chanterelles!

Women persuade me to buy berries from them. A one and a half liter jar of blueberries sells for just a hundred.

Cheaper - only in the forest! - grandmothers pass me the berries. - And since you really want mushrooms, go to Lakinsk.

Lakinsk is a town about the same size as Sobinka. Many people here don’t have a job, so the fruit and berry season is looked forward to like a vacation in Anapa.

And they sold the mushrooms! - happy local resident Egor throws up his hands. He had already managed to exchange the rubles he had earned for vodka.

And this is how it is every day,” his wife Marina sighs, looking sideways at Yegor. - We go to the forest together in the morning, and this guy drinks almost all his money...

WHERE WE COLLECTED, WHERE WE SOLD

We managed to find the mushrooms only on the way back. From traders on the side of the road federal highway Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod. Their prices are outrageous: a kilogram of chanterelles costs three hundred!

Nevertheless, at the forest market (about thirty people trade here) there is a whole line of foreign cars: drivers willingly buy mushrooms and berries.

Why are they so expensive? - I ask the sellers, nodding at the chanterelles. - Did you bring them from Kamchatka?

Not from Kamchatka. - The woman looks at me with condemnation. - And dear ones, because there are few mushrooms these days...

For the sake of experiment, I buy two bags (each containing about a kilo of mushrooms). 250 rubles per bag.

What if there are chanterelles and toadstools mixed there? - I ask suspiciously.

There are no toadstools there! “We’ve been selling here for seven years, no one has complained,” the aunt shrugged it off.

“Well, yes,” I think, “whoever eats toadstools will not come to be indignant...”

MARKET SECRETS

I decide to resell the purchased mushrooms on the same day. Returning to the capital, I head to the indoor market - “Butyrsky”. There are no places inside the market: they are bought here in advance. I sit down at the exit, next to the grandmothers. They sell berries and vegetables here every day.

Are they driving you out of here? - I turn to my neighbor, who is sorting out strawberries.

Why! - she exclaims. - Every other day they scare me.

Do they require money?

“What can we, old women, take from us,” she sighs and begins to say: “We buy strawberries, fresh, straight from the garden!”

And we take mushrooms! - I pick it up and for some reason add: - From the forest.

People look at my goods with caution.

How much are you selling mushrooms, guy? - the plump lady asks me sternly.

Three hundred! For the package! - I name the price. But I think to myself: I need to make some money...

This morning I saw that the same number of mushrooms were sold for 200, and you were selling for 300,” the woman mutters. - Huckster!

It's a shame: I bought the bag myself for 250!

“Don’t worry,” my neighbor reassures me. And she looks at my jar of blueberries: “How much do you sell the berries?”

Berries? For 200. - I am modestly silent about the fact that I bought them for 100.

Granny grabs my one and a half liters of blueberries and pours the berries into glasses. Each - 120 rubles. She got five glasses from my jar. Total - 600 rubles. This is the market economy...

My grandmother’s blueberries were sorted out in just half an hour. And she again began to sort through her strawberries, laying out the rotten berries with their entire sides up.

If they notice, I’ll say that it was rained on,” the woman says conspiratorially.

In theory, all goods on the market should be checked by sanitary doctors. But no one came to me for several hours. Either they didn’t notice, or they decided that there was nothing to take from me...

An obese pensioner next door sells pickles. Transfers them from the basin to jars. One cucumber slips out of your hands and falls onto the asphalt. Grandma picks it up and puts it in the jar.

It'll turn sour! - I’m surprised.

They’ll eat it... - the grandmother waves her hand, yawning. And he advises:

And you can’t sell your mushrooms today. Go to the metro! People will come home from work and buy up.

I collect the goods and trudge to the Savelovskaya metro station. I stand like a poor relative, holding mushrooms in my hands.

About 30 minutes later a man stopped next to me.

How much do you sell mushrooms?

I look at the sun-dried chanterelles. And I hide my eyes in shame:

Get both packages for 300...

No, I'm not much of a trader. I took the chanterelles for 500. I sold them for 300...

While walking home, I calculated my losses: on a trip to the Vladimir region I spent 700 rubles on gasoline, 500 on mushrooms, and another 100 on berries. Total 1300. Only 500 rubles were returned back - 200 was earned for berries, 300 for mushrooms.

But if I had bought mushrooms from the aborigines in bulk, about twenty kilograms at a time, on the cheap, then I would have stayed in the black. Judge for yourself: for 20 kilos in Sobinka I would give two thousand rubles. Plus 700 rubles for gasoline. Total expenses are 2700 rubles. In Moscow markets, a kilogram of fresh forest mushrooms costs 400 rubles. If you manage to sell, you will get 8,000. Taking into account expenses - 5,300 rubles of net profit!

The most important thing is to do everything better than for yourself. Our northern berries - blueberries, lingonberries, cranberries - are the most expensive in the world. And no one dares to spoil them,” shares the founder and chief ideological inspirer company "Berries of Karelia" Ivan Petrovich Samokhvalov. Here they meticulously select gentle technologies for cleaning, freezing, processing and storing mushrooms and berries, chemical-free recipes and the most environmentally friendly containers.

Harvesting berries

For more than ten years, Kostomuksha, the third largest city in Karelia, built to serve the Karelsky Okatysh mining and processing plant, has been famous not only for its ore, but also industrial processing mushrooms and berries. Raw materials from all over the republic are brought to the local production complex by trucks: the Samokhvalov family controls 90% of the purchases of berries from the population. To just one collection point, visible from the windows of the plant, people from all over the area hand over about 30 tons of berries every day, and at the peak of the harvest - up to 100 tons. The Murmansk region and the Komi Republic are covered; sea buckthorn comes from the Altai Territory; in case of crop failure, cranberries can be delivered from Siberia. In the Vologda, Pskov and Novgorod regions, they have to compete with their main rival - the Vologda Yagoda company (see "Business in wild plants", "Expert" No. 35 (865) dated September 2, 2013). Some of the berries are brought by pickers from Finland and Sweden, and this is a real victory. Previously, local residents stood in queues for hours at the border to sell the collected berries to the Finns (the Lyttä-Vartius border checkpoint is just 30 km away). “We have seen what a huge flow of berries Finnish and Swedish companies receive from Russia as raw materials. And how Russian people crawl through the forest for them. Not so much patriotism main role played, but he did too: why can’t we do it ourselves? These are not some space technology, but simply an investment of money and effort,” says Ivan Samokhvalov’s son Alexander, who is responsible for all purchasing and sales, production and logistics in the family business. The collectors were lured away by a sharp increase in purchase prices. In 2003, their choice was obvious: 52 rubles per kilogram here versus 17 rubles and the hassle of going through customs in Finland.

Having lost their main source of raw materials, today the main berry processors in Scandinavia - Olle Svensson AB (a division of Nordic Food Group) and Polarica AB - are forced to import labor from Thailand to maintain its position in the global market.

Berries of Karelia will also soon face the problem of a lack of pickers. Now the procurement network consists of 23 buyers, each managing 30-40 collection points, and approximately 100 people bring berries to all points. “With the help of simple calculations, it turns out that during the season we provide income to about 80.5 thousand people. That is, three populations of our Kostomuksha. And if there is other work in the city - at the plant, in wood processing and at other enterprises, then in the dying Karelian villages people wait all year for these two or three months. After all, they are the ones who feed the residents all winter,” shares Alexander. However rural population is rapidly declining, so it was decided to build a residential building next to the plant for 1 thousand people, and by 2016 to increase the number of temporary assemblers housed there to 10 thousand.

Processing and storage

After inspecting the berry collection point, according to strict instructions at the stand, we put on robes and caps and go into a bright room - a cloudberry sorting workshop. Oblivious to our delegation, two women carefully hand-pick leaves and overripe berries from the amber-yellow mountain. It is cloudberries that open the harvesting and purchasing season in July, but we are already facing the very last batch. Here it is packaged and then sent in the form of briquettes to be frozen. “The market for cloudberry consumption is Scandinavia. We control about 70% of the Russian procurement market. But these are only hundreds of tons - not the same volumes as for traditional round berries: blueberries, lingonberries, cranberries, which amount to thousands of tons,” Alexander Samokhvalov continues the tour. Crowberries, gooseberries, currants, chokeberries and red rowans are also supplied here, but in relatively small quantities.

With other berries, they do not stand on ceremony as with cloudberries: in the neighboring workshop, an automatic conveyor line rumbles - the preparation of the first batches of cranberries has begun. In an hour, up to 2 tons of berries undergo cleaning, washing, calibration, electronic sorting and packaging. Leaves, pebbles and debris are gradually removed from the stream of berries moving past us. Here, with the help of powerful magnets, all metal impurities are eliminated. After a different-sized sieve system and removal of the stalks, the cranberries go into an automatic washer and are blown compressed air and fed to the sorting unit. Equipment specially imported from England and Belgium carries out electronic control of berries using optical, laser and infrared cameras. Final manual control - and selected clean cranberries are packaged in 25 kg paper bags. Surprisingly, there are only seven people in the workshop. During the busy season work in progress in two shifts, but there is no rush.

Berries of Karelia also deals with mushrooms, their share is growing, but in the entire volume of procurement it is now less than 10%. “Collecting and preserving berries is much easier than mushrooms. But we also package and sell white boletus, boletus and moss mushrooms: half in Russia, half abroad, for example to Italians. There is demand - everything always goes to zero,” comments Alexander. All adjacent rooms are reserved for freezers. Some of the berries are stored fresh at temperatures from 0 to +2°C. “We recently launched the sale of fresh berries. We turned to old Karelian traditions and after two years of experiments we learned to preserve berries without freezing all year round. We also spent a long time working on packaging technology and found the secrets that allow the berries to breathe. Therefore, the product does not deteriorate within two months after packaging,” the Samokhvalovs show cells filled with shelves up to the ceiling.

In total, this production complex processes about 8 thousand tons of berries per year, this year it is planned to increase the volume to 10 thousand tons - the harvest is very large. “Every year we grow by 30%. But we have much more capacity - up to 15 thousand tons, and we are gradually moving towards at least this figure. And this is only one-time storage. But in fact, we can grow to 25 thousand tons - if only there was someone to collect and supply,” shares the financial director - Ivan Samokhvalov’s eldest son Maxim, who manages finance, real estate, design and construction in the holding. Up to 60-70% of sales are exported. Wholesale supplies of berries are carried out to Danone, Valio, Fazer, Hortex, Miratorg. Alexander complements his brother: “Historically, we supply Scandinavia itself, while at the same time competing with it. There we managed to reach end consumers. We supply

to Denmark, Germany, Belgium and Holland. A lot of blueberries go to China. Now garden blueberries are in fashion in the world - the Chinese grow them themselves and are trying to sell them, including to Russia. But if you cut it, it is white inside. And our blueberries are completely black - full of anthocyanins, useful for maintaining visual acuity. A truckload of blueberries produces about 100 kg of medicinal powder, which is then sold all over the world, mainly to Japan, America, and Australia.”

Production and products

While talking, we move to the neighboring industrial building. They pass us in orderly rows through the bottling workshop. glass bottles– are disinfected, filled with nectar heated to 87°C, and immediately cooled to preserve vitamins, and then packaged. The maximum productivity of the line is up to 6 thousand bottles per hour, but sales volumes have not yet kept pace with the technology. “In Kostomuksha, a city with a population of 30 thousand, we sell 3 thousand bottles of nectar per month. On a per capita basis this is a lot. We would sell 500 thousand bottles a month in St. Petersburg, but it’s not possible yet,” complains Alexander.

I look at the ingredients on the label: directly pressed lingonberry juice, sugar syrup. If you add less water, But more sugar, you get berry syrup, less juice - fruit drink. They also make 100% juice here, but it’s not for everybody – it’s too concentrated and tastes sour, explains Samokhvalov Sr. It is not sold at retail - it is produced only in industrial packaging. “In Europe, enzymes are added everywhere to break down the berries at the cellular level and extract as much juice as possible from them. Bacteria, even if they are not numerous and harmless, are still a foreign ingredient, and we decided to do without them,” explains Ivan Petrovich with pleasure, showing the conveyor line. – As you can see, this is a product that is not so difficult to make. But no one will do better than us - it is no longer possible to do better. It's all too simple."

In line finished products There are jams, purees, and berry fillings. The line for the production of cranberries in powdered sugar is already more than half ready for launch. And installations for sublimation drying - gentle preservation by freezing while preserving the intercellular structure - will allow you to carefully dry berries for grinding into medicinal powder or making chocolate dragees. There are no such drying installations anywhere else in Russia, or in neighboring Finland either. New equipment is very expensive, so the lines have to be assembled bit by bit. They order something in St. Petersburg from intermediaries of Italian companies, but this is a very long process: you need to find the right installation, agree to buy it cheaper, deliver... I had to build my own workshop with a turning and milling machines, presses, welding machines. Six or seven mechanics work here - mostly older, even in their eighties: there were no young turners and milling operators in the city. “Our technological lines are a third or even half homemade. There are almost no industries left in our country - everything has been destroyed, and the machine park can be bought for pitiful pennies. So the design engineer and I develop all the equipment: we figure out how it works and follow the example. We argue, we swear, but we do it. Even better quality than what we are offered to buy, for example, in Chelyabinsk,” explains Samokhvalov Sr.

The situation with engineering personnel in Kostomuksha is difficult. Father and sons go to foreign enterprises to gain experience. They invite specialists to their place in Kostomuksha. “I try to thoroughly study every issue and never refuse advice. From time to time I reach out to us smart people who give lectures on production organization. There is a veterans' society in Germany - they recommended a good technologist. And so a German, an old guy with a translator, taught us here. Sublimation specialists came to me from Moscow, and when I was coming up with a juice plant, I persuaded the head of the department from the legendary Michurinsky Agrarian University in the Tambov region to come. Even at the St. Petersburg Refrigeration Institute, I proved to everyone: “You train boys and girls, and then in Germany, in two or three weeks, they finish their training and turn them into your workers. Do you have at least something in your soul from a moral point of view? You work, and the Germans intercept the fruits of your labor and turn the guys, in fact, into sellers of their goods. But you don’t support your own producers.” In the end, I convinced them to come and confer,” says the head of the family.

Start

Here, at the juice plant at his headquarters, Ivan Petrovich says that he started his business in the late 1980s, when the very concept of “business” in Russia was still familiar to few people. At that time, an electronics engineer worked at a mining and processing plant and worked part-time as a private driver, and also traveled to St. Petersburg, where he bought microcircuits on the market for assembling radios, sinclairs and the first computers.

The year 1990 was a turning point. “I came home one day,” the businessman recalls. – We sat down at the table, my wife poured soup. We already had three children, and youngest son began to cry that he wanted meat. I threw down the spoon, went out into the corridor, lit a cigarette and began to think: “Mother of God, why? I studied, I tried, I graduated from school with a medal, and I graduated from college. I live in the North, I work at a mining and processing plant in very harmful conditions. I don't drink. But I can’t give my child the most basic things!” This was the beginning, the starting point. At that time, my friends ran computer rooms, and I repaired joysticks. Somehow I mentally reached into my pocket, calculated my income and expenses, and I was seduced by it. So I started thinking about own business. Actually, it's just greed."

The start was extremely unsuccessful. There was no money of his own, and the entrepreneur turned to the bank. The loan - 250 thousand rubles at 15% per annum (the Zhiguli car then cost about 9 thousand) - was obtained only for a bribe - 10% immediately went into the pockets of the creditors. The business idea was to produce plastic products. Suitable machines were found in Odessa; for their supply, the plant director, in addition to the cost, asked for two more timber machines - also as a bribe. There was no room either. When we finally managed to find and expand a small basement by manually digging out the ground, the SES and fire inspection did not allow us to place equipment there. The machines had to be taken out, and then they were completely stolen. “I tried to come up with something else, but, having no experience and no brains in terms of business or managing finances, I lost everything. I had only one thought in my head: to get out of my skin and give this money away. In general, there was crazy theft at the bank, but I realized that later, but oh well,” says the entrepreneur.

Times were hard, store shelves were empty, and Ivan Samokhvalov took up trading. Traveled to Moldova Western Ukraine. He carried boards, televisions and electronics there, and back - plastic film and products, mainly sugar. At that time, the establishment of borders was just beginning; sugar was a strategic raw material, and it was very difficult to export it. The businessman says: “I didn’t do anything. In St. Petersburg, for example, I made my way to the management of the Moscow department store or the Electronics store with a proposal to sell their goods in Kostomuksha and bring money very honestly and conscientiously. They looked at me like I was sick. From the outside it was funny, but I did it.” Still, he managed to negotiate and, without a penny of money, filled an old, old minibus with goods. He went to his North, made a minimum markup, sold and brought back the money - and so on in a circle. “So I slowly got back on my feet. And not only did I pay back the entire loan, but I learned how to earn money and realized that this process is probably the most interesting for me, more interesting than anything else, than spending money. Maybe this is not very correct, but it is so,” says the businessman.

Doing business at that time was life-threatening. Ivan Samokhvalov’s trade was gaining momentum, and local bandits paid attention to him. But he did not succumb to blackmail - give up the business or die. “Eight years ago there was a real Kushchevka here. The bandits were local, from Belarus or Chelyabinsk - real moral monsters. They merged very closely with the prosecutor's office, the police, and the authorities. They had a monopoly on everything.

And they suggested to me: “Either you will do what we tell you, or we will kill your children one by one, and you last, so that you see all this,” the entrepreneur reluctantly says. – Now it seems easy, but in reality it was difficult and risky. Either the tax office is pinching you and is about to put you in prison, then your competitors are ordering you, then the bandits are killing you, your children are being slaughtered. I've been through it all. The eldest son received a knife in the stomach, and I also somehow returned from the other world. They beat me with bats, put a bullet in my head, then they jumped on me, breaking my bones.”

At the risk of his life, the businessman, who did not agree to compromise, still gradually managed to develop his business. He opened his first own grocery store in 1991. Five years later, a dumpling production appeared, and in 1998 - a meat processing workshop, its own freezers and sausage production, a base in the Volgograd region with a honey packaging workshop. In the early 2000s, we built our own shopping mall with an area of 5.5 thousand square meters. m, a taxi service is open. But the second significant year for Ivan Samokhvalov’s business was precisely 2003, when the idea came to create the Berries of Karelia company. She became a real find and the center of all further entrepreneurial activity family.

Forced diversification

While most entrepreneurs strive, if not to Moscow and St. Petersburg, then at least to regional administrative centers, all of Ivan Samokhvalov’s projects are based in Kostomuksha. The businessman, of course, made attempts to expand beyond the district, but they were unsuccessful. The first reason is staff theft. “I learned the hard way that if a business in Russia is located somewhere far from you, then you can confidently assume that it is not yours. In Kostomuksha and neighboring populated areas- Medvezhyegorsk, the villages of Muezersky, Rugozero, Segezha - I had about 15 small shops, for which I mainly remodeled apartments.

And they stole terribly everywhere, although people in these towns had no other job and I thought that any job should be for happiness. And it’s very disappointing: you struggle so much (the firemen demand wheels for the Volga for the required signature, or something else), and in the end those to whom you gave the job rob you,” the businessman complains.

Now the Samokhvalovs are actively cooperating with retailers. Berries of Karelia products can be found in Perekrestok, Magnit, Stockmann, Azbuka Vkusa, Land, and Auchan. And in 1999, the entrepreneur’s own stores themselves made up trading network“Slavs” was at that time the largest in Karelia. But due to lack of control, they only brought losses. At the same time, the interregional chains Magnit and Pyaterochka began making attempts to enter the market retail in the north of Karelia. The businessman explains the decision to close his retail outlets this way: “Their price level is not much lower. But the arrangement of goods and the layout of the store are thought out much better and more beautiful, more convenient for the buyer. Manufacturers always bring products to them half-bent; no one asks for money for six months, just to put them on the shelves. Networks were able to create such conditions, and small business This is not possible. And it immediately became clear that we had to leave, otherwise they would trample us. Of course, at that time it was still possible to compete with them, but somehow it never occurred to me. To do this, it was necessary to create a security service, hire security guards, but simply trust would not work because of total theft.”

The enterprise for purchasing and packaging honey closed for the same reason, and Ivan Samokhvalov realized that “you need to develop the business where you live, never enter other people’s territories and not do business where you are not.” But there was also a positive experience - the entrepreneur decided that in the new berry business it would be difficult for non-Karelian companies to compete with him: to remotely manage purchases based on large quantities cash, because of the same theft is very difficult.

The second obstacle to business development in Kostomuksha is the isolation of the city and poor transport infrastructure. The distance to Petrozavodsk is about 500 km, to St. Petersburg – 930, the road is quite bad in some places. “When I bought sausage in St. Petersburg, the car arrived here, as a rule, late in the evening or at night. In the morning, the goods had to be received, delivered to stores, re-weighed, and a price set. And sausages, for example, have a shelf life of 48 hours. That is, we brought them - and now we have to throw them away. The understanding has come that they need to be made here,” Ivan Samokhvalov explains the reasons for creating local production. But with the closure of our own stores, we also had to abandon the workshops.

The third limiting factor is limited demand. On a scale small town Not all business projects and productions can be launched at full capacity. Thus, there was a clear lack of clients for the taxi service. But at the same time, the “Slavyane” bakery with a confectionery shop, opened in 2005, turned out to be truly profitable. Now this enterprise occupies about 60% of the market in the city, supplying various bakery products both to our own network of retail outlets and to other stores in the city, kindergartens, schools, hospitals, and orphanages.

All other areas of activity that have proven their viability (bakery, shopping and warehouse centers, design and construction company, beauty center, furniture and household goods supermarket) are now united into a holding company, which has received the same name “Berries of Karelia”. This is the largest of all small enterprises in the city with a serious bid to move into the niche of medium and then large business.

The entrepreneur admits that from the point of view of doing business, it is ineffective to engage in many different areas at the same time. However, he is driven primarily by curiosity and interest to create new enterprises. And secondly, the understanding that every free niche he noticed would be filled by someone someday: “So why not me? And the previous ideas, in fact, already work without me.”

Residents say that Ivan Petrovich goes to one of the bakeries every day to buy fresh baked goods and at the same time checks the quality. This makes sense to him:

“I often go into my bakery and say that the juices they make there seemed tasteless to me. I always explain the following to my employees: let’s imagine a small store on Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg. A man came there, bought something and left – almost forever. Because it is a very big city and there are a lot of buyers. There are residents of nearby houses, but there are many more who come once. There you can cheat, lie on labels. It's not necessary, but the opportunity is there. Not every person will go to make a scandal and prove something to the SES. Most people will endure it and not bother. But in little Kostomuksha you can’t do this - it’s simply criminal. If we dared to deceive the client here, then we must understand that we deceived ourselves. We made bad pies, bought 100 people, and they won’t come again. We will notice this immediately - our business will be shaken. We’ll deceive someone else, cheat, and that’s it, let’s go look for work. There is no other confectionery shop in the city. So I gather women and begin to hammer these things into them. From time to time I go there and look, sniff out, look for flaws: what if I can fix something, install some kind of machine, improve something, come up with new products? The chief technologist graduated from the institute and remembers that according to GOST, so much filling is supposed to be added to pies - 32 grams, or something. I say: “I don’t care about these conditions! Put more.” And the technologist almost cries: “Look: there’s not much room to fit in here, just understand!” But I know that if there is more filling in the pie, it will become tastier. This is how I terrorize them so that it tastes good.”

“Business for me is a constant mathematical calculation, day and night. But without the thought of robbing or devouring someone. I always try to play fair and build my business according to the principle of “one thing at a time.” It is clear that there is added value in any business. It can be made large, or small, but the volume must be large. I always tried to make a small markup, but stretch the business to larger volumes. Then, with ideal quality, our products will be the best for people.”

Kostomuksha – Petrozavodsk – St. Petersburg

Berries are a high quality product

General Director of the Land premium supermarket chain Ilya Shtrom:

We have been cooperating with Berries of Karelia since January 2013. During this time, the partner has proven himself to be the most the best side- We had no problems with supplies. On the shelves of our supermarkets there is almost the entire assortment of “Berries of Karelia”: tasty and healthy nectars, frozen mushrooms and berries, fresh high-quality cranberries.

Our company purchases forest mushrooms and wild berries from the public and wholesalers. Our acceptance points are located in Karelia, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Murmansk region, including on Kola Peninsula, Krasnoshchelye, in the Lovozersky district and directly in the vicinity of Lovozero, in the villages of Teriberka, Koida, the village of Muezersky and many other settlements.

You can also tell us sell berries cultivated vegetable gardens. We buy them only in frozen form, fresh or dried, we do not accept.

Prices for receiving berries

Depending on the harvest, prices for purchasing berries from the population may change. For example, the cost of lingonberries from year to year varies from approximately 70 to 100 rubles per kilogram, cloudberries - from 250 to 600, blueberries, cranberries - from 70 to 120.

Purchase of wild plants carried out at the same prices, in whatever region our acceptance point is located. Weighing is carried out on certified scales, which always show accurate weight.

Why is it beneficial for you to cooperate with us?

We offer best price for a day eating mushrooms and berries.
We pay immediately after delivery of the products.
We pay in any way: cash, bank card, bank transfer.
If the berries are very good quality- higher pay.
We accept any volume - from 1 kg.
When you hand over a batch of 100 kg or more, the price for each kilogram is higher.
We operate more than 100 points buying up wild plants, one of them is probably located near your place of residence.

I sell fresh blueberries, cloudberries, lingonberries, blueberries, crowberries, cranberries and spring cranberries.

If you are collecting and sell cloudberries, blueberries, lingonberries, cranberries(new harvest and spring), viburnum, blueberry, crowberry, blackberry or princeberry - contact us. We accept all types of wild berries, the main thing is that they are fresh and ripe. Possible with leaves and twigs.

Our sales market is constantly expanding, every year we sell more and more finished products, so throughout the entire berry season we reception of wild plants in unlimited quantities. There are thousands of assemblers who cooperate with our company.

Of course it's up to you to decide Where sell berries - at the market, on the side of the road or give it to us. We only offer the most favorable conditions: you save your time, receive payment instantly and earn more than resellers can offer you.

Eating strawberries, wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, rowan berries, sea buckthorn

Somehow it happened that it is easier to find income in the summer than in the winter. This is largely due to the fact that the friendly sun lifts your spirits and original thoughts and ideas are born.

IN recent years, it’s not clear whether this is due to the not very stable financial situation some of our fellow citizens or with the profitability of such an activity, the business of forest products has become widespread not only in the regions where this has been done from time immemorial, but also in central regions our country.

Thousands of buyers of berries and mushrooms travel around cities and towns, inviting people who want to earn a little extra money during the holiday season to pick berries and mushrooms in the forest and hand them over to them for a fee.

How much can you earn from picking berries and what is needed for this, magazine Reconomica said a resident of the Vologda region who collects wild berries.

Hello! My name is Yulia and I come from a small village with the wonderful name Smorodinka. It is located in the Vologda region.

Where to find a job

You won’t find a job for women here during the day, but you need one with a good salary and a convenient schedule, especially if there are small children in the family.

When the eldest daughter went to kindergarten, in 2014, and youngest daughter and there was no sign of it, I decided to go to work. My daughter was only 1.5 years old then. Until the evening she was in the garden and I could do whatever I wanted. As I already said, I couldn’t find decent work in the village, even though I have a higher education.

District center

I started going to work in the regional center, which is 25 km from the village. The schedule was two every two and I had to work until 6 pm.

I hitched a ride home or took a taxi, because public transport from the village rarely runs, and in the evening there is absolutely nothing to get from the city to the village. The parents helped with the child, because they had to pick up their daughter from kindergarten at five, or at most six, o’clock in the evening.

After working like this for a couple of months, I realized that almost half of my salary was spent simply on travel and on eating in the city at lunchtime. The salary at that time was 10 thousand rubles. I worked in a communications salon.

Mom's idea

Then my mother gave me the idea that I should quit my job and make money from berries, especially since the season was starting soon.

She said that many people in the village do this and earn my annual salary and more in a few months of picking berries, depending on how hard you try.

My plans

So it caught fire for me. I decided that, no matter what, I needed to earn money for a car and go to work in the regional center on my own in the winter.

And with a child it’s much more convenient by car, you never know, you need to go to the city hospital or so, go shopping to buy clothes. Yes, and it’s better to go to the city for groceries once a week than to buy them at exorbitant prices in the village.

Picking berries is not that easy.

There were already plans for a second child, so the issue with the car was very acute. It is much more economical and convenient to travel wherever you need to with your own transport. Yes, even when going out into nature, to the shore, or to visit relatives and girlfriends who live hundreds of kilometers away from me, a car will always help out.

Buying an expensive car right away was not part of my plans, and I need a lot of money for it.

They didn’t give us loans, since our credit history was already ruined by that time. So I decided to earn one hundred thousand for a domestic car in good condition.

Everything you need for work

I needed combines to collect berries for blueberries and lingonberries, they are the same type. I also needed a harvester for cranberries, so I bought that too. Each combine cost me 500 rubles.

My mother lent me her old rubber boots for the forest, and in the fall I bought my own, they cost only 350 rubles.

Mom had a backpack and baskets for berries; she herself loves to go to the forest, so she had this equipment in the required quantity. Well, I found old clothes for the forest in the village.

We also spent money on mosquito repellents, but didn’t buy expensive ones, since they weren’t much use; we used inexpensive “Raftamid” and we didn’t care about mosquitoes and midges.

What to take with you to the forest

The most important thing, I will tell you, is to take more drink with you, since you are constantly thirsty in the forest, especially, oddly enough, in the swamp.

And it’s better not to take lemonade, but plain water, maybe water with lemon, to be refreshing in the heat. We also took sweet tea in a thermos on cool days. In addition to water and tea, you need to take some food into the forest.

I noticed that the appetite there can be excellent. Even a simple piece of black bread seems delicious. My mother and I took to the forest most often boiled eggs, black bread, cucumber or tomato. Just by this time, the harvest of these vegetables had already ripened in the garden, and sometimes they took sandwiches with sausage or cheese.

I used to take lollipops because sweets gave me energy, and I would run through the forest like a fox, picking up precious berries.

This is the type of harvester I used to pick berries.

Our transport

We intended to ride into the forest on bicycles. But then, when we tried driving 7-10 km every day and back with heavy backpacks, we changed our minds and started riding a scooter, thank God, my mother has this transport.

We have a driver's license, so we no longer had any problems with transportation to the place of picking berries. The scooter, however, is small, we could hardly fit on it with our backpacks, but it was okay, we managed.

Workday and household chores

We went to the forest early in the morning, right after my daughter was taken to kindergarten. At about eight o'clock our working day began and ended after lunch.

Duration working day in the forest depended on weather conditions, the number of berries in the place where we arrived, and important matters for which we sometimes had to return earlier.

Since my mother and I could only go picking berries five days a week, because the kindergarten is not open on Saturday and Sunday, we tried to move all household chores to the weekend, and during working week spend more time in the forest.

Father's help

Dad helped us a lot. He took on responsibilities: heating the stoves when necessary, cooking dinners, heating the bathhouse and other small chores around the house. His joints hurt badly, he was diagnosed with a disability, so he could not wander through the forest and pick berries.

Later he began picking berries at home. The salary depended on how many kilograms of berries the people brought him, and varied from 10 to 20 thousand rubles per month.

We had several such reception points in our village, so there was significant competition in this matter. For every kilogram of berries he accepted, dad was paid 5 rubles. Of course, we also handed over our berries to him, and did not take them somewhere.

My goal

I set myself a goal - to earn on, i.e., at least 100 thousand rubles, in one berry season, which lasts about 4 months.

I calculated that I would have only 20 working days a month. This means that per day I need to pick berries worth no less than 1.5 thousand rubles, or better yet more, in order to save for the car, and so on for other expenses, left.

My eldest daughter.

Beginning of the berry season

Our berry season began in July. By this time the cloudberries were ripe.

Cloudberries, sales and prices for berries

It was not accepted at all points, as this berry spoils quickly. For example, the owner for whom my father worked did not accept this berry, so we either took the cloudberries to other points or sold them to summer residents.

A kilogram of berries can fetch 200-300 rubles if you sell them to one of the vacationers in our village or to those who don’t go out to buy berries but love to eat cloudberries.

At first, 100 rubles were given per kilogram of cloudberries at the berry collection points, then the price increased to 150 rubles and at the end of the season reached 200 rubles per kilogram. While there are few berries, the price is usually lower, and when they become less and less, the price begins to rise. The cost of cloudberries changes every year, it all depends on the number of berries in the swamp. That year there was an average cloudberry harvest. We collected it by hand and it took almost the whole day.

Features of sales in a big city

By the way, a ten-liter bucket of such berries big city, for example in St. Petersburg, could be sold for 10 thousand rubles. But again, we had to carry the berries ourselves, and we had nothing to carry them. Yes, and you need to know who to sell to; it’s better to transport the berries to order.

Just getting into the market with it is not best idea berries spoil quickly in the heat. You won’t stand with it in the rain either - this will also lead to quick damage.

From cloudberries, even though there were only a few of them, I always managed to earn 1-1.5 thousand rubles per day, even when there were practically no berries at all, I gained 5-7 kg each. By this time the price of the berry had risen to 200 rubles and I met my quota for the money I earned.

How to beat the blues

It was hard, especially at the very beginning of the day, when my legs, so to speak, were still moving. It happened that I was completely out of mood, picking berries - you thought: it would be better to lie on the sofa watching TV or in the garden under a currant bush, catching a tan and putting its fruits in your mouth.

Cloudberries ripen in July - it’s time to swim, sunbathe, pick all the ripe berries in your garden, go to nature and barbecue.

But when such a decadent mood attacked me and I was too lazy to pick berries, I imagined myself driving around in my own car to guests, shops and just important matters. The blues immediately left me and I again took up the monotonous task of picking berries. I listened to the birds singing and enjoyed this natural melody. You know, it really calms the nerves and pleases the ears, giving harmony to the soul.

Blueberry

After the cloudberries, it was the turn of the blueberries. It also begins to be collected in July, but towards the end of the month. The whole month of August is the time for this berry.

It’s easier to make money on blueberries, because here you don’t have to jump over swamp hummocks, and in general, there are more of these berries in the forest than cloudberries. True, the price of blueberries is lower than that of cloudberries.

People usually start taking this berry at 50-80 rubles; they can finish taking blueberries for 150 rubles, but on average they pay 100 rubles per kilogram for it.

Since there were a lot of berries, I always gained 10-15 kilograms, even 20.

The problem was how to get the berries out of the forest. Sometimes my mother had to make two trips: first to take the berries, and then to come back for me. We put a large bag in front of the scooter seat and put our berries in it, plus backpacks on our shoulders - and returned home if she couldn’t take all the berries at once.

Cowberry

After blueberries came the turn of lingonberries; they are harvested from the end of August and throughout September. By October, usually, all the lingonberries in our forests are gone.

It grows in pine forests, which I really like. I love picking berries while walking through a dry forest. You can also pick up porcini mushrooms in the forest; I simply adore them in tandem with fried potatoes.

Along with lingonberries, you can pick up mushrooms.

Lingonberries are remarkable because they can be stored (they do not spoil). As the price rises, you can immediately sell these berries in a bunch.

That year there was a large lingonberry harvest, so we made good money on it. Our forests are located closer than the swamps, so we didn’t have to travel far. We even managed to go for berries several times a day when the weather was good.

Our trick

I could collect 30 kilograms of lingonberries a day, for which we got 120 rubles per kilogram; in the village they were, of course, cheaper. The starting price for lingonberries at collection points is approximately 40 rubles, then, towards the end of the season, it begins to rise. We did not hand over the berries in the village, but took them to the regional center to the market. A car arrived there from Cherepovets and the berries were accepted for 100-120 rubles per kilogram.

Naturally, we had to ask relatives to help us transport lingonberries to the market, but they willingly agreed for money.

We saved berries all week and took them to the market on Friday. I could earn up to 15 thousand rubles in a week from lingonberries. It all depended on how many berries I picked in these 5 days.

Cranberry

Cranberries replaced lingonberries. This happened in September.

This berry is considered very valuable; in big cities it can be sold for a very high price, but again this is not our story. We saved the berries and, like lingonberries, went to the market in the regional center.

It was impossible to get more than 150 rubles per kilogram for cranberries. For the receivers, this was the final cost of this berry.

Then there weren’t so many cranberries, so I rarely managed to collect more than 10-12 kg per day, but I had my 1.5 thousand rubles a day and even a little more. Our season ended at the end of October. Then it just became very cold and snow fell, under which the cranberries were no longer visible.

My dream has come true

During the berry season, which lasted me 4 months, I earned about 150 thousand rubles. I bought a car that I had dreamed of for a long time. My first car is a “tag”.

I began to visit friends who live far away from me more often. We no longer had to adapt to public transport or ask anyone to go to the city on business. Then our second daughter was born and now in terms of movement we feel free and easy.

When our second daughter was born, we could go anywhere in our car at any time.

How I live now

I'm not officially working right now. I decided that I would pick berries in the summer and autumn, and the rest of the time I would devote myself to the children and home, and I would also sometimes taxi so that I would have an extra penny to live on.

We don’t have one in the village, but people often go to the regional center. For a round trip to the city I charge 600 rubles. I always manage to go two or three times a week, and at the same time I do my business there. It turns out to be very profitable.

On maternity capital We bought a house in the village, so we now live separately from my mother. We have our own farm, I have enough things to do at home. When the children grow up and go to school and are more independent, then I will go to work, perhaps in the city, and will travel there by car. Now I am satisfied with this state of affairs.

What I earn from berries plus my husband’s salary (20 thousand rubles) is enough for us to live until the next berry season. Well, working part-time in a taxi helps us out.

Features of picking berries

I would like to point out that cranberries are a berry that can be picked in November if the weather is appropriate. You can collect it when the snow melts, which happens in May.

Many berry growers, including my mother, open the season in May.

They first collect May cranberries (they usually sell for 90-120 rubles per kilogram), then they switch to strawberries, but they don’t accept them at the outlets and they have to look for customers or go to the market to sell them. The average price for strawberries is 150-200 rubles per liter.

Then comes the turn of cloudberries, blueberries, lingonberries, and the berry season ends with cranberries. It turns out that berries can be collected from May to November, if the weather permits.

Difficulties of work

Picking berries is not as easy as it seems at first glance. It’s good to walk through a dry forest, picking berries and singing songs, but when the weather is raging, it can be simply unbearable. IN cold weather Hands get very cold, especially in October when working on cranberries.

At the end of the season, it simply becomes physically difficult, because you have to drag quite a few kilograms of berries out of the forest on your own. The only thing that helps is the belief that your dream is about to come true.

The car is expensive pleasure in terms of content. Choose your car wisely, keeping future expenses in mind.