311 млн рублей УБЫТКА. На чём на самом деле зарабатывает Дринкит?

Business model & strategy: why Drinkit exists

Category choice & thesis (Dodo Brands → coffee)

• Dodo Pizza demonstrated advantages in IT + franchising + operations.
• Coffee was selected because it offers:
  • High consumption frequency & retention (coffee can be bought daily / multiple times).
  • Global product familiarity, supporting international expansion.
• Despite the “crowded market” narrative, CEO Fyodor Ovchinnikov believed Russia was underserved in the mid-price chain segment.

Market entry logic (from “oversaturated” to “free locations”)

• Outlet opportunity estimates:
  • ~800 locations in Moscow
  • ~2,000 across Russia
• Competitive reality:
  • Fast food is dominated by major brands.
  • In coffee, the mid-price segment still allowed space for a large system.

Strategic goal: “become a Russian Starbucks”

• Ambition includes:
  • Rapid location scaling
  • Building a repeatable operating system (not just a cafe concept)

---

Product/ops playbook: redesign the customer journey (and remove friction)

Key insight: quality isn’t enough—remove annoying steps

Breakthrough growth comes less from improving coffee quality alone and more from eliminating friction in ordering:

• Eliminate queue
• Eliminate verbal ordering under pressure
• Reduce intrusive upselling
• Stabilize predictable wait time

“All orders online” operating system

• Core idea:
  • Make the app the primary/only entry point
• Customer promise:
  • Order on phone and receive drink in ~3–5 minutes

Data-driven format evolution

• Early stores reached only ~40–60% online orders (internally treated as a failure).
• Reason: the system had to run two parallel processes (cashier + digital), increasing complexity and cost.
• Operational bottleneck:
  • If a physical queue exists, demand is constrained and customers over-order.
  • Outlets sometimes accepted more than they could prepare, causing waits up to ~1.5 hours.

---

Digital-first implementation framework (process + architecture)

Test-and-learn sequence

• 2020: first concept store (Omega Plaza, business center) → operating profit within 6 months
• 2020–2022: scale tests
  • Issues emerged when online share wasn’t high enough

Radical process/space redesign: Poklonka “fully digital outlet”

• Removed cashier from the hall.
• Redesigned layout and production interfaces.
• Introduced:
  • Self-service kiosks for newcomers
  • A “Borista” assistant who guides the interface but doesn’t take verbal orders
  • Finished drinks placed on a digital platform (name/number)
• Result: 100% online ordering

App personalization

• Customization options:
  • coffee/tea, milk type, toppings/foam/syrups
  • temperature and lid choice
• Live updates:
  • price and calorie changes
• Convenience:
  • save favorites for 1-click reorders

Concrete results (Poklonka pilot)

• ~600–700 orders per shift in the first month
• ~3.4 million rubles revenue in the first month
• Completed shift to digital ordering at the store (orders moved to the digital channel)

---

Operations scale: manufacturing and category expansion

Centralized production via own “factory” (started in 2023)

• Manufactured:
  • baked goods
  • desserts
  • porridge
  • drink preparations
• Night delivery to stores:
  • stabilizes composition/calories
  • reduces in-store prep time

Category economics (why food mattered and why it underperformed initially)

• CEO admitted only about 1 out of 15 guests adds baked goods.
• Promotions and “beautiful cards” + recommendations didn’t deliver expected uplift.
• Digital-first UX issue:
  • customers can’t smell pastry in-store
  • reliance on photos vs aroma reduced impulse conversion

Food contribution metric

• Food sales:
  • ~10–15% of turnover in 2025–2026
  • up to ~20% in some locations
• Reported average growth: ~20%
• Ongoing investment:
  • increase production capacity
  • raise food sales share

---

Franchising & governance: systemization + training + risk-sharing

Franchise value proposition (what franchisees receive)

• “DoD” software connecting:
  • app + kiosks + production
  • order monitoring, balancing, write-offs
  • analytics + shift planning
• Manufacturing facility for food supply
• Architecture/design firm support
• Marketing support and quality control
• Training

Training process

• New franchisees:
  • 3 months immersion in operating-system processes
• Then:
  • site search + project + construction
• Timeline:
  • ~1 year from application to launch (approx.)
• Training materials:
  • checklists, forms, simulations embedded in the process

Partner council & experimentation

• Franchisees can propose initiatives.
• Some pilots became network-wide (e.g., a collagen/protein supplements idea that grew from local to system-level).

---

Franchisee pain points (examples of operational/commercial risk)

Territory/cannibalization disputes

• One partner claims the contract doesn’t clearly define “red zone” to prevent cannibalization.
• Another example:
  • if revenue drops by >20%, royalties could be reset to 0

Cannibalization risk is recognized

• Outsiders may see growth pace as unsustainable.
• Management view:
  • some overlap can be necessary for scale/brand presence.
• Plan:
  • develop rules so openings happen only when economics make sense.

---

Growth metrics, targets, and financial signals (KPIs)

Scale & geographic footprint

• >250 locations across Russia, Kazakhstan, UAE, USA
• ~70% franchised

Traffic/retention

• Customer retention: ~63%
• Repeat visits:
  • ~80% of guests come about 5 times/month
• Top loyal segment: 20+ times

Pricing & margin strategy

• Example price:
  • cappuccino ~350 rubles in 2026
• Positioning rationale:
  • not a discounter (can’t rely on low-quality/high-volume alone)
  • not a premium markup strategy either
• Margin levers:
  • automation reducing labor cost (cashier-free flow)
  • centralized procurement from the own factory
  • digital ordering not constrained by terminal throughput
  • saved recipes increase repeat usage

Financial performance

• Reported open data:
  • revenue >1 billion rubles for “year 25”
  • net loss: 311 million rubles
• Earlier plan:
  • break even and scale to 3,000 stores by year 28
• More conservative leadership view:
  • target around ~1,000 stores by age 30

Investment requirement & payback

• Full outlet investment: ~15–25 million rubles
• Payback:
  • Moscow: ~3 years
  • some regions: up to ~10 years

---

Marketing & brand management: reach vs conversion risk

• Low marketing during early growth; later increased campaigns.
• Influencer campaign (Sasha Spielberg, summer 2026):
  • seasonal collection collaboration
  • result: online backlash (high attention but polarized); comments disabled after a hate wave
• Takeaway:
  • reach isn’t enough—the brand must convert attention into store visits
  • “cost of attention” can include reputational risk

---

International & market expansion (high level)

• Expansion mentioned into:
  • US and UAE markets
• The app/ordering system is positioned as a scalable “digital wrapper around ordinary coffee,”
• but emphasis remains on execution via:
  • standardized operations
  • customer experience

---

Key frameworks / playbooks mentioned or implied

• Unit economics via operational automation
  • Replace staff bottlenecks with app + kiosks + centralized production
  • Use digital ordering to stabilize capacity planning
• Test-and-learn scaling
  • Start with a pilot → measure online share and operational constraints → redesign → re-pilot
• Digital-first service design
  • “App is the main entry point” + target predictable preparation time (3–5 min)
• Franchise operating system onboarding
  • 3-month immersion with embedded checklists/forms/simulations
• Governance via partner experimentation
  • Franchisee council pilots → network-wide rollout when validated
• Risk-sharing / incentives
  • Tiered royalties tied to revenue (with potential royalty reset if revenue drops sharply)

---

Presenters / sources

• Gleb — host/entrepreneur; narrator of the analysis
• Fyodor (Fedor) Ovchinnikov — Dodo Brands / CEO; strategy and ordering-system logic
• Nastya Nikitina — creator/founding force behind the original Drinket brand; product/branding expertise
• Alexander Umarov — mentioned as adjusting break-even/scale expectations
• Sasha Spielberg — influencer used as Drinkit seasonal campaign face
• Referenced external brand: Luckin Coffee (China app-based ordering model)
• Mentioned service/tool source: Pohali (example of building apps without developers; promo code GL mentioned)