An incredibly curious personality, surrounded by many scandals and secrets, included in government circles and constantly under the gun of the press. This is restaurateur Yevgeny Prigozhin, well known as President Putin’s personal culinary. His life is full of interesting events and "dark" stories, such as possible interference with the 2016 US elections and government contracts received.
Pick your recipe
In order not to make a person a hero and not to give an assessment of actions and curious connections, it is better to objectively cite facts from the biography of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Childhood and youth
Prigogine Evgeny was born in the northern capital of the country, St. Petersburg. Year of birth - 1961. Little Zhenya grew up and studied at a boarding school called the School of Olympic Reserve.
He was very interested in skiing and did not leave this hobby until his graduation from school. Then he abruptly quit skiing for unknown reasons, but the press published the opinion that this provoked problems that started at Prigogine at the age of 18.
The future restaurateur has 2 criminal records. At 18, he was sentenced to theft for a term of two years probation. But only the deadline was over, as he fell into yet another situation, for which he went to jail for 12 years. The reason was organized crime and joining the circle of the "wrong" group of people. Came out after 9 years, thanks to good behavior. Evgeni Prigozhin rarely talks about this time, avoiding questions and comments on this subject. Prigozhin sued one of the media for interfering in his personal life, but later withdrew this statement, further fueling his interest in himself.
Personal business
At 29, he decided to go about his business, and time with the situation in the country contributed to this. Thanks to the support of his stepfather, Evgeny Viktorovich opened a point for the sale of hot dogs. And this was the beginning of success.
He then became the manager of the Contrast supermarket chain in Leningrad. Not being its direct owner, he still owned 1/6 of the shares (together with a friend from the school, Boris Spektor).
After 5 years, he became disappointed in this work and firmly decided to open a restaurant business. Together with Kirill Ziminov, the elite institution "Old Customs" was opened. Looking for ways to expand the business, after successful businessmen from France, he decided to open his own institution in the wrong place for this. So, on a restored old ship, the restoration of which cost the new owner $ 0.5 million, a restaurant was built called "New Island". He gained incredible popularity.
Once an incident brought to this restaurant the very Russian president, V.V. Putin. The owner made the food for the dear guest. And this gesture later became his hallmark.
Since then, Prigogine himself served any high-ranking person who visited his restaurant. So the presidents of France and the United States visited his institution, later Putin celebrated his birthday here, and Dmitry Medvedev - his inauguration. The restaurateur not only became a good first-person acquaintance in the country, but also began to work with him and his entourage.
Then there was its own factory for the supply of food to Concord schools, then - the food of the military and the provision of Russian military units with food. All this is not without the support of the now good friend of the president of the country. However, later the order on the supplier’s monopoly was canceled, and everything returned to its place.
condition
During the period of his activity “under the auspices” of officials, Yevgeny Prigozhin earned 92 million rubles. And by 2016, the condition of the restaurateur was officially equal to 7.14 billion rubles. By 2018, it has grown to 11 billion rubles.