Who said all empires in Russia are built on blood, lies, and connections? Some are built on homemade potato recipes — hold the vodka jokes. A new video from state press agency RIA Novosti follows Andrei Kononchuk and Vitaly Naumenko, co-owners of the baked-potato chain Kroshka Kartoshka [Крошка Картошка]. Now moneybags, the two tell of their humble but honest beginnings in the baked-potato biz, which they began in 1998, when the Russian economy was in the proverbial crapper. At first, all their revenue was eaten up by hyperinflation and their only other employees were their wives. But within a year their fortunes turned, and now Kroshka is an iconic and delicious symbol of post-default Russia, often imitated but never replicated by copycat brands. Wait, this video is just a carb-veiled parable intended to inspire more Russian entrepreneurship! Is nothing sacred?

The video report zooms in on another fast-food personage, Mikhail Goncharov, whom Time Magazine dubbed “The Czar of Crepes” last year. Goncharov also got his start in ’98 with Teremok [Теремок], a bliny hut serving thin pancakes stuffed with everything from ham and cheese to old Russian favorites like caviar. Goncharov did everything by the book in those days, writing up a business plan and submitting it to City Hall. Plus, the company’s head chef is Goncharov’s mother. How wholesome is that? The report ends with a close-up of the owners getting into their luxury cars. Though it was simpler then, we're told, it’s still possible to open a business now. True, it's definitely possible now. Just be careful not to put a sign on your storefront; you don't want mafia types, or worse yet, government types coming by to extort all your capital.

Fast Food in Russia: How it All Began [RIA Novosti]

Photo courtesy of Thepensblog.blogspot.com