Arkis — a Nizhny Novgorod confectionery company that produced cakes, pastries, and desserts under the same-named brand, selling them through its own kiosks and shops and through retail chains across the city and region [6][7][11]. It was founded by entrepreneur Andrey Margolin; the name is an abbreviation of "Arkady i syn" ("Arkady and Son") — named in honor of the founder's father [1][2]. According to the company's own records, production began in 1993, although the founder marked the firm's twentieth anniversary in 2015 [1][6]. Arkis became known beyond the confectionery market due to a mass poisoning caused by its cakes in the summer of 2008 [18][20]. Both legal entities bearing the name "Arkis" have been struck from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities as inactive — in 2013 and 2015 respectively; the company's website has been offline since 2016, and no successor has been announced [4][5][25].

History

According to the founder's account, the confectionery business began largely by chance: when Andrey Margolin purchased a premises in Molitovka, a team of confectioners approached him with their idea and he agreed to back it; he was not yet 25 years old when the company was established [1]. His father, in whose honor the firm is named, did not live to see it open — he died in a car accident when his son was 18 [1][2].

Sources disagree on the founding date. The company's website in 2014 traced its history "from 1993, from the moment its own confectionery production opened"; in 2010 it stated that "Arkis" celebration cakes had been gracing the tables of [6][7][1] Nizhny Novgorod residents for "almost 15 years," while in 2015 the founder spoke of the company's twentieth anniversary. In 2010, the firm's age was described as "more than 17 years."

By 2003, Margolin's business interests, in addition to the confectionery firm, included two Andreyevsky self-service stores — one in Molitovka and one on Sormovskoe Highway [24]. He later also named the EURO stores and the Dali and Gagarin restaurants among his projects, the latter located on Molodezhnyy Avenue in Avtozavodsky District [1][2]. In total, according to him, the businesses he created provided 3,000 jobs, and "Arkis" captured more than 60 percent of the market from scratch — this is the founder's own estimate [1][2].

Arkis's mass-produced cakes were supplied to retail chains in Nizhny Novgorod and the Region; a business directory lists among its partners Auchan, Lenta, Real, O'Key, Karusel, Spar, Raytsentr, Magnit, Perekryostok, Pyatyorochka, Kalinka, and the NASH hypermarket [7][11]. The company's office and production facilities were located at Lenin Avenue Lenin Avenue, 57/3, in Leninsky District [20][28].

The crisis of late 2014 to early 2015, according to Margolin, hit Arkis as well: foreign suppliers withdrew from contracts, production was cut back, and part of the staff had to be let go; the company searched for domestic suppliers of natural raw materials and worked on modernizing its production [1]. For its twentieth anniversary, it was launching a new line — three meringue fillings for cakes under the "Staryy Dvorik" brand, which customers sampled at in-store tastings [1].

Reports of the company's death are greatly exaggerated, to rephrase my favorite writer, Mark Twain.

— Andrey Margolin, NIA "Nizhny Novgorod," August 13, 2015 [1]

Legal entities and owners

The "Arkis" trademark has relied on several legal entities over the years. Two companies bore the name "Arkis" itself; the official manufacturer of cakes under that brand in 2008 was OOO "NiKo-NN" (rendered in some publications as "Niko-NN") [4][5][18][19]. According to investigators, "NiKo-NN" was registered under straw owners, while "Arkis" on paper merely leased it premises on Lenin Avenue; following the 2011 verdict, the company deregistered for tax purposes and re-registered in Dzerzhinsk, replacing its founders [20].

Both OOOs "Arkis" ceased to exist in the same manner — by being struck from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities as dormant legal entities, that is, without going through bankruptcy proceedings [4][5]. The first company was registered at the address on Dargomyzhskogo Street, 23, building 1 [4].

Legal entities of "Arkis" according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRUL)
EntityTIN / OGRNActiveFoundersDirectorType of activity, address
LLC "Arkis" [4]5258046930 / 10352051530813 July 2003 — 1 March 2013Margolina Alexandra Andreyevna (51%), Zhupnik Ella Arkadyevna (49%)General Director E. A. Zhupnik, from 3 July 2003types of activity not listed in the register; 23 Dargomyzhskogo St., Bldg. 1; authorized capital 10,000 rubles
LLC "Arkis" [5]5260378996 / 114526000251324 February 2014 — 21 December 2015Zhupnik Ella Arkadyevna (100%)General Director E. A. Zhupnikproduction of bread and flour confectionery products with a short shelf life, trade in confectionery products; 3 Fruktovaya St., Bldg. 4; authorized capital 10,000 rubles
LLC "NiKo-NN" [18][19][20]—manufacturer of "Arkis" cakes in 2008according to investigators, shell individualsDeputy General Director — Elena Orlova (2008) [17]production of confectionery products; re-registered in Dzerzhinsk in 2011

Founder

Andrey Arkadyevich Margolin was born on June 4, 1968, in Gorky, into a working-class family and grew up in the Avtozavod neighborhood; as a child he played ice hockey and boxed [2][3]. In 1992 he graduated from the Institute of Water Transport Engineers [3]. In 2015, serving as deputy director general of STD LLC, he ran for the City Duma of Nizhny Novgorod in electoral district No. 4 in Avtozavodsky District as a Communist Party (KPRF) candidate; his platform addressed the development of Avtozavodskiy Park without damaging its natural environment and the improvement of the Oka embankment [1][2][3].

Margolin described himself as a strict manager and attributed negative reviews from former employees specifically to his demanding standards [1][2].

I demand complete dedication from myself and from those who work with me. I have no tolerance for idlers, talkers, freeloaders, or thieves. Not everyone can meet such standards, and after being dismissed they start posting sob stories on the Internet.

— Andrey Margolin, NIA "Nizhny Novgorod", 2015 [1]

Products and points of sale

The company produced more than 150 varieties of confectionery: standard-production cakes, pastries, and cookies, as well as custom-made cakes [11][6]. The custom cake catalog included wedding, corporate, children's, and birthday cakes, as well as exclusive designs — "from classic to the most unconventional" [8]. In 2010, the website showcased as new arrivals a mirror-tray cake, a surprise cake, a cake with live flowers, and a dummy cake [9]. Among the standard-production cakes listed in 2008 were "Tsarskaya Okhota" (Royal Hunt), "Syrny" (Cheese), and "Cheesecake" [17].

The "Points of Sale" section of the website promised "any standard cake in 15 minutes" and allowed customers to find the nearest outlet in any of the eight city districts — from Avtozavodsky to Sovetsky [10]. In addition to supermarkets, the cakes were sold at the company's own kiosks and mini-markets [16]. In 2014, the company stated that its products had "repeatedly been awarded top-grade medals at all-Russian and Nizhny Novgorod competitions" [6]. Orders were taken by phone at 240-50-60 [6][28].

Working at the Company

On its website, the company listed the "advantages of working at Arkis": employment "at one of the leading companies in Nizhny Novgorod, in a team of true professionals," reliability toward employees and partners, training, professional development, seminars, workshops, conferences, and trade fairs, and "a dynamic and friendly corporate atmosphere" [12]. The production facility ran its own pastry school: a vocational training instructor led sessions in theory and technology directly on the shop floor — dough cutting, shaping, chocolate and cream decorations, and pattern work on cakes [13]. The "Work at Arkis!" section featured the story of a former packer — a trained musician — who had worked her way up to head production technologist in two years [14].

Former employees' accounts were contradictory. The author of a 2008 academic essay recalled working as a system administrator at the Andreyevsky store on Sormovskoe Highway for about two and a half months in 2003: twelve-hour shifts seven days in a row (and after his partner left, with no days off at all), wages delayed by nearly two months, frequent turnover of directors (four changed during that period), dismissed employees receiving only a portion of what they were owed, and a work record book returned with no entry for the time served; the queue for final pay, he wrote, numbered several dozen people [24]. In 2009, on the NN.RU forum in a thread titled "Arkis — a Drop of Honey in a Barrel of Tar," an employee who had worked at the company in a managerial position for about two months took the opposite view, defending the owner and explaining the high staff turnover by saying that "only weak people fail to fit in at the company"; the other participants in the discussion greeted her post with mockery [23].

On March 12, 2013, the Volga television company reported a strike by former employees of "one of the region's largest confectionery companies": several dozen people had been left without money after sudden dismissal, the workforce having been cut by new management. According to those dismissed, the official salary was small, with the remainder paid in envelopes; to get a comment, they had to "practically storm the office" of the firm [22]. The company's name was not mentioned in the segment; viewers in the comments connected the story to Arkis [22].

those who come to Arkis either leave immediately or stay for a very long time

— from the account of the chief production technologist on the company's website, 2009 [14]

Philanthropy

The company proclaimed the motto "Achieved success — help others!" and spoke of its sponsorship activities [15]. Arkis presented sweet prizes to the pupils of the Yubileyny youth sports and cultural center who won a football tournament at Gymnasium No. 180; cakes and pastries went to the residents of the regional center for social, occupational, and psychological rehabilitation of the visually impaired, Kamerat, and to the wards of the regional social rehabilitation center Brigantina [15]. The company described the smiles of children from the Solnyshko orphanage, to whom it had given a cake, as "the best reward of all" [15].

Demolition of a kiosk at Meschera Lake (2008)

In March 2008, Arkis became the subject of yet another campaign by the head of the Kanavinsky District administration, Nikolay Sataev, who had gained notoriety the previous year when a bulldozer under his direction demolished the canopy of a gaming arcade without the required documentation [16]. On March 14, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported how, on his orders, a bulldozer dragged a brand-new Arkis kiosk on Yesenin Street near Meschera Lake several meters through the mud, badly denting the roof; company representatives said they had persuaded the district head not to demolish the kiosk entirely — "it cost decent money, after all" [16].

The entrepreneurs claimed that the permits for the retail outlet were in the process of being obtained and would be issued any day, and complained of bureaucratic red tape. Vendors at the neighboring vegetable kiosk recalled that the company had been warned from the outset, and that the pavilion's foundation had been damaged before the demolition; local residents lamented the loss of the minimarket where they had bought pastries for their children [16]. Sataev stated that the company had erected three kiosks in Kanavinsky District without permits, and warned that if they were not removed by Friday, the administration would carry out the demolition itself [16].

The newspaper noted with irony that, by court order, the district head had already paid 1 million rubles out of his own pocket to the owners of a gaming arcade as compensation for a pogrom — to which Sataev himself responded that he "begrudged no amount of money for the sake of justice" — and suggested that one day grateful citizens might erect a monument to the uncompromising official, complete with his bulldozer [16].

I will always save the city from this bacchanalia

— Nikolay Sataev, Komsomolskaya Pravda, 14 March 2008 [16]

What a shame — we used to buy pastries for our children here!

— residents near Meschera Lake, Komsomolskaya Pravda, 14 March 2008 [16]

Mass cake poisoning (2008)

In June 2008, confectioners at NiKo-NN LLC produced a batch of "Arkis" cakes in which salmonella and staphylococcus were later detected [20]. Between June 5 and 10, mass cases of acute intestinal infection were recorded in Nizhny Novgorod, in Bor, and in Kstovsky District; all those who fell ill had eaten "Arkis" cakes purchased at various shops [19]. Komsomolskaya Pravda also cited Borsky and Lyskovsky Districts and Sarov among the affected areas, while Kommersant mentioned Arzamas; the number of hospitalizations stood at 32 as of June 16 according to some reports, and over fifty according to others [17][20]. Tests detected salmonella in employees of the confectionery workshop: Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that samples from six workers were examined, while the NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" news agency reported salmonellosis in 12 employees [17][18].

Deputy Director General of NiKo-NN Elena Orlova acknowledged the possible culpability of suppliers of cottage cheese or chicken eggs and promised to compensate for damages if the company's fault were proven; Deputy Head of the Regional Rospotrebnadzor Directorate Olga Knyagina responded that all tests on cottage cheese and eggs had come back negative [17]. NiKo-NN products were pulled from sale, Arkis retail outlets were temporarily closed, and sanitary services seized around three tonnes of confectionery goods [17][20]. Among those affected were newlyweds who were taken to an infectious disease hospital straight from their wedding, and a pregnant woman who had to undergo a caesarean section due to fears for her baby's life [20].

Marina Gulnyeva, the production manager of NiKo-NN, was charged under Part 1 of Article 236 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — violation of sanitary and epidemiological regulations resulting in mass illness through negligence; during the investigation she admitted guilt, but denied it at trial, claiming that the contaminated batch had been released outside her shift and that the company's executives should be held responsible [19][20]. The court found her guilty but released her from criminal liability due to the expiry of the statute of limitations: the investigation had lasted more than a year, and the case was then before the court for another year [20]. Many of the 57 victims filed civil claims for amounts ranging from 50,000 to 1,000,000 rubles; according to federal judge Zhanna Igoshina, the court awarded the victims 5,000 rubles each in moral damages, but by that time the company had been re-registered in Dzerzhinsk, making enforcement of the judgment uncertain [20][21].

Timeline of the Poisoning Case
DateEvent
5–10 June 2008mass cases of acute intestinal infection among buyers of Arkis cakes [19]
around 10 June 2008Rospotrebnadzor is aware of 47 victims, three of them children under 14 [17]
16 June 200856 people ill, 32 hospitalized [17][18]
17 June 2008criminal case opened under Part 1, Article 236 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation [18][19]
19 June 2008the Leninsky District Court found LLC "NiKo-NN" guilty under Article 6.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation and suspended its operations for 60 days [18][19]
24 March 2010the Leninsky District prosecutor's office referred the case to court; more than 50 expert examinations were conducted, 57 people were recognized as victims, including several employees of the manufacturer [19]
March 2011the court found the head of production guilty but discharged her from liability due to the expiry of the statute of limitations [20]

The insidiousness of salmonellosis is that contaminated confectionery products are indistinguishable from normal ones in taste, smell, and color

— Olga Knyagina, Rospotrebnadzor, Komsomolskaya Pravda, June 17, 2008 [17]

Everything there was set up so airtight — the LLC itself was registered in the name of a female security guard who stood at their gate. On paper, they were merely renting premises from Arkis on Lenin Avenue

— Main Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs for Nizhny Novgorod Region, Kommersant, March 22, 2011 [20]

Website and domain

The company's website operated at arkis-nn.ru (directories also listed arkis.nnov.ru, which hosted email addresses as well) [11][29]. In 2010 it was built in Flash with an HTML version and sections titled "About the Company," "New Arrivals!," "Points of Sale," "Custom Cakes," "Mass-Produced Items," "Vacancies," "Work at Arkis!," "School of Confectioners," "Contacts," and "Charity" [29]. By the end of 2014 the site had been updated, and by November 2016 it displayed the message "Site temporarily disabled, please try again later" [6][25].

The subsequent fate of the address is typical of abandoned domains from the Nizhny Novgorod Internet of those years: in 2019, arkis-nn.ru hosted third-party advertising pages for online casinos, and by 2024 the address showed a hosting placeholder [26][27].

Registration details and contacts (as of the 2010s)

See also

Sources

  1. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — interview with Arkis founder Andrey Margolin on the company's twentieth anniversary, August 13, 2015 — Andrey Margolin: "I have no patience for idlers, windbags, spongers, or thieves" (archive)
  2. lib-avt.ru — CBS of Avtozavodsky District, local history — reprint from the newspaper Avtozavodets no. 94, August 22, 2015 — Andrey Margolin: "We Need Transformation" (archive)
  3. Nizhny Seychas — candidate profile for electoral district no. 4, 2015 — Margolin Andrey Arkadyevich
  4. rusprofile.ru — Unified State Register of Legal Entities extract: LLC "Arkis", TIN 5258046930, 2003–2013 — LLC "Arkis" Nizhny Novgorod (TIN 5258046930)
  5. rusprofile.ru — Unified State Register of Legal Entities extract: LLC "Arkis", TIN 5260378996, 2014–2015 — LLC "Arkis" Nizhny Novgorod (TIN 5260378996) (archive)
  6. web.archive.org — Website of the confectionery company Arkis, arkis-nn.ru, home page, December 2014 (web archive) — Custom Cakes in Nizhny Novgorod — Arkis Confectionery (archive)
  7. web.archive.org — Arkis website, "Standard Products" section, 2010 (web archive) (archive)
  8. web.archive.org — Arkis website, "Custom Cakes" section, 2010 (web archive) (archive)
  9. web.archive.org — Arkis website, "New Items!" section, 2010 (web archive) (archive)
  10. web.archive.org — Arkis website, "Sales Locations" section, 2010 (web archive) (archive)
  11. ds52.ru — Business Network of Nizhny Novgorod — company card for LLC "Arkis, confectionery company" (archive)
  12. web.archive.org — Arkis website, "Advantages of Working at Arkis" section, 2010 (web archive) (archive)
  13. web.archive.org — Arkis website, "School of Confectioners" section, 2010 (web archive) (archive)
  14. web.archive.org — Arkis website, "Work at Arkis!" section, 2009 (web archive) (archive)
  15. web.archive.org — Arkis website, "Charity" section, 2010 (web archive) (archive)
  16. kp.ru — Komsomolskaya Pravda — on the demolition of an Arkis kiosk near Meschera Lake by order of the head of Kanavinsky District, March 14, 2008 (web archive) — Sataev Expelled the Confectioners from Meschera
  17. KP — Nizhny Novgorod — Komsomolskaya Pravda in Nizhny Novgorod — on a salmonella outbreak and the removal of cakes from sale, June 17, 2008 — Salmonella in Nizhny Novgorod: Dangerous Cakes Pulled from Shelves
  18. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Leninsky District Court suspended the operations of LLC "NiKo-NN", June 19, 2008 — Leninsky District Court of Nizhny Novgorod suspended the operations of LLC "NiKo-NN" for two months (archive)
  19. nta-pfo.ru — NTA-Privolzhye — prosecution referred the case of mass cake poisoning to court, March 24, 2010
  20. Kommersant (Privolzhye) — Kommersant (Nizhny Novgorod), Roman Kryazhev — outcome of the cake poisoning trial, March 22, 2011 — Infection Without Punishment (archive)
  21. r52.ru — R52.ru, Business Monitoring Agency — reprint of the Kommersant article, 2011 (web archive) — Infection Without Punishment
  22. volga-tv.ru — TV company Volga — report on the strike by dismissed workers at the confectionery factory, March 12, 2013 (web archive) — A Bitter Scandal at the Sweet Factory
  23. web.archive.org — NN.RU, forum "City Complaints Book" — thread about Arkis, July 2009 (web archive) — a drop of honey in a barrel of tar (archive)
  24. web.archive.org — Alexander Kitayev — essay "Innovations in Personnel Management" with recollections of working at the Andreyevsky store in 2003, 2008 (web archive) (archive)
  25. web.archive.org — Arkis website in shutdown mode, November 2016 (web archive) — Confectionery Company "Arkis" » Site Temporarily Disabled (archive)
  26. web.archive.org — Former Arkis website address now showing third-party advertising pages, July 2019 (web archive) — Admiral Casino (archive)
  27. web.archive.org — Former Arkis website address — hosting placeholder, June 2024 (web archive) — Domain Not Added to Control Panel (archive)
  28. arkis.nngrad.ru — Arkis reference card: address and phone numbers — Arkis, Nizhny Novgorod. Custom cakes (archive)
  29. web.archive.org — Arkis website, "About the Company" section, September 2010 (web archive) (archive)