01 Job one: registration, labelling and customs
Registration comes first: EAC (Eurasian Conformity) product registration, compliant labelling, customs clearance and the certifications each food category needs. It takes time, so it belongs in the plan from the day you sign. When registration stalls, the shelf date slips with it.
Two things to establish with any Russian importer or distributor: who handles the registration, and who adapts the pack. Packaging that ignores the local shopper is one of the ordinary ways a launch fails.
02 Job two: the cold chain
For frozen and chilled products the chain has to hold from arrival to the store freezer, wherever in the country the store is. A break cannot be repaired afterwards. Ask who holds the stock and which logistics providers deliver to the chains you want. Our own coverage is national, from Moscow, through direct relationships with the logistics providers that serve the leading chains.
03 Job three: listings
Shelf space is decided by the buyers at the retail groups and the quick-commerce platforms. A distributor either holds those relationships itself or reaches them through someone else. Ask a Russian food distributor which chains it supplies today, by name, and what it does after the listing: a launch with no plan for demand fizzles.
Our own answer, for comparison: X5 (Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, Chizhik), Magnit, Lenta, Yandex Lavka, Samokat and VkusVill, and 15,000+ points of sale across Russia. Sales are tracked chain by chain, and each quarter the figures are reviewed with the brand.
04 Job four: getting paid
A foreign brand owner faces unpredictable payment flows and FX risk, and a sale is only finished when the money has reached the brand owner abroad. The questions are who collects from the chains, who settles with you, and who carries the risk in between.
CGC Global’s answer is its own operation in Russia, run under approved international structures and in full regulatory compliance. We control the chain from purchase order to payment collection: CGC collects from the Russian chains and settles with the brand owner abroad, and the payment risk is carried by CGC. That is what makes Russia reachable for brands that could not otherwise enter it.
05 Why the four belong with one distributor
Divide the four among different companies and each answers for its own part only. When a registration stalls or a payment is late, the launch as a whole belongs to nobody. One operation, from purchase order to settlement, means one party is accountable for all of it.
06 What sells
Our own read of the market: Russian shoppers favour functional drinks with a gut-health claim, high-protein snacks, premium frozen desserts, novelty confectionery and viral Asian formats. These categories suit both the palate and the margin; viral Thai snacks are a case in point. If your product sits outside them, get the distributor’s view before you commit to registration.
07 How long it takes
Allow 6–12 months from signing to shelf, with product registration and the cold-chain set-up included. The route has the same five steps as in any market we work in: scouting, import and regulatory work, logistics and cold chain, market entry, marketing and PR. In Israel it takes 3–6 months. If you are quoted less for Russia, ask what has been left out.
08 How CGC Global does it
When sanctions pushed most Western distributors out of Russia, CGC Global built its own food and beverage distribution there instead: registration and compliance handled in Moscow, and one operation from purchase order to settlement.
Franuí is the example: an Argentinian brand, produced at its plant in Spain, that we took into Russia on our own registration, cold-chain and payment infrastructure. That infrastructure is open to every brand we partner with.