Andrey Zinchuk

Date of Birth: 11.03.1972

Andrey Zinchuk - Ukrainian entrepreneur, founder and owner of the company 'Gewürz' and the brand Pripravka, which includes a variety of products in the categories of sauces, spices, and herbs.

Biographical description. Andrey Zinchuk was born on March 11, 1972, in Kharkiv. He spent his childhood in his hometown, received his school and university education there, and actively practiced wrestling and boxing.

Education. 1994 - Graduated from Kharkiv State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture with a degree in 'Automation of Technological Processes and Production' (1994). Andrey Zinchuk began his entrepreneurial activities while studying, at a time when such activities were just beginning in Ukraine.

1995 - Graduated from the Institute of Small Entrepreneurship. The education helped him gain the skills necessary for business in the areas of accounting and legal aspects of entrepreneurship.

2011 - Master's degree in Public Administration from the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine.

2013 - Andrey Zinchuk acquired new knowledge in areas such as financial work (program 'Finance for Non-Financial Managers'), investment activities (program 'Complete Set of Solutions and Business Processes for Significant Profit Increases Without Investments'), management and business administration (course 'Category Management: 8 Steps to Category Management as an Effective Business Process'), HR management (course 'Technologies and Algorithms for Searching and Selecting Qualified Specialists and Managers').

2015 - Entrepreneur Andrey Zinchuk continues his lifelong learning and completes training programs 'Basics of Psychometrics. Professional Personality Test', and 'Qualified Negotiator' course.

2016 - Participant in the educational program 'Export to EU Countries' (Austria).

Establishment and Development of the 'Gewürz' Brand. Andrey's main business project is the brand 'Gewürz'. The path to this business began in the 1990s. Andrey first began entrepreneurial activities in 1992 while studying at the university. Gradually, Andrey focused on spice trading and began sourcing from Europe - the Netherlands and Poland.

Production of his own products began in 2000. At that time, Andrey Zinchuk founded the private company 'SPS', rented a 200 m2 area together with partners, where the packaging of imported spices began. Four years later, in 2004, Zinchuk and his partners had the opportunity to purchase a 1000 m2 space and received the necessary permits to launch a full-fledged food production. Thus, the production of its own spices began. A year later, the brand 'Gewürz' was registered. For Andrey, it was crucial to produce only natural spices that contain no artificial ingredients such as flavors, colorings, enhancers, etc. This approach created a competitive advantage and allowed him to quickly win the hearts of consumers.

The high sales figures prompted the expansion of production. From initially 1000 m2 in 2006, the business grew to 15,000 m2 - exactly that much space was acquired on credit to build new production capacities. The production received international ISO 22000 certificates, confirming compliance with food safety standards.

The 'Gewürz' company not only increased production volumes but also maintained the status of an innovator in the Ukrainian market. In 2011, Zinchuk and his team launched a revolutionary spice product for the domestic market - the series of natural spices 'Culinary Masterpiece'. 'Gewürz' was the first company in Ukraine to involve the renowned chef Hector Jimenez-Bravo in the development of the new spice range, whom many Ukrainians know from the TV show 'Master Chef' on STB.

Since 2014, the company has been running the 'Pure Spices' program. This is an educational project managed directly by Andrey Zinchuk himself and the Top-Manager team. As part of the initiative, the procurement department and technologists of the company acquired additional knowledge to determine the quality of spices. They visited suppliers' production facilities to verify that they meet the high standards of 'Gewürz'. Until now, the company mainly controlled drinking water parameters set by Ukrainian law. But this was not enough to ensure that Ukrainians receive supplies of spices with the best organoleptic properties. Such standards are not regulated by Ukrainian law, so they were established based on global practices, European and international regulatory bodies.

Thanks to the travels of Andrey Zinchuk and his team to more than 100 factories in China, Vietnam, Mexico, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Georgia, and other countries, the company was able to significantly improve the compliance of its suppliers with the standards and achieve a new quality standard for products for Ukrainian consumers.

Based on the program, about 80% of the suppliers were changed, and almost all new partners are certified according to the strict standards of the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Additionally, 'Gewürz'