• Ivan Kukarskikh and Bogdan Panchenko – founders of Lucky Group


    Having traveled around Europe and gained experience, Bogdan and Ivan consciously moved towards the restaurant industry. Ivan opened the first BB Burgers project in 2013. Bogdan, helping his partner and close friend, was simultaneously engaged in supplying vegetables and fruits from Russian cities to large companies in the capital.
    In the fall of 2017, together with brand chef Glen Ballis, was opened a joint project Margarita Bistro on the corner of Malaya Bronnaya street.
    There are now 15 restaurants in the Lucky Group, which are united by values, attention to detail and most importantly – hospitality. In addition to restaurants, Lucky Group develops the areas of events, catering, training services and merch.
  • Pavel Polyakov – CEO


    "I am convinced that people are the main inspiration and value in any business. Our guests are the personification of our team and vice versa. If you do everything for people, it will come back to you like a boomerang."
    He started working as a busboy at the age of 17, at 21 he got his first experience as a manager, worked in senior positions in well-known companies. Pavel joined Lucky Group team in 2020, was in the position of head manager of EVA, KOJI, Maya projects and headed the company as an executive director in 2022.
  • Dmitry Volkov – COO


    Dmitry started his career in restaurant industry in 2010 from a waiter's assistant position in the restaurant chain "Coffemania", where he worked for 8,5 years, having gained extensive management experience in staff training and management. Dmitry has opened the Greek restaurant Eva, Russian cuisine restaurant Niki. Then he worked as a territorial manager of Niki, Eleven, All Day. The main thing in work is the team, where everyone shares the same life values, loves their work, loves people and enjoys what they do.
  • Glen Ballis – Brand chef


    Born in Australia, upon finishing culinary school, Glen worked eight years domestically before moving to Southeast Asia, where he spent the next twenty years fine tuning his trade, before moving to London. In 2006, he was offered a position to open a restaurant in Moscow and he never looked back. From there, he has positioned himself as a business partner with some of Moscow's top restaurants, renowned for their delicious tastes and eclectic styles. In addition, Ballis owns three restaurants in Singapore, which are managed by his son.
  • Maxim Gorelik – Chef Bartender


    Has been in the industry for 10 years. He started his career in Krasnoyarsk (2011-2012), then worked in bars in St. Petersburg (2013) with the future founders of the Imbibe bar. In 2014 he moved to Moscow and worked at one of the first Speak Easy in Russia - Jack Rose, then joined the team of Bruce Lee Bar (former Belka Bar), where six months later he became a bar manager at the age of 22. In 2016, he had experience in bar consulting, and at the beginning of 2017 he joined the team of opening the Cevicheria restaurant. In mid-2017, he received an offer to open a new project Margarita Bistro as a bar manager. A year later, he opened Lucky Izakaya Bar, afterwards - Eva and Loro, thereafter he became the chief bartender of the new restaurant group Lucky Group.

    Since 2017 he is also part of the Bacardi - Martini family. Since September 2017, he was the trade ambassador of Bacardi - Martini in Moscow. Since January 1, 2022, he has been the Patron tequila brand ambassador in Russia and Eastern Europe.

    Included in the Top 10 Russian bar managers according to Barproof 2017-2018 and the Top 3 Russian bar managers according to Barproof 2019-2021.

    Now he is a speaker at various restaurant and bar venues in Russia, such as the Roman Toroschin Training Center, Gastreet Show, Moscow Food Academy.

    The ideologist of the educational bar community at Lucky Group - Lucky Bar Skills.

  • Bakhtiyar Shamsiev - Chef


    He started his career in 2008 at the Vanil restaurant, after he worked at Bolshoi and Probka on Tsvetnoy. In 2019, he became part of the Lucky Group team, and since the opening of the Eva restaurant he went from the sous-chef to the chef. He believes that the main thing in his work is to see guests who return to the restaurant again and again.
  • Oleg Safarov - Bar-manager


    Acquaintance with the restaurant industry began in 2012 from the position of a waiter. After moving to the bar counter, he worked in the Mumiy Troll Bar and the Hungry-Angry projects. Experience in the "Martinez" and "Dry & Wet" cocktail bars allowed to delve into both – the knowledge of the classics and work with modern equipment. After that, he became part of the Greek restaurant Eva, where he went from bartender to bar manager. He considers that Gin and Tonic is the best drink in any weather, and Arthur Conan Doyle is the best writer of his time.
  • Egor Orlov - Sommelier


    He started his career with practice in 2010, studying to be a chef, then worked in his specialty until 2014. He tried his hand at various positions: waiter, bartender, administrator. In search of a dream profession, he plunged into the study of wine. After graduating from the Enotria course, he became part of the team of the restaurant "Foreigners". In October 2021, he joined the Lucky Group as a sommelier of the Greek restaurant Eva. In his work, more than anything he values the exchange of emotions with guests and their sincere smiles, as well as a team of professionals who enjoy what they do.

© Eva, Bolshaya Gruzinskaya St 69