When Arkady Novikov was a chef in a Moscow restaurant in Soviet times, he wanted ordinary people to enjoy his food. It was a revolutionary idea.

In that era of shortages, you could get the goods you needed only if you had status and knew the right people.

Novikov put a tasty mushroom and potato dish on the restaurant’s main menu, instead of holding it in reserve for the clients with clout. It was too much for his bosses and they dismissed him. This need to feed the masses has served Novikov well since then.

After Soviet rule collapsed in the early 1990s, he put his business acumen to work, opening a string of restaurants that swiftly became the top places to eat in the Russian capital. Now, he and his partners run a chain of 90 eateries with an annual turnover of $80 million. "I am not sure I am that good a cook, but I always wanted to do something, to achieve something," Novikov said, sitting in a newly opened restaurant, Spring, in central Moscow.

Novikov is now considered Russia`s top restaurateur in 1997, former President Boris Yeltsin took his French counterpart Jacques Chirac for dinner at one of his establishments. The former chef now rarely cooks, even at home, and says his hands have lost their old skill. But he has developed a unique talent for establishing restaurants that soon become the hottest place in town. "The Arkady Novikov brand can easily be called one of the most successful in the capital’s restaurant market in terms of quality and number of eateries," said Restoranniye Vedomosti, an industry magazine.

Rising disposable incomes mean more Russians can now afford the novelty of a meal out even in one of Novikov`s swankier establishments, like Sirena, where exotic fish swim under a glass floor.

Novikov has big plans for expansion but is down-to-earth about his ability to spot a winner. "How do I know what will be trendy next? How did I know what to put on today? I just looked in my closet and thought that jacket and this shirt match," he said.

His low-price restaurant chain, Yolki-Palki, which is famous for its home-made recipes, has branched out into a supermarket of the same name which sells salads and ready-to-eat dishes.

Despite having many irons in the fire, Novikov says the joy he gets from launching a new restaurant is what inspires him. "I don’t want to be the biggest in the restaurant business. I just want to create restaurants," he said.