The Vegetable Oil “Avedov” from the Avetyan Brothers

It all started when brothers Hovhannes and Stepan Avetyan moved from Persia to the Russian Empire in early 1890 and settled in the North Caucasus in the city of Arzamas, which had a significant Armenian population.

Here, having correctly oriented themselves and manifested their unique business and trade skills, they bought a loss-making vegetable oil plant from local producers in 1894.

Within a short time, the brothers rebuilt and reequipped the purchased plant. The business would progress successfully, and soon, the vegetable oil under the brand “Avedov” would become famous in the shops of big cities.

In 1899, the brothers’ company Avedov-Avetyan expanded the production of vegetable oil in Yekaterinodar (now Krasnodar), building a large-capacity plant that employed more than 400 workers and produced nearly 90 thousand pounds (40,823 kilograms) of oil per day. The Avedov-Avetyan company became the largest producer of vegetable oil in Russia.

Soon, Hovhannes (Ivan) Avedov moved to Yekaterinodar and Stepan to Rostov-on-Don. However, the headquarters of the company remained in Arzamas. As of 1915, Hovhannes Avedov had become a major industrialist and had acquired seven factories in Armavir and Yekaterinodar with a capital of two million rubles.

Note that before the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, the vegetable oil of the brand “Avedov” was considered the benchmark of quality. It is also known that after the nationalization of the entire Russian production as a result of the revolution, Hovhannes Avedov left for France where he would establish a taxi service.

Ruben Shukhyan