Miory Regional Executive Committee
A chronicle spanning 90 years and time-tested recipes from hereditary bakers. This foundation of experience and folk traditions serves as a solid basis for a robust economic framework for bakery production.
The integration of modern technologies and a cohesive workforce further guarantees market success. Over the past three years alone, the Polotsk branch of JSC "Vitebskhlebprom" has invested approximately 2.5 million rubles in production development. As a result, since the beginning of the year, the growth rate of production output at current prices has reached 113.5 percent.
New Equipment to Assist
Together with Yuri Guboglo, Deputy Director of the Branch for Technical Affairs, we are reviewing recent acquisitions.
— The most significant purchase is a comprehensive mechanized line for bakery products production, — reports Yuri Georgievich. — It was installed two years ago. The new oven has not only noticeably improved product quality but also made it possible to expand the assortment. Baking speed has increased, which in turn has raised overall productivity. The cost of the line is considerable — over 2 million rubles. We would not have been able to afford it without a loan. Many innovations are also present in other divisions. For instance, a modern air-screw compressor has ensured energy efficiency of the process and improved quality — due to purified air used directly in contact with the flour.
...The clock shows nearly the end of the workday customary for all of us. Yet in the workshops of the Polotsk Bakery, which operates around the clock, it is the peak of pressing tasks. Unaccustomed to it, the aroma of freshly baked bread, yeast, cinnamon, and something else incredibly tasty makes one's head spin. Here they come from the conveyor one after another, practically like an avalanche, golden-brown loaves. One really wants to break off a piece of the crispy crust…
Shift foreman Liliya Kostetskaya permits tasting the fresh baked goods. Absolutely delicious!
— This is our signature bread, — the specialist explains, — the recipe is already over 20 years old. Visitors to the city take it as a souvenir delicacy and carry it hundreds, even thousands of kilometers away. Do you see the monument to Prince Vseslav the Sorcerer on the packaging? It stands in Polotsk at the intersection of Oktyabrskaya and Euphrosyne of Polotsk streets. To use the image on the label, we had to obtain official permission from the sculptor. But now our distinctive feature serves as a calling card of the city's historical chronicle.
There is little time for conversations. Throughout the night, sourdough preparers, dough makers, and bakers will be working to ensure that by three o'clock in the morning vehicles can be loaded. Each van carries a minimum of 15 items, a maximum of up to 60.
— First, we dispatch orders to closed institutions — hospitals, kindergartens, and schools. Then shipments go to retail chains, — the plant personnel say. — The schedule is very tight. So the new equipment —this is excellent support. Within literally just two or three years, the entire cycle was modernized — from raw material preparation to the release of finished products. Plans now include modernizing the yeast department.
Everything Under Control
New compressors, refrigerated cabinets and chambers, dough sheeting machines, dough mixers and dough dividers for baked goods, dosing syringes, and much more — all are utilized with maximum efficiency…
Straight from the conveyor belt directly onto the trays descend neat, narrow strips of cut dough. Plant workers place them side by side in groups of four. Just a short while longer — and out of the oven will emerge the popular buns favored by customers.
Production laboratory specialists also operate almost around the clock. Process engineer Svetlana Kuznetsova and microbiologist Tatiana Iotkova provide an overview:
— We carefully inspect both incoming raw materials and the final product at every stage of manufacturing. Alongside technologists, we develop new recipes. We analyze market demand, discontinue certain items, and introduce others. This is a continuous process, and demand, and consequently the financial stability of the enterprise, depend on its effectiveness. Currently, we are developing new types of hearth breads — with cranberries, dried carrots, and other ingredients. We continue to expand the range of extruded products as well.
Crispbreads represent a distinct specialization of Polotsk bakers, a niche that yields growing popularity and revenue for plant staff each year. At present, the enterprise manufactures 11 varieties of crispbread and seven types of confectionery strips. Despite sanctions-related restrictions, partners from the Baltic states continue to procure this product in Polotsk and ship it for retail across the European market.
Bread Economy
Daily, the Polotsk Bakery dispatches to customers approximately 20 tons of baked goods and about one ton of confectionery. Additionally, it produces more than two tons of crispbreads and breadsticks.
Since the beginning of the year, production output has increased by 35 tons compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. Revenue has grown by nearly 2.6 million rubles. These are excellent figures. This is particularly impressive given that two additional facilities have been incorporated into the Polotsk Bakery branch — smaller bakeries and the service zone of former district consumer cooperatives in Verkhnedvinsk and Miory.
— Naturally, the distances are considerable, overhead costs are substantial, and the material and technical base at these locations requires serious investment, — notes Yuri Guboglo. — Certain measures have already been implemented there, while others are planned. The main advantage is that we can now relieve the primary production line and avoid duplication in the product assortment. We strive to ensure that a clear distribution of responsibilities among all participants in the unified production chain eliminates disadvantages and guarantees consistent advantages.
Currently, approximately 430 employees work at the Polotsk Bakery, which daily supplies fresh products not only to residents of Polotsk and Novopolotsk, but also to the Miory, Verkhnedvinsk, Sharkoushchyna, and Shumilina districts, as well as to retail networks in Vitebsk and Minsk. Many of them represent multi-generational baking families, including hereditary bakers. For example, dough preparer in the shaping workshop Tatyana Melnikova works alongside her sister, Natalya Novikova, who operates the bulk flour storage system. There are also staff members who have taken over the positions of their parents, who originally guided them into this noble "bread-making" profession.
What has changed in the enterprise's operations following the tightening of sanctions? Specialists confirm: nothing. Flour was and remains domestically sourced. Purchasing dried fruits locally is also not a problem. There are no difficulties with other ingredients either. As for sales markets, practice shows that consumers who have already come to appreciate products from Belarusian manufacturers are never halted by borders, nor will they be in the future.