Cherkizovo Group and Smenka announce winners of the school canteen renovation competition

Cherkizovo Group and Smenka, an initiative and YouTube show, have completed a competition to renovate school canteens. Three schools from Bashkortostan, the Orenburg and Chelyabinsk regions won the contest. As early as next year, the schools' students will be able to have lunch in new modern interiors designed to help them learn the basics of healthy eating and personal hygiene.

Cherkizovo and Smenka announced the results of a school canteen renovation competition that started in October. Schools from the 18 regions where the Company operates were invited to take part. A total of 195 applications were received, of which 48 schools made it to the finals.

“We have been holding this competition for the second year in a row. Last time, we picked three schools from a few hundred applicants: two from the Penza Region and one from Altai. The genuine joy on the faces of children and teachers, when they saw the renovated premises, testify to the project’s success. This reaction left us no doubt: we will continue to renovate other school canteens in the Russian countryside that need it,” said Vsevolod Gribchenkov, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development at Cherkizovo Group.

This time around, another three educational institutions have won the contest. It is school No. 4 in Blagoveshchensk (Bashkortostan) of 1,400 students. Another winner is a school in the village of Ishalino (Argayashsky District, Chelyabinsk Region), which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. It now accommodates 560 students. School in Novosergiyevka town (Novosergiyevsky District, Orenburg Region) of 520 students also won the competition.

The winning schools will be renovated in 2024. Cherkizovo’s funds will be used to revamp the premises and replace tables, chairs, and tableware, decorate the walls, and retrofit the cafeterias. Information boards will be available in the renovated canteens, covering the basics of healthy and nutritious diets and personal hygiene. These materials were developed jointly with experts from Rospotrebnadzor’s Healthy Eating and Sanprosvet awareness projects, where Cherkizovo Group acts as a partner.

“Creating awareness among young audiences is a top priority for our Healthy Eating initiative. Displaying educational materials designed by Rospotrebnadzor experts in the renovated canteens is a great way to bring important information about healthy eating and hygiene to children’s attention. Following our first joint campaign to renovate canteens with Cherkizovo Group, we received a lot of positive feedback from children, parents, and school governing boards. This time, the competition’s geography is wider, and even more Russian schools have had a chance to renovate. I am convinced that the second stage of the initiative will be successful and as early as spring 2024, children will have breakfast or lunch in bright, splendid, and comfortable premises,” commented Yekaterina Golovkova, a Rospotrebnadzor expert, Deputy Head of the Center for Hygienic Education of the Population, and information supervisor of the Healthy Eating project.

“It is not just about renovating: we want to reshape the conventional notion of canteens and show what impact space and interior have on the desire to go to school and remain on the premises. We demonstrate that cool, modern schools can be located not only in million-plus cities, but also in small villages,” commented Arina Nuriakhmetova, a co-founder of Smenka.

Rospotrebnadzor’s Healthy Eating project is run as part of the Demography national project and the Public Health Improvement federal project, and Sanprosvet is part of a federal program titled “The Sanitary Shield of Russia: Prevent, Identify, Respond”. Cherkizovo Group is a partner for both Rospotrebnadzor projects.