• Bakery School also opens its doors in Cluj-Napoca. All students from Cluj county who want to have a job when they finish high school, starting this year, have the opportunity to learn to become bakers, confectioners, pastry chefs or chocolatiers.
The Bakery School Romania project, which already opened, in 2020, a school in a dual system in Tărtășești commune in Dâmbovița county, has also expanded to Cluj-Napoca, after an investment of over 100.000 euros by the Puratos group in a collaboration center and development, dedicated to students from disadvantaged backgrounds who want to learn a trade, but also to specialists in the bakery and confectionery industry.
The first generation from Cluj-Napoca has 11 students from Technological High School no. 1 Tehnofrig, confectionary-pastry specialization, who will learn from the best teachers.
The Innovation Center, equipped with state-of-the-art professional equipment, aims to be a co-creation space between entrepreneurs and qualified specialists, a hub that sets the tone for new trends in the industry and, equally, provides inspiration, opportunity and added value to the professional development of those who learn at the Bakery School.
Most of the children enrolled at the Bakery School come from disadvantaged backgrounds, for which steps are taken, they are encouraged to continue their studies and choose a job, explained Gabriela Bereș, general director of Puratos Romania.
"We change the future of young people for the better"
"We wanted to bring the Bakery School to Cluj-Napoca since 2020 and we are very proud to have found resources to complete the investment in the new space. These 11 children from here, from Cluj-Napoca, who started high school at the Bakery School hoping for a better future for them, together with the 50 we have at the school in Tărtășești, Dâmbovița county, are the ones who are paving the way in the industry our for a qualified labor market for the next 30-40 years. We will continue to allocate resources for education in a sustained manner in the next 10 years and even expand such a school in other large cities in Romania, in such a way as to change for the better the future of young people and our professions'', stated Gabriela Bereș.
Olivier Tilkens, President of Northern & Eastern Europe of Puratos Group emphasized the fact that the Romanian branch of the Puratos group is the one that gave the greatest importance to this project, being the only country among the seven in the world where there is a Bakery School, which opened more than one such educational institution.
"Investment in communities and education is one of the long-term commitments of the Puratos Group, along with nutrition and innovative nutritious foods, sustainability and the supply of raw materials from local production, but also protecting the heritage that we pass on to future generations. Puratos understands the need in the labor market, a problem that we find worldwide in the bakery, confectionery, pastry and chocolate industry, I could say. We want to raise future trained employees who promote sustainability in their work, and protect the resources we have at our disposal'', stated Olivier Tilkens.
The project has the support of local authorities
The mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Mr. Emil Boc, who marked the moment by planting a swamp cypress tree, which lives up to 6.000 years.
"I especially wanted to be present here because what you are doing is also a priority for us - the mayor's office, the school inspectorate, the Romanian state as a whole - The priority is related to the development of dual education and through this collaboration, excellent as a model, between the school and Technological High School no. 1 and the company Puratos, which comes and adds the other part necessary for quality vocational education. It is a model of good practice that we support with all conviction in Cluj-Napoca. I want to congratulate these wonderful young people! You have chosen an extremely beautiful, creative job, and I am convinced that not many years from now you will have your own business and you will in turn train other young people to come and take your work further'', stated Emil Boc.
The project has full support from the Cluj County School Inspectorate, said Sorina Zirbo, specialist school inspector, present at the event. The director of the high school, Anamaria Pop, said that this dual system partnership is a unique opportunity for young people to regain the attractiveness of jobs.
"The opening of a Bakery School in partnership with our unit, Technological High School no. 1, we are proud and ambitious to offer everything we can to professionally train these students at another level, so that, upon graduation, we put the best specialists in the field on the labor market", said the director Anamaria Pop.
Bakery School is the first school in a dual system in Romania dedicated to the bakery, pastry, chocolate industry, established from exclusively private resources by Puratos Romania, part of the Belgian Puratos group, one of the most important global producers of innovative raw materials.
About Bakery School
This year, Bakery School Romania opens its doors to 61 students, of which 50 are from the Grigore Marin Năstase Technological High School in Tărtășești commune, Dâmbovița county, and 11 from the Technological High School no. 1 from Cluj-Napoca. In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Puratos launched the Bakery School with a class of 19 students. The total investment for the two Bakery Schools in Romania exceeds 350 thousand euros.
About Puratos
The Puratos Group is one of the most important global producers of raw materials for the bakery, pastry and chocolate industry. The company was founded in Belgium in 1919, with headquarters in Brussels, has over 9.000 employees in 71 countries, owns 63 production units and 88 innovation centers, offering customers quality and nutritional ingredients adapted to local requirements. Puratos products are sold in over 100 countries.
Puratos Romania offers raw materials for the food sector and specialized services to its customers in the industrial, craft and retail sectors through a network of 10 branches nationwide and through the two innovation centers, in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, intended for product testing and innovative ingredients. The company was founded in 1995, in Bucharest, currently having a production unit in Ilfov county, with three distinct production lines (margarine line, pastry and bakery powder line, respectively a line for fruit fillings, creams based on water and glazes) and 150 employees. Puratos Romania is one of the main players in the ingredients sector for the food industry, with an extensive product portfolio, including active and inactive yeasts, sprouted and infused grains in liquid yeast, Belcolade Belgian chocolate, fruit fillings, glazes, fine creams for desserts.
Puratos Romania Press Release, edited by Redaccia Arta Albă
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