Proton Bakers Turns 60, Still Counting T’S a Milestone! 60 Years of Baking the Best of the Erning Laws Meant He Couldn’T Best
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NewsDay | Friday June 25 2021 P01 Celebrating 60 Years of baking The Best of Best... Proton Bakers turns 60, still counting T’S a milestone! 60 Years of Baking The Best Of The erning laws meant he couldn’t Best. expand the business in town and The origins of the com- so purchased a piece of land in pany the Marondera industrial area. It IThe family-owned Proton Bak- was not long before his business ers was established in Maronde- was developing into a large com- ra 60 years ago. The bakery was pany. The present bakery, Proton founded by Peter Tselentis born Bakers was built from scratch in on the Greek Island of Kefalonia. 1959 driven by Tselentis’ long- He left Greek at the age of 13 term plans for his bakery. to find employment to assist his Bread soon became the core family who could not make ends business at Proton, and with in- meet. Tselentis arrived in Zimba- creased competition from Hara- bwe in 1947 and worked for sever- re based bakeries, he decided to al bakeries in Harare where his purchase a plant with a capac- entrepreneurial spirit was driv- ity of 900 loaves an hour. He in- ing his passion for work. stalled a Baker Perkins plant ln 1947, he left Harare to settle with a single burner turbo radi- in Marondera where he worked ant oven. for the Model Bakery which was In those days such an extrav- owned by the Vandoros broth- agant purchase was complete ers, Anthony and Gerasimos, who madness! also owned a general dealing com- Mutare Bakery to be completed in it and gave him the opportunity become the sole owner of Model However, Tselentis was com- pany. 1951, Tselentis found employment to rent Model Bakery from them. Bakery. In time, Tselentis would mitted to the bakery’s success, After working at The Model at the original London Bakery in He left Mutare Bakery to settle buy out Standard Bakery situated so much that there were many Bakery for four years, Tselentis Rezende Street, where he worked in Marondera. Tselentis ran the in Marondera as well. nights when he slept in the was approached to run a new bak- as a baker and confectioner. In business successfully for a couple Although Tselentis recognised bakery to monitor the bakery ery, Mutare Bakery for the Zam- 1953, the Vandoros brothers rec- of years before he offered to buy there was great potential for ex- belis family. While waiting for ognised his entrepreneurial spir- out the Vandoros brothers and pansion, the municipality’s gov- TO P02 P02 NewsDay | Friday June 25 2021 PROTON @ 60 SUPPLEMENT Proton Bakers turns 60, still counting FROM P01 Harare and Bulawayo depots. Pro- operations. ton Bakers now have representation Running the bakery was hard dur- nationally through the various retail ing those difficult days — there were and wholesale partners. shortages of plant equipment and Proton Bakers is driven by inno- raw materials. Suppliers such as vative culture which has seen the Rhodesian Milling (National Foods introduction of the Proton caramel Limited) were supportive of his busi- crunch cookies and the Proton choc- ness, as were many other suppli- olate select cookies to bring a smile ers. Strong relationships and loyalty to the consumers. Another highly-in- were formed and are still in place to novative product, the Proton sponge this day. cake mix was introduced in Decem- In the late 1970’s, Spooner ovens ber 2020 well in time for the Christ- were allowed to be manufactured un- mas baking period. Goldtech Electronics congratulates Proton bakeries der licence in Zimbabwe. Tselentis The consumers are highly-satisfied purchased a B900 Spooner oven ca- with this product and have brought on their momentous achievement of pable of 900 loaves an hour to com- a lot of relief to domestic and indus- plement the existing Baker Perkins trial bakers who used to rely on im- 60 successful years in business. plant, which could not meet demand. ports. Over the past 60 years, the com- This Spooner oven is still in oper- pany has been refreshing its brand to ation and is currently used as a con- adjust and adapt to the ever-changing fectionery plant. In these times bak- consumer needs. This has led to the ing equipment — other than Spoon- company being recognised through er ovens — was difficult to source in various awards including top posi- Zimbabwe. Tselentis and Pat Cody an tions in the Marketers Association of expert engineer, spent three months Zimbabwe Super brands, Exception- looking for old equipment in the al Marketers Awards, the Buy Zimba- United Kingdom. bwe campaign awards, The CEO Afri- They managed to source a plant ca Round Table as well as Mega Fest with a loaf capacity of 1 600 per Business awards. hour, from Cork and Jersey Island. The company product range has The plant was exported to Zimbabwe grown over the past 60 years to in- and fully reconditioned in Harare by clude a wide range of bread, confec- Congratulations ! Makorokoto ! Amhlope ! Cody between 1979 and 1981. tionary, cookies and sponge cake mix. This same entrepreneurial flair re- These include: mains in the new generation of the Proton superior white loaf Tselentis family with Peter’s vast ex- Proton superior wholemeal loaf perience as a strong foundation cas- Proton superior seeded loaf caded to the new generation of man- Proton burger buns agement led by Gerry and Spiros Tse- Proton twisted rolls lentis. The organisational structure Proton mini rolls, has also revolved to adjust to the cur- Proton sweet buns rent business environment. This has Proton hot cross buns resulted in enhanced competitive- Proton jumbo buns ness and following an ambitious busi- Proton candy cake ness growth strategy. Proton ramba waraira crunch A strong sense of pride and pas- cookies, sion was instilled in the family busi- Proton caramel select cookies, ness and this will continue to be cas- Proton chocolate select cookies caded to the new generation of lead- and ership driven by high quality expec- Proton sponge cake mix. tations across all aspects of product Proton Bakers would like to thank and service delivery excellence. all the customers and key stakehold- How company developed to be- ers who have made the 60-year jour- 7 Kuwirirana House, George Silundika Ave, Harare come national force ney possible. Tel: 0242 773815/ 0772 913 821 www.goldtechelectronics.co.zw Proton Bakers head office is in Their support is enough motiva- Twitter : @ GoldtechZim Marondera where all the manufac- tion to drive the Proton brand for an- Facebook: Goldtech Electronics turing takes place and then distrib- other 60 years and beyond of provid- Instagram: goldtechelectronics utes its products through the ing the best of the best products. NewsDay | Friday June 25 2021 P03 PROTON @ 60 SUPPLEMENT President tours Proton President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga during a tour of Proton Bakery in Marondera in November last year RESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga last November toured Proton Bakery in Maraondera where they were briefed on the operations of the business by Pchief finance officer Kelvin Mundeta. Mundeta indicated that the company has in- stalled capacity of 140 000 loaves a day and is op- erating at 78% of capacity. “The company has been constrained by a short- age of wheat in the country considering that the company requires 60 tonnes of flour to operate at full capacity,” he said. Proton Bakery, however, lauded efforts being made by the government in stabilising the coun- try’s economy, particularly the introduction of the foreign currency exchange system which has played an important role in economic stability. “The introduction of the foreign exchange auc- tion market has brought stability and sanity to the markets and thus has enabled us to source raw materials and machinery spares. The reduc- tion of corporate tax from 25% to 24 % togeth- er with value-added tax reduction from 15% to 14,5%, help the business to retain funds to contin- ue funding its working requirements,” he said. The company also commended the government for bringing peace and stability which is enabling National Employment Council businesses to operate without hindrances and in- terferences. “Reduction of electricity power cuts which for have significantly reduced the cost of expensive back-up power, the pro-business policies by the Food and Allied Industries government make the macro-economic environ- ment more predictable and planning easier.” Proton employs in excess of 1 000 people and re- quires lots of wheat to ensure the business runs throughout the year. Mashonaland East prov- ince is better positioned to increase the produc- tion of wheat in the country. This year, Zimbabwe expects to achieve 250 000 tonnes of wheat, more than doubling last year’s production and thus inching nearer the goal of national wheat self-suf- ficiency. Mnangagwa noted with satisfaction that funda- mentals in the economy were in place. He also noted that 2020’s wheat production had moved from three months national supply to over eight months of national needs, with prospects of reaching national self-sufficiency in the next three years owing to expanded irrigation capac- ity. The National Employment Council for Food and Allied Industries would like to congratulate Proton Bakeries (Pvt) Ltd for attaining 60 years since inception. You are truly a valued associate and may you continue the journey of success with pride! Head Office Family Villas Regional Office No. 1 Sunderland Avenue 170 Robert Mugabe Road, 1-1A Fife Street P.O Box 1313, Belvedere, Harare Eastlea, Harare P.O Box 1748 Tel: +263242 2900109 / 772625/6 Tel: +263778918/ 924/931 Bulawayo Website: www.necfood.co.zw Website: www.familyvilla.co.zw Tel:+263292886336/7 P04 NewsDay | Friday June 25 2021 PROTON @ 60 SUPPLEMENT Bakeries usually need to obtain permits, and may be subject to inspection About the bakery industry? HE bakery industry wholesale or retail bakeries.