A year ago, in the wake of the beginning wave of sanctions as a result of the events of the Crimean spring, Oleg Sirota, an entrepreneur near Moscow who had previously been in the IT business, saw a chance to realize his old dream – to get into agriculture and to revive the ancient and glorious traditions of cheese making in Russia. Oleg’s project immediately thundered across the country, and not only because it fell into the current of the fashionable topic of import substitution; but also because the goals for this project were extremely ambitious for a young and little-known entrepreneur – not only to replace some of the varieties banned for import, but also to establish the production of the most demanding and difficult hard-aged cheeses. Among them no less the famous Parmesan. In accordance with this special feature, the project received its official name: “Russian Parmesan”.
From the very beginning we followed the progress of this project with great interest, which was not difficult, since Oleg organized detailed step-by-step coverage of the entire process on his pages in LiveJournal and on the Vkontakte network. Well, the fact that the Russian Parmesan cheese factory under construction was located in the same Istra district of Moscow region where our plant is located made us interested in this project.
Oleg Sirota wanted to coincide with the opening of his unusual cheese factory on the anniversary of the announcement of the first sanctions, and a few days before that date, a delegation from the Biozevtika company, consisting of the founder and general director, visited the facility under construction to see on-site progress of things and get to know Oleg. I must say that the object was built literally from scratch, that is, literally, in an open field, and it was built at an amazingly accelerated pace, reminiscent of the first five-year plans of Soviet industrialization. Nevertheless, we saw a system that was still actively under construction and installation and which by no means gave the impression of being ready to start in a few days. Oleg assured us that everything would be ready for the official launch, but it was hard to believe.
Our surprise was all the greater when, a few days later, at the official opening ceremony, we found a completely finished system with installed and adjusted devices, in which the first products were already being produced. Well done, Oleg!
By the way, contrary to the prevailing stereotype about Russian officials, the administration of the Istra district not only did not put obstacles in the way of the Russian parmesan project, but, on the contrary, actively helped it. Well, the head of administration, Oleg Dunaev, personally did a lot to ensure that the project was carried out and the deadlines set for it were met.
At the opening, all guests were invited to taste the first products of the cheese factory – mozzarella cheese and yoghurts, which made a very positive impression on everyone present with their quality and aroused great interest among the representatives of local trade who were present. So far, of course, Parmesan itself has not been offered for tasting – the ripening period of such cheeses is 1-2 years, so only tomorrow we can judge how this iconic product turned out in the result. But no matter, everything has its time. The main thing is that the business lives and develops, and then the hands will reach the parmesan.
Sincerely and with all our hearts, we congratulate Oleg on the successful completion of the first stage of his bold project and wish Russian Parmesan further development and prosperity! We also hope that the first successes of Oleg Sirota and his project will inspire other young entrepreneurs to implement their equally brilliant and interesting ideas.
For those who want to know more, links to Oleg Sirota’s blog and his Vkontakte group:
http://olegsirota.livejournal.com
Well, finally, a Roy TV report from the grand opening ceremony of the Istra Cheese Factory “Russian Parmesan”.