Who feeds schoolchildren in St. Petersburg, RBE Group received contracts for school meals in St. Petersburg – April 26, 2024

A new character has fully established itself in the established school meals market in St. Petersburg – a large Moscow company working with Russian Railways and the Ministry of Defense. RBE Group will feed children in the Primorsky district. The fight was hot.

Bidding was announced in November 2023. But due to numerous complaints from participants, it was not possible to conclude contracts for five months. Thus, competitions for organizing catering in 40 schools in the region were suspended in the amount of more than 700 million rubles. During the legal proceedings, contracts were concluded with a single supplier through an electronic store. This simplified scheme made it possible not to disrupt the work of school canteens.

As follows from the government procurement website, the results of 20 competitions were canceled several times. First, based on the results of reviewing the protocols, the Yaroslavl “Social Catering Plant” won. After a complaint from the participants, the results were declared invalid, and by mid-March, a St. Petersburg supplier with extensive experience, the Artis Baby Food company, became the leader. But no contracts were concluded with him either, and the results of the auction were canceled again.

The press service of the Federal Antimonopoly Service for St. Petersburg clarified that after complaints from bidders, specialists identified violations related to the notification procedure and bid evaluations. The administration of the Primorsky district issued instructions. “The case materials were transferred to the authorized official of the St. Petersburg OFAS Russia to consider the issue of initiating cases of administrative offenses against the perpetrators,” the press service added.

By mid-April, the winner of 22 competitions was the Moscow catering giant RBE Group. Judging by the fact that no new complaints have been received regarding the results of the bidding, contracts worth more than 300 million rubles will be concluded with this supplier.

“Currently, schools are carrying out the procedure for concluding contracts with the winning caterer, since in accordance with the norms of the current legislation, after summing up the results, a moratorium of at least 10 days must be maintained. Contracts will be concluded on the terms established by customers in procurement notices (draft contracts) in early May 2024,” the Primorsky district administration said.

Another 18 competitions remain without contractors; complaints regarding them are being considered.

Several St. Petersburg suppliers and two from the regions competed for contracts in the Primorsky region. A representative of the Artis Baby Food company noted that the development of a competitive environment only benefits other participants. Already this year, according to SPARK, Artis has concluded more than 250 contracts with kindergartens, schools and hospitals in St. Petersburg.

“We have no complaints. The FAS decision is correct there. It is uniform,” a company representative noted in a conversation with Fontanka. — Where we believe that our rights have been violated, we take care of them. We have no complaints here.”

According to the director of the Yaroslavl “Social Catering Plant”, deputy of the regional Duma Maxim Vakhrukov, his company was submitted for auction not only in the Primorsky district, but also in Vasileostrovsky. The company operates in Volgograd and the Vladimir region; it was not possible to conclude contracts in St. Petersburg.

“I can’t say that we somehow counted heavily on this. The market in St. Petersburg has always been very specific. We wanted to see if something had changed. No, nothing has changed. The criteria are very subjective,” Vakhrukov commented. “Our RBE is now the new Concorde.” They succeed in a lot of things, they have such opportunities, we don’t.”

After the death of the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the companies of the Concord group were transferred to the trust management of the son of the businessman Pavel. This is the largest asset of the St. Petersburg entrepreneur; he earned 80 billion rubles from supplying food to the army. In 2016, Prigozhin and Concord were considered an almost monopolist on the school food market in Moscow. In 2021, Muscovites tried to enter St. Petersburg, then the city reformed the school nutrition market, changing the conditions for participation in the auction. As a result, the head of the social services department, Alexei Barabanshchikov, was detained and criminal cases were initiated; in court, the process ended with a fine.

The catering giant RBE Group, founded by Samara entrepreneur Andrei Shokin, entered the school meals market in St. Petersburg for the first time. The company’s press service did not answer Fontanka’s questions. The contracts state that the provision of the service must be in the catering unit of the customer, that is, the school. A branch of the RBE Group has been created in St. Petersburg, registered in the Alexandro-Nevskaya Manufactory business center; employees are also actively recruited, for example, to work as stewards on the Lastochka – the company works with Russian Railways and feeds passengers of high-speed trains, including Sapsan.

As Kommersant wrote, after the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, RBE Group returned contracts with the Ministry of Defense, which it had once been unable to defend to the Concord Group of Companies. Details and total amount were not specified. However, the fact that work is underway on them can be tracked by appeals to the Arbitration Court.

In 2024, Voentorg JSC filed 20 claims against RBE Group. The company wants to collect fines under contracts in amounts ranging from 160 to 640 thousand rubles. Some claims have already been satisfied. Thus, one of the decisions indicated that the customer’s claims related to the organization of catering in the canteen of the GVKG im. N. N. Burdenko” Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. According to it, the Moscow Arbitration Court imposed a fine on the contractor in the amount of 632,866 rubles.

Another decision talks about specific violations that the contractor committed: the portions in the canteen were 16% lighter than military food standards require, buckwheat was served warm (44.0°C instead of at least 65°C), also after one of lunches, the universal kitchen machine was not washed. For these violations, the court imposed a fine of 166,907 rubles. It is worth adding that Voentorg, in principle, is very actively suing its counterparties. Last year, the company filed 438 claims; this year, 72 claims were recorded.

Lena Vaganova, Fontanka.ru.