Ukraine’s only inclusive bakery Good Bread is on the verge of closing

1 August 18:55

ANALYSIS FROM

Good Bread from Good People is an inclusive non-profit platform that supports people with mental disabilities. It helps them find stable jobs and develop professional culinary skills. The organization exists thanks to grants and charitable contributions, but now it is facing difficulties and needs support. Not only financial, but also partnership support. Otherwise, the only program of its kind in Ukraine may cease to exist.

Good Bread from Good People reported that in three months they may be forced to stop everything they have been building for years:

a bakery that employs 43 people with mental disabilities;

baking free bread for the frontline areas;

preparing hot meals for the homeless in Kyiv;

the opportunity to say “yes” to a new candidate who wants to leave the boarding school system.

We are not asking for donations. We are looking for people and businesses that are ready to stand by our side. For a long time. As partners. As those who see sense in this. Because without systemic support, we simply cannot survive. A socially important cause is expensive. But it’s worth it,” the organization wrote on its website in mid-July.

Within two weeks of the publication, Good Bread received support from individuals, offers from potential partners began to arrive, and there was hope for joint projects that would be beneficial to both the organization and the business. But the problems did not disappear completely. We talked to Natalia Shadrina, CEO of Good Bread, about them.

According to Natalia, the bakery needs about 1.5 million hryvnias per month to operate fully. Sources of income include grants, donations from individuals, and commercial activities. Today, the organization can only rely on the sale of its own products, which it is constantly improving to become financially independent.

We are not just a business – we are a social enterprise. And such enterprises have high costs. More resources are spent per unit of output because we involve more people than would be the case in conventional production. We produce fewer products, taking into account the characteristics of our employees. Our main goal is to socialize and adapt people with mental disabilities. Therefore, we cannot say that the commercial component can fully support us. Such initiatives are always supported either by the state through relevant programs or by large businesses for whom we can be a corporate social responsibility partner as part of their image or internal communication with employees,” explains Natalia Shadrina.

Good Bread actively cooperates with many large companies that order baked goods for the holidays. The team hopes that the number of partners will grow again, and orders will come in larger volumes.

We are more focused on making products for the corporate segment. We now sell our products online, on order, and deliver them via couriers or Nova Poshta. We have a small shop near the bakery at 2a Almatynska Street. Its advantage is always fresh bread, buns, and pies,” says Natalia Shadrina.

“At the same time, the organization collects donations from individuals and companies. For example, it offers a “volunteering for a donation” format: a team of volunteers comes to the bakery and bakes bread together with Good Bread employees. 80% of the production is used to provide free bread and hot lunches to those in need. You can also organize team building on a paid basis at the bakery. Or you can help financially by donating the necessary resources.

We strive to create event projects that are useful for both us and our partner. Sometimes they are financially beneficial, for example, through the sale of our products in a restaurant. Or the partner implements its own CSR program – if the company has a strategy to fight hunger, Good Bread can become its implementation. We serve hot lunches every day to people in Kyiv who need it. We cooperate with large volunteer organizations. For corporations, this can become a real, live, working project,” emphasizes Natalia Shadrina.

“For now, the main hope is for grant support. Since 2022, Good Bread has repeatedly received foreign grants, some of which amounted to $70,000. These funds were used to modernize production, purchase equipment, etc. All of these grants were foreign – the organization did not receive any government support.

If you want Good Bread to not only survive, but to work sustainably, become part of the movement. You can: