Business / agricultural and food industry
Exclusively from the fields of Slavonia
Mouth-watering world-class products with just a pinch of salt from the Adriatic sea!
The compelling story of how a brand and its wide range of products showcases the potential of what Croatian businesses can achieve. The synergy between the fields of Slavonia, farming, production plants, no compromise on quality, supported with creative messaging keeps their customers engaged. Their slogan is ‘We Believe in Good’ and they truly do – products do not contain soy, gluten, and have no flavour enhancers or artificial colours.
Tell us a bit about the inspiring story behind the Dobro (English: ‘Good’) brand?
DOBRO is a brand of dry-cured meats produced by Žito Group, the leading agricultural and food industry in the eastern part of Croatia – Slavonia. In Croatian, the word dobro means good, but it also means agricultural holding. For us, it means a piece of land on which we create products made up exclusively of good-quality ingredients. Our slogan is We believe in Slavonia, we believe in goodness, and that presents the essence of our business – doing good for the sake of our people and the whole region of Slavonia.
Slavonia is a fertile region that is often called the breadbasket of Croatia, but unfortunately, it is also one of the poorest regions with a massive outflow of young people. We want to show everyone that Slavonia is made of good things, and that is possible to stay and succeed. Slavonia has always been known for pig farming, and since our company is one of the biggest pig producers in Croatia, we wanted to add a new value and to round up the production cycle. That’s why we built most modern production plants in the region, where we produce prosciuttos, cured salamis, kulen, pancetta and other cured meats.
Everything about your products looks, feels, and says, quality is our trademark. Who is in charge of your branding and marketing?
DOBRO as a brand was formed four years ago by branding agencies Fabular and Bruketa & Žinić. We’ve nurtured and grown our brand in such a way that today, all marketing processes and activities are created and managed by the company’s internal marketing team.
Croatians, as many people around the world, love and appreciate their local brands which provide the feeling of belonging, security and connection with the land. Are you satisfied with the local demand?
We are currently selling to all the biggest retailers in Croatia, many hotels and restaurants but also since the Croatian market is rather small and saturated, we are building our path on foreign markets. Today we are exporting our products to several European countries and are working very hard to increase that number.
There are so many challenges in Croatian economy but what we see is that a good product finds its way? What would be your biggest challenge?
It is true that it is hard to find a way to success, but it is important to be persistent and to keep good quality. One of the challenges in the Croatian market are habits of Croatian consumers. They are very loyal to traditional tastes of cured meats and they, especially in Slavonia, prefer smoked, salty and spicy food. It was surprising when we, in the middle of Slavonia, started our production of Mediterranean type of prosciutto that is not smoked and is less salty than traditional ones. Today, we have many loyal consumers of Slavonian prosciutto and we proved that, with modern technology and domestic own-grown raw material, we can produce excellent prosciutto which is sold and praised across Europe.
Can you summarise the traceability process for our readers?
Traceability allows us to control the entire production process and ensure high quality of our products. In cooperation with our partners, we have almost 80,000 ha of arable land at our disposal. On our own fields, we grow raw material to produce animal feed in our factory Vitalka. Another agricultural branch developed within the company is livestock farming. It comprises eight pig breeding farms, three dairy farms, four farms of yearling cattle for fattening and two farms of laying hens. The feed produced in our fields is used to feed the animals bred on our farms. That way, production is kept in one place, which in turn enables us to manufacture products of high quality and distinctive taste.
What are the IFS and BRC certificates and why are they important?
IFS (International Featured Standard) Food and BRC (British Retail Consortium) Global Standard for Food Safety are GFSI recognised standards for certifying the safety and quality of food products and production processes. Those certificates help retailers to select and qualify their suppliers and today are used worldwide. They are also a guarantee for consumers regarding quality and food safety and that’s why we are very proud that we are certified with best grades in both standards.
Where to buy if holidaying or visiting Croatia?
We have a map on our webpage of all our stores where you can find DOBRO products – http://map.dobro.hr/
