Vincek, a cult Zagreb pastry shop, celebrated its 40th birthday on April 5, Zg Express reported.
Although Vincek has received various awards for their pastry and cakes, the Zagreb kremšnita remains the most popular type of pastry and something that the entire Vincek family is very proud of.
“When I first created the Zagreb kremšnita in the ’80s, I had no idea that it would be so popular. It is amazing to see that we sell more than 300,000 a year and that it is still the most popular cake in Zagreb. Of course I’m happy that we were the ones to create it,” Vincek owner Stjepan Vincek says.
Although this pastry with a crispy thin layer of chocolate has become a confectionery ‘evergreen’, innovation and new products and recipes never stop at Vincek. The whole family is in the business of pastry making: wife Ankica, two daughters, a son and their spouses. In fact, new types of pastries have been added to the offer a few days ago. One of them is a refreshing combination of apples and chestnuts and all the ingredients are homemade.
Quality ingredients have been a key element at Vincek and they have been working with a number of small producers over the years. To maintain the exceptional quality of their sweets, almost 50 tons of chestnuts is bought every year to make their superb chestnut puree, as well as over 10 tons of fruit and nuts for the preparation of other desserts.
“We have more than 100 employees and we offer more than 100 kinds of cakes and over forty flavours of ice cream. We have achieved this by working hard and investing in knowledge, technology and quality raw materials.” Stjepan Vincek says, recalling how he and his wife Ankica started a small family business in 1977, when the first Vincek pastry shop opened in Zvonimirova. Nowadays more than one million customers drop by to pick up a scoop of ice cream or pastry in one of their six shops in Zagreb.
The family is proud that they keep the tradition alive, but they also try to follow modern trends in nutrition. In the mid ’90s, they were the first ones to offer ice cream for diabetics, inspired by the story of a little girl who complained that she couldn’t find an ice-cream anywhere in the city.
Their latest pastry shop, with specialized products for curious customers and customers who have to follow their doctors’ orders opened in Tomićeva, next to the funicular. Desserts are gluten-free, sugar-free, or have stevia, dates, agave syrup or brown sugar as sweeteners, or they are prepared with rice, almond or soy milk. Some of them are made without eggs and cow milk, designed for vegans, and there are “raw-food” cakes, uncooked and unprocessed, based on of cashew nuts, almonds, agave syrup and fruit.
“Some of our employees have been with us for several decades and they are truly our foundation. We have also been cooperating with Zagreb and Zaprešić confectionery schools and secondary vocational school Slava Raškaj for several years now. Ten apprentices per year have a chance to see what modern confectionery business means and looks like in practice.” Vincek concludes.
