They’ve already conquered Germany, Sweden and Switzerland, next stop – China
Croatian delicacy čvarci or pork cracklings are an integral part of any good celebration in Slavonia and the rest o inland Croatia, and according to the report sent by Frelimo, Croatia’s largest producer of pork cracklings on December 16, 2015, and as published by Poslovni dnevnik, their product is about to conquer China.
Felimo sold over 43 tonnes of čvarci last year and are already exporting to Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. Owner, Miroslav Mataušić just returned from Shanghai and the impressions from one of their largest food expos are so good that he has already started obtaining all necessary licenses and certificates for export to China “The trip to China was extremely successful and we are already testing new packaging, something that’s never been seen before when it comes to this type of product. So far, wherever we presented out product people were very impressed by čvarci. We realized that urban population and young generations love this traditional Croatian product so we came up with a more upscale version, pork cracklings where all the fat is drained off during production so they look like thin wafers and are ideal as a modern snack” says Mataušić.
Most of their time and effort is spent selecting the perfect raw material. Given that Croatia does not produce enough pork, they tested meats in Austria, Spain and Hungary, but ended up finding the best possible meat for what they were trying to do in Denmark.
“We’ve never received a single Kuna of government incentives. I’m guessing those are only reserved for big companies with millions to spend on advertising and promotion, and not for small companies and trades to which even the smallest incentive could mean the difference between survival and closure. We owe our success to our own hard work and our strong belief that we could in fact become the largest producers of pork cracklings in Croatia” says Mataušić adding that he will never apply for incentives given out by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Trade because all these stories about the State helping small and medium businesses are nothing more than stories in his opinion.
Frelimo pork cracklings and pork fat have already received several prestigious international awards, and since Croatia still doesn’t have a competition which grades pork cracklings, even though čvarci are our national delicacy, they sent samples to the International Taste and Quality Institute in Brussels. Judges panel comprised of culinary greats and Michelin star chefs awarded their pork cracklings and pork fat with the Superior Taste Award for taste and quality.
Now we’ll keep our fingers crossed and wish them all the best in their newest adventure in China.
