The brewery will open a production plant near Rijeka and invest 15 million euros.
Kaltenberg has been part of the Croatian beer market since 1994, producing beer under license, but is now constructing a brewery in Kukuljanovo near Rijeka. The company is managed by Prince Luitpold von Bayern, who inherited the family brewery with 700 years of tradition. The new location has been chosen due to the quality of local water, good traffic links with Germany, and the ability to receive quick logistical support from the parent company, reports Poslovni.hr on October 23, 2017.
“Rijeka is a major town without a brewery, and we saw a good opportunity to build the first brewery there. We have strong support from the community and the Bakar industrial zone, which helped us realise this project,” said Luitpold.
The investment includes the construction of a medium-sized brewery, which will at first produce 30,000 hectolitres of beers annually. Since it will be a modular project, the capacity will be able to reach as much as 100,000 hectolitres a year. The first phase of the investment is about 10 million euros, reaching 15 million euros with the expansion. They intend to open a restaurant and a beer house, which will be a gathering spot for everybody who loves top-quality beers and excellent food.
“We used to be the leader in Dalmatia, and we will again try to prove ourselves to consumers who enjoy almost the same quantity of beer as an average German. But, the major difference between the German and Croatian markets is that there are no players in Germany with more than 10 percent of the total market, while in Croatia the three major breweries hold more than 80 percent of the market. We believe that the market in Croatia should be developed more towards different styles of beers, superior quality and individuality of beer. That is where we see our chance,” said the prince.
They will enter the market with beers that will represent a range of Bavarian brewery styles. In addition to regular beers, they plan to offer craft beers and a lager beer which they will test with Croatian consumers.
Most of the 50 employees have already been hired. “We have an experienced Bavarian brewery master Sebastian Bauer, and we are also working with Damir Jandrić, who has enjoyed preparing homemade beers for years. We also have an excellent leadership of Damir Tomljanović, who has been in leading positions in the industry, and some of the other members of the management team have been locally employed as well, such as sales, logistics and finance. We believe that the combination of local staff with people from the rest of Croatia and the world is positive for working climate and the development of good ideas,” concluded the prince.
Translated from Poslovni.hr.
