The new plant will employ about 50 workers.
A new investor is moving into the Kukuljanovo industrial zone near Rijeka, which attracted investments worth up to 900 million kuna last year, reports Poslovni.hr on June 21, 2018.
The investor in question is Kaltenberg, a beer producer, which will open a production plant there. The 10,000-square-metre facility will host production, storage and distribution services. Ahead of the opening ceremony, the company announced that the new location was chosen primarily due to the quality of water, good transport links with Germany, and the possibility of fast logistics cooperation with the parent company.
The total value of the investment is 12 million euro, and Kaltenberg says that the investment in technology and equipment will enable them to produce between 30,000 and 50,00 hectolitres of beer per year. Since it is a modular building, the capacity can be increased up to 100,000 hectolitres. The brewery also has small boilers that will enable craft beer production. They plan to hire 50 workers, primarily people from the local area.
Last autumn, discussing the investment in Croatian operations, Prince Luitpold von Bayern, who manages the brewery, said he believed that the combination of local staff, with the help of those from the rest of Croatia and the world, would be excellent for fostering a positive work environment and good ideas. The company confirmed that it had received strong support from the local community and the industrial zone, which helped them realise the project that will put Rijeka on the beer map since it is currently one of a few large Croatian towns without a brewery.
Kaltenberg has been present in the Croatian beer market since 1994, producing beers under license, and it a business with 700 years of tradition. “We were once the leader in Dalmatia and we will try to prove ourselves again, but there is a major difference between the German and Croatian beer markets. In Germany, there is no market player with more than a 10% market share, while here three large brewers hold more than 80 percent. The market in Croatia needs to be developed more towards different beer styles, superior quality and individuality of beers, and we see our chance in that,” Prince Luitpold said at the time.
According to Kaltenberg Adria, the quality of beer will be guaranteed by a Bavarian master brewer whose experience will help them produce different tastes and types of beer in relatively small batches. They will also introduce a local lager to the market. The facility will include Ludwig’s gastro pub and a beer garden, with chef Markus Rosner being in charge of the gastronomic offer. Visitors will be able to go on a tour and see for themselves how the beer is produced.
Translated from Poslovni.hr.
