Kravica Kraljica – Belje’s new dairy brand
27. April 2021.With its new brand, Kravica Kraljica, Belje has introduced a new line of milk and dairy products produced at the dairy plant in Osijek, where the company continued upon a tradition of seventy years of locally produced dairy products after successful takeover of the plant earlier this year.
Belje is the only large-scale dairy producer in Croatia that also has its own dairy farms in addition to production facilities. On top of the milk from the company’s own 4,000 cows at Belje farms and further 2,000 cows at Vupik farms, Belje also purchases milk from subcontractors whose farms are located across all five counties of Slavonia.
This great source of raw material in the form of locally-produced milk served as the basis for developing a new brand and a playful visual identity of the Kravica Kraljica brand, representing more than 7,500 cows from local farms. The milk they produce serves as the raw material for all the new products placed on the market in different packaging: fresh and long-life milk, fresh cheese with cream, classic and Greek-style yoghurt, and cream.
With this new brand, Belje has made a step forward also in terms of eco-friendliness, considering that Kravica Kraljica long-life milk is the only milk in Croatia packaged in a carton comprising 82% plant-based materials (cardboard and sugarcane-based plastic), resulting in an 18% reduction in the carbon footprint of the packaging.
“Belje has been the largest milk producer in Croatia for many years and our wish to market our own milk through locally-produced dairy products is only logical. Together with our subcontractors and partners, we produce 58 million litres of milk each year, which accounts for 14% of total volumes of cow’s milk produced in Croatia. This is why it is especially important to us that customers are aware of the fact that this product is made from milk produced in Croatia, because we guarantee traceability across the entire production process, from the farm to the final product on the store shelf. We are constantly working on product development and consequently there will be many new things available on the market by the end of this year. At the same time as we work on development of the Kravica Kraljica dairy brand, we will also continue developing our partnership relations with subcontractors and keep raising the quality of locally produced milk”, said Andrej Dean, Chairman of the Board of Belje plus, at the occasion of launching the new brand. He further underlined that the handover of the production facilities of Osijek dairy plant represented the first investment of the Fortenova Group, ensuring continuation of production and jobs for 88 employees, but also a security of production for 249 family farms.
“We can proudly say that Kraljica Kravica products bear the “100% Croatian” label. To be more specific, the main determinants of our operations are traceability, animal welfare and sustainable production. Apart from boasting automated production and milking lines that meet the world’s highest standards, our spacious cowhouses are tended by our long-standing employees all 365 days of the year, doing their best to give the cows a truly royal treatment. Moreover, the cows’ diet is based on locally grown raw materials coming from the company’s own fields,” noted Tomislav Radišić, Director of Belje Dairy Plant.
