January the 12th, 2022 - The Vodnjan Bursic prosciutto factory has created pancetta crisps (or chips if you're American), the very first of their kind to exist here on the Croatian market.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, the Vodnjan Bursic prosciutto factory has introduced a new type of cured meat snack into their range, more precisely the Istrian pancetta/bacon crisp. The Vodnjan Bursic prosciutto factory began work back in 1994, when it was called "Kod Milana", and today they have six employees and a location at which they offer dishes based on their own cured meat products.
"The idea to open a prosciuttofactory came when my father Milan stopped working for a large company in Istria that was engaged in its production, it was a large plant producing almost 30,000 pieces of prosciutto a year, which is failing today," recalled Mikela Bursic Lisjak, whose the family started this business.
As she explained, all of the production that goes on at the Vodnjan Bursic prosciutto factory is entirely theirs, and they have prosciutto, pancetta, sausage, zarebnjak and spaletta (front pork leg) and cured meat snacks, more precisely pancetta crisps. According to Bursic Lisjak, at the time of the coronavirus pandemic, when everything was unstable and uncertain, they placed this novelty on the Croatian market.
“We decided to introduce a bit of modernisation into the tradition and we made the first Istrian pancetta crisps. These are actually the first cured meat crisps in Croatia, they're made from bacon, not flavoured potatoes. The sales of our products are moving forward, we're changing and trying to bring the product closer to the customer, while working with the heart of what we do to remain recognisable. The last two years have been difficult, but thanks to various sales channels, our customers have managed to reach their products and us,'' said Bursic Lisjak.
Although their main focus is on the domestic market and on producing top quality meat, and not so much on quantity, they export their products to nearby Austria and to neighbouring Slovenia. As Bursic Lisjak revealed, their plan is to turn to foreign markets in a couple of years, and they have already started negotiations with some of them.
"Our plan is to create a 'boutique' from the Vodnjan Bursic prosciutto factory. Our Italian neighbours have that dose of courage and a sense of beauty, and since I graduated as an interior designer, my goal has been to create something that will have not only good flavours but also beauty. Imagine looking through large windows at the products hanging and drying, you can choose what you want to taste or buy, and you do it all from some comfortable armchair or couch, it would be just like being at home,'' explained Bursic Lisjak.
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