May the 20th, 2021 - The Koprivnica-made Somersby drink has been gaining international popularity as it is exported from this continental Croatian town to five continents.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes, the Danish-owned Carlsberg Croatia Brewery, in addition to a wide range of its basic beer products also offers cider, a relatively new addition to the Croatian drinks scene, which is made from diluted fruit wine and based on apple juice.

This type of drink has been very popular in recent years in Croatia, despite having always been popular in Northern European countries such as the United Kingdom, and Carlsberg's cider brand Somersby is the leader on the Croatian market. It is produced in several flavours in the company's brewery in Koprivnica and from there it goes all over the world.

Koprivnica-made Somersby is enjoyed from distant Australia to Asia, and Marcin Burdach, President of the Management Board of Carlsberg Croatia, has been talking about the cider category, Croatian production, consumer trends as well as, of course, the beer market and expectations for the upcoming season.

You recently boasted that Somersby, produced in Koprivnica, is exported to 20 countries on 5 continents. What are the main markets?

Yes, you're right, we definitely did brag about it! We believe that consumers generally don't know that we produce Somersby in Koprivnica and export it. For us, it's a great source of pride. We’ve exported Koprivnica-made Somersby to different continents and countries around the world, and we don’t talk about it much. Back in 2020, Carlsberg Croatia regularly exported Somersby to eighteen markets.

As such, Koprivnica-made Somersby travelled to Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, Israel, Austria, Tahiti, Taiwan, the Bahamas… However, it should be noted that this list is only relevant for last year - the list of countries to which Somersby has travelled from Croatia in recent years is much longer and includes Australia, the United States, the Congo, China, the Caribbean, Laos and many other places.

Isn’t that impressive and something to brag about? Our main export markets are Hungary and Germany and I think the fact that we export so much to Germany is a clear sign of quality, because everyone knows how crucial quality is in the German market.

How much Somersby was produced in the factory in Croatia last year? Have sales figures gone up?

Although we're still unable to release the full data for last year because the financial report hasn't yet been released, we can say that Somersby’s exports are increasing every year. If you want a picture of our exports, I can tell you that last year we exported 867 trucks of Somersby in bottles and more than 200 tanks of it. And yes, export numbers are better for 2020 than they were for 2019.

You've decided to further strengthen the visual of this drink with Croatian characteristics, why is that so?

We made a limited edition of the ''Croatian'' logo Somersby because we wanted to send the message that Somersby is not only a global, but also a local Croatian brand. Yes, the cans on our market are produced elsewhere, but we don't produce Somersby in bottles only for Croatia, that Koprivnica-made Somersby goes all over the world.

This is the merit of the Croatian mind and hardworking people in Croatia, who produce this drink for consumers around the world. We thought it would be easiest to convey that message visually and the feedback from consumers and our business partners about that has been great.

Your predecessor at the helm of Carlsberg Croatia told me that you would like to make Somersby from home-grown raw materials (apples), but that apple juice producers in the Republic of Croatia produce cloudy juice, and you need it to be clear. You've also expressed a desire for that to come to fruition, what does that happening depend on?

This is a logical question that always arises when we talk about the production of Somersby in Croatia - the question of the use of locally grown apples. The thing is that for the production of cider we need high quality apple juice which has certain characteristics, which allows us to produce apple wine.

Every time they ask us this question ''do you want to get those apples in Croatia'' the answer is simple - yes, we would like to get them from Croatia. But if there are no manufacturers who produce this product, it is simply not possible.

The first association to cider for Croats is Somersby, a recent Ipsos survey showed. Some respondents, as I've since foundd out, stated that this drink is more for younger people, they also said that the unit price in stores and bars is still too high. What actually is the target audience of Somersby cider in Croatia, and why is it more expensive than, for example, beer?

The truth is that Somersby is considered more of a drink for a younger audience, and its optimistic because consumers think of Somersby when they talk about cider. We found that consumers love the fact that we offer them a variety of flavours at Somersby, and that they consider it a refreshing summer drink.

Since Somersby is in a different price segment than beer, for example, we had feedback that consumers aren't the happiest with Somersby's prices in some cafes. But pricing in bars is something we can’t influence much, because it’s a matter of the owners and their business decisions.

After all, you know from personal experience that some locations in Croatia, especially those that target tourists, simply have higher prices than the average Croatian consumer considers affordable anyway.

Carlsberg is primarily a beer producer, how are things in Croatia in that regard? How much of a market share do your beer brands hold, given their wide range? How much do you produce?

Yes, beer is our main business, and it's something that isn't going to change, and you're right, we offer a wide range of beers. Last year we expanded our range to Pan, to which we added Pan Pilsner, so now we offer an even better choice in our main segment of stock.

So, now we have an offer for every taste - from Golden and Lager, through Pilsner, to Pan Dark and Pan Free. And that's just the beginning - Grimbergen, Carlsberg, Tuborg, Blanc 1664… Our portfolio of international brands provides even greater breadth to our consumers. Looking at last year’s data, we hold about 17 percent of the market and of course we want to grow that share even more.

What are your results for 2020 like? Most people's income was limited due to the pandemic, with closed bars and bans on larger gatherings...

We're unable to provide complete data for 2020 because the financial report hasn't yet been published. But of course, the pandemic influenced our results.

Everyone’s lives changed in 2020 and it’s hard for me to remember an industry or sector that hasn’t been affected by that change. Certainly, our partners in the HORECA segment have been hit hard, not to mention the situation with the event industry… these segments are still suffering and of course this is affecting us. It's hard to say when things will get better. In these circumstances, however, we're satisfied with our results.

Of course, we planned for bigger results, but we ended 2020 without any need to stop production and we managed to protect our employees and our business, which is certainly a success.

Carlsberg Croatia employs 300 people - how did you continue to organise production and the entire business with regard to the epidemiological measures?

Now that we've entered the second year of the pandemic, things are already well established and we've adapted to these new ways of working. But yes, at first it was difficult. There was so much that was unknown about this virus… I remember at one point we had a paper quarantine because we didn’t want to endanger our colleagues who deal with export paperwork.

Then came the shortages of protective equipment - in the spring of 2020, at one point we even used Somersby’s wine base to make disinfectants, so we could protect our employees. We teamed up with a small distillery and a disinfectant manufacturer and produced quantities that allowed us to give each employee half a litre of disinfectant so they could take it home and protect their families.

We donated the rest to the City of Koprivnica. We did this because it was so hard to get that protective equipment back then, and we wanted our employees to feel safer. Now it's all far simpler. We're applying various safeguards and we haven't relaxed, but now that is just another part of our health and safety rules. It's much easier psychologically.

Did you ask for state support to preserve jobs?

No, in 2020 we didn't use state aid, given the fact that we believed we could protect our business and that we could get help from the Carlsberg Group.

What do you expect from this year, especially from summer as the main period of consumption of your products?

We're optimistic about 2021. We think that globally as a Group, and locally as Carlsberg Croatia, we're strong, capable and in a good position to take advantage of opportunities. Of course, our success will depend on market trends and the development of the ongoing pandemic.

We hope that the season will be successful and that warmer weather will bring normalisation, as it did last year. I don't think you could find a person in Croatia who isn't looking forward to summer and I hope that people will welcome it with a cold Pan or Somersby in hand.

Carlsberg is also known for its promotion of drinking responsibly - in the workplace, while driving… How do you view the proposal for new regulations to repeal the provision on how much alcohol a driver can have in their blood?

We always promote responsible consumption. Through various programmes, and through the Association of Brewers, and within our company. In all our official vehicles, for example, we have a built-in Alcolock system.

The system is actually simple for the user, when sitting in the car it's necessary to blow into the test until it stops giving an audible signal. After a few seconds, in case the amount of alcohol is within the allowed limits, the system allows the car to be started. In this way, we motivate our employees to live in scope of the company rule of ''zero irresponsible consumption'' on a daily basis.

There are countless reasons why you shouldn't get behind the wheel after drinking alcohol and as a brewer, we're particularly sensitive to this topic. We believe that we need to make our employees aware of the importance of not driving at all when they drink.

When you think about what the regulation of the Labour Law is, then we don't even need such a measure. But we believe that promoting responsible behaviour and awareness is much more powerful than just relying on regulations. This is how I look at the proposal to change the regulations you're asking me about - yes, legal regulations are important, but I think it's even more important to educate and influence the consciousness of individuals.

Changing the law is a relatively easy and fairly quick process, but the effect that will be achieved as a result is questionable. Changing people's consciousness is a long-term job and a lot more effort needs to be put in there, but it is certain that positive change will happen.

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December the 5th, 2020 - The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has seen healthcare facilities, hospitals and those working in them stretched to their capacities. As such, Carlsberg Croatia is just yet another company in a line of those donating equipment to hospitals, this time the donation is a respirator to the Koprivnica General Hospital.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Carlsberg Croatia recently donated a mobile respirator to the Koprivnica General Hospital to help doctors' efforts to provide the best possible care to patients suffering from the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. With the delivery of the accompanying donation letter, the donation became official. The Koprivnica General Hospital is thus richer for a mobile respirator worth around 50,000 kuna in total.

''Donations of hospital equipment aren't something we usually do, but the situation in northern Croatia is so serious and we felt that we must do what we can to help doctors in their difficult and serious task. We sincerely hope that the severe cases in which this device is used will be minimal. Every new patient who needs help in order to breathe is news that worries and saddens us all, and that's why it's important to take care of yourself and the people around you,'' the President of the Board of Carlsberg Croatia, Marcin Burdach, stated.

Carlsberg Croatia joined the efforts to protect Koprivnica's residents from the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year when it donated disinfectant to the city. Today, the brewery is going yet another step further and has decided to donate medical equipment.

''I'd like to thank Carlsberg Croatia for this extremely valuable donation which will help us care for patients who have developed severe respiratory symptoms as part of their COVID-19 infection. This donation is an expression of Carlsberg's exceptional understanding and awareness of all aspects of the COVID -19 epidemic,'' said Dr. Mato Devcic, the director of the Koprivnica General Hospital.

The donated respirator is already in use, which is why the CEO of Carlsberg Croatia and the director of the Koprivnica General Hospital said that taking proper caution and looking after our health are the most important things we can do in these unprecedented and dire circumstances.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 6th of May, 2020, Carlsberg Croatia has recently joined the trend of more and more companies starting to produce disinfectants and protective agents in order to combat the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Namely, the brewery in Koprivnica processed 4,000 litres of fruit wine that was supposed to become a refreshing Somersby cider into hand sanitiser, called it Clean hands (Čiste ruke) and gave it to Carlsberg Croatia's employees to make them and their families even safer.

They donated the remaining amount to the local community, the City of Koprivnica, from which they directed the disinfectant where it is most needed. Tatjana Petričušić, Communications and Events Manager at Carlsberg, pointed out that difficult times require creative solutions:

"At the beginning of the pandemic in the brewery, we created the disinfectant in our own laboratory. However, as we don't have such raw materials and equipment to produce a larger quantity ourselves, we found partners and in cooperation with them, we produced our own disinfectant,'' explained Petričušić.

About 4,000 litres of fruit wine were processed into 70 percent alcohol through two distillation processes, and then disinfectant was produced, which was packaged in 1,200 half-litre bottles. This step, however, doesn't mean that the company plans to start a new business because they say that it is simply not profitable to produce disinfectant from fruit wine.

As Helle M. Petersen, President of the Management Board of Carlsberg Croatia, recently confirmed for Poslovni Dnevnik that the popular Somersby cider brand range is produced in Koprivnica and is exported to about twenty countries around the world, from Singapore to the USA. In the category of cider drinks, Somersby is the market leader here in Croatia, where it is offered in four out of a total of ten variants.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes on the 17th of November, 2019, Helle M. Petersen, CEO of Carlsberg Croatia discusses the business of the company operating under the auspices of the Danish beer giant and the state of the domestic sector in which large breweries are increasingly finding fierce independent rivals.

Although the main brewing season is behind us, beer continues to be well consumed at this time of year, moreover, the range, quality and range of beer styles make it a source of enjoyment for domestic consumers. One of the companies who recognises this is Carlsberg Croatia from Koprivnica, a company which operates under the well known global giant from Denmark, which stepped out with new products this year, achieving better results than last year.

The third brewing company in terms of market share has thus solidified its position, and Carlsberg Croatia's CEO Helle M. Petersen sat down to talk about the challenges and opportunities in the beer sector in conversation with Poslovni Dnevnik. The Danish manager has been in Croatia for three years now, after having spent her career within Carlsberg around the world, and she touched upon the issues of the workforce, the popularity of beer brands, the health and safety of workers, investments, and so on.

The main part of the beer season has passed, autumn is in full swing, what are the results so far in 2019, are you satisfied?

We're very satisfied, we have experienced the growth of all our brands, we're also very happy that we've won a good part of the market which is a good indicator for strengthening our share, because, as you know, we are "only" the third player in Croatia and therefore getting stronger is very important to us.

Like other industries, bad weather hit us in May, but we still managed to maintain our position. Compared to the same period last year, this has been reflected in double-digit growth in sales volume. It's definitely satisfying. However, we still detected some difficulties, the category is in decline, especially in the HoReCa channel, which is very worrying.

Although there were more tourists, they did not go out and consume drinks to the same extent as they did last year, and this is an area that leads me to think about what led to a change in their habits.

However, that depends not only on you but also on the prices in the HoReCa channel?

That's true, but it's still our responsibility to make our offer attractive to tourists, to encourage them to go out and spend money. It's also our obligation to provide content that will attract guests to cafes and restaurants, and therefore that's high on our list of priorities and questions we want to better understand what we as a brewer can do.

And have you found any solutions?

If I had, I wouldn't tell you yet (laughs), but we truly believe that we have a responsibility to make the category of our products more efficient, more interesting. In other words, we need to look for ways to win over more customers, create a premium offer and generally make it attractive for the consumer to continue buying our beers in Croatia.

Remind the public of just how present Carlsberg already is in Croatia...

Ever since beer production started in Koprivnica with the establishment of a brewery. The history goes back to 1971 when we partnered with Podravka and actually secured a license for them to produce Tuborg, which was the first international beer brand produced locally in the entire former Yugoslavia.

This relationship warmed up and we entered into a brewery, but over time Podravka gave up the beer business, so we gained full control, renaming the company in the 90s first to Pannonian Brewery and finally to Carlsberg Croatia.

The name change was not warmly welcomed in the local public?

It was expected from the point of view of the native people. The Carlsberg Group was taking over a lot of companies around the world at that time, trying to ensure that the corporate culture of Carlsberg was carried everywhere to new markets, and that's why the company here was renamed, whether it was a good or bad decision. But I think it's fair to say that the Pan brand is much stronger than the Carlsberg brand in Croatia.

And then people know once again that Carlsberg is also Croatian, from Koprivnica...

I don't think the name of the company makes it difficult for us, but on the other hand, we have the task of making sure people recognise us as Carlsberg, of having a wide product portfolio, but our biggest brand, I repeat, is the local Pan. And we have healthy growth in it.

To date, how much has Carlsberg invested in doing business in Croatia?

We usually don't publish full amounts of investments, but as a company we have accelerated investments. In the last three to four years, we've invested a lot in production capacities, packaging machines, which has enabled us to sell, for example, the Somersby brand range (alcoholic beverages based on fruit juice, eg cider - cider, op.a.) from Croatia in 20 countries across the world.

We've also invested heavily in the area of ​​occupational safety and health, it's very important for us to get people to work in safe conditions, and however small things may seem, it is really important as a step forward in the production process. This is also linked to our investment in alco-lock systems in cars, as we don't want to have any risk of our employees selling beer driving under the influence of alcohol. Last year, we invested around 11 million kuna in a new warehouse in Koprivnica, there was a big need to expand our warehouse space as bigger spaces allow us to export more.

Specifically, we've invested a lot in cider production capabilities, which commands a completely different method than brewing beer. This has two benefits - that Croatia has the benefits of exporting this product, and it is important for Carlsberg to have all the expertise of cider making.

Let’s go back to beer brands and their strength. What works best on our market?

If you look at the Croatian market, more than 80 percent of it belongs to the mainstream brands and those below. We therefore needed the Pan brand to show us its strength in that segment and it's like "bread and butter" to us. Without a strong local brand, it doesn't make sense to have a big drive and therefore our focus is on making Pan great. But we also strive to achieve good results in the premium segment, with Carlsberg and Tuborg, and this year also Blanc, a citrus-flavored wheat beer. We don't think too much about brand size as long as all our brands grow.

It's important to us how we deal with our competitors, since our range is wide, ranging from "discounted" Holsten to various types of Pan all the way to Carlsberg, Tuborg and Blanc, and Grimbergen, Budweiser and Guinness. We need to continue to innovate and create appropriate deals for stores and outlets to make consumers want to have a drink outside in company.

In terms of Somersby ciders, do Croatian consumers like it?

Absolutely, yes! Cider has been a pretty interesting “journey” for us, with it having double-digit growth year after year and with the growing acceptance of cider as a beverage category. With Somersby, we practically founded the category and started its growth. Somersby is still the number one leader in Croatia.

Cider also generates a good deal of revenue for caterers who are increasingly interested in selling it. It's consumed equally by men and women, it is a true unisex product and it's our responsibility as a market leader in the category to continue to “pump” that growth. We have introduced new flavours, changed the design and have to keep going. Everything is made here in Croatia. It is almost entirely a Croatian product.

Where does Somersby end up from here?

It goes to the countries in Croatia's neighbourhood and the region, but also to the Far East - China, Malaysia, and Canada, a total of twenty countries worldwide. It is mainly exported in bottles, on this market in four flavours, but we export five more, so in total in Koprivnica, we produce about ten Somersby variants. This brand is here to stay.

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