Slovenian company to open largest all-natural ice cream factory
Karlovac, 16 July - Slovenian gelato company Aroma Global, which currently has around 50 stores across Croatia but none in Slovenia, is opening a new factory in Ogulin. At 4,500 square metres, it will be the world's largest gelato factory using all-natural ingredients, according to company co-founder Primož Ogrizek.
Hrvaška, Ogulin.
Slovensko podjetje Aroma Global odpira proizvodnjo sladoleda v hrvaškem mestu Ogulin.
Foto: Aroma Global
Hrvaška, Ogulin.
Slovensko podjetje Aroma Global odpira proizvodnjo sladoleda v hrvaškem mestu Ogulin.
Foto: Aroma Global
Hrvaška, Ogulin.
Slovensko podjetje Aroma Global odpira proizvodnjo sladoleda v hrvaškem mestu Ogulin.
Foto: Aroma Global
Primož and his wife Tjaša Ogrizek founded the company ten years ago in Trzin, north of Ljubljana. However, there are currently no Aroma stores in the country.
Ogrizek said that when they started the business "practically from their garage", they already had plans to expand and chose Croatia as their base.
"The Croatian market seemed suitable for our expansion due to its large tourist potential, the long coastline and the longer tourism season," Ogrizek told the STA.
The couple wanted to open a hundred locations in a single country and felt that Slovenia was too small for that. "We could only open a few locations in Slovenia, maybe in Ljubljana, Portorož and a few other places along the coast".
The company currently employs more than 300 people, a number that is expected to grow to around 700 over the next two years as they open the new factory and approach their goal of a 100 stores.
They have invested EUR 7.3 million over the last 15 months and have started planning their expansion into other markets starting outside of Europe, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain.
The Aroma gelato comes in more than 50 flavours, is made from all-natural ingredients, contains no additives, artificial flavours or colourings, and is partly hand-made, says Ogrizek.