Slovaks should eat better quality food. This is one of the goals of the agricultural group SANAGRO, which has decided to open its first ever cooperative store in Bratislava's Fresh Market for this reason. It will bear the eponymous name - SANAGRO.
Seasonality is a priority
"When building our own shop, we built on four basic pillars - own breeding, freshness, quality and seasonality. This means that we will only sell what we grow or preserve on our own farms, or on farms that we help managerially or commercially," says Dušan Krajči, who is responsible for the opening of the SANAGRO store, while appealing to seasonality in this regard.
The SANAGRO Group agrees that the quality and freshness of food is based on its seasonal production. "You won't find fresh vegetables in winter because we know we can't grow them well in winter. The products that a buyer can find with us will be fresh packaged meats, natural juices, milks and cheeses. Eventually, we want to add our own free-range eggs, as well as other goods such as organic packed peas and other pulses," he adds.
The co-operative shop will also operate on an order system once it is up and running. "The customer will order a product and we will prepare it for him at the shop on an agreed date. We will absolutely guarantee freshness and quality."
Quality meat will stay in Slovakia
The variety and diversity of the offer will be expanded over time, in particular according to the capabilities of the SANAGRO Group and at the same time according to customer requirements.
However, the priority focus of the shop will be on meat. The reason is clear. "Most of the meat that is cured in Slovakia is destined for export. Its prices are dictated by the market and the market is incredibly distorted. Purchase prices for meat in our country are set up to a third lower than our production prices. Therefore, it makes no economic sense for Slovak farmers to sell meat for processing in Slovakia, which is a great pity," says Dušan Krajči.
However, SANAGRO is trying to reverse this trend. One of the steps is the opening of its own cooperative store. Meat, which should otherwise be exported, will be sold to Slovaks in their own shop. "We have been thinking about opening it for a long time. In the end, we decided on the premises in the Fresh Market, which is ideal for this. We will be opening soon," concludes Dušan Krajči from SANAGRA.
