Vafo Group | Czech Republic
This Czech producer has recently completed two acquisitions and a new state-of-the-art factory to bolster its ability to provide a wide range of highest quality, premium pet products.
A leading Czech pet food producer
VAFO is a leading Czech producer of premium and super-premium pet food, snacks and supplements for dogs, cats and other small animals. It operates four production facilities for both dry and wet pet food, with annual sales exceeding 100,000 tonnes per year and revenue close to €140 million ($162 million).
Its flagship brand, Brit, is distributed to almost 70 countries throughout four continents and holds a significant market share in the EU, Scandinavia, and the Baltics. In addition, VAFO successfully produces a variety of other own brands, including Carnilove, Profine and Sam’s Field. It also manufactures various private labels for many European pet food sellers in several product categories: dry food, wet food, snacks, vitamins and nutritional supplements for dogs and cats, and small animal food.
Given the focus on premium quality, all four of the company’s production plants are designed to provide a wide variety of premium product options, one of the newest being fresh meat extrusion. VAFO recently opened a greenfield wet food factory equipped with the latest technologies and featuring human-grade production capabilities for a diverse range of wet food products such as sausages, cans (80-800g) and real-meat fillet pouches (50-500g).
Recent acquisitions support growth
To supports its organic growth, the group recently acquired shares in two other pet food players. Allco is a second-generation family owned pet food company located in Lower Saxony near Bremen, known mainly for its brand Christopherus. Prima Pet is a Finnish grocery pet food leader with subsidiaries in Sweden and Poland, as well as a factory in Estonia, with revenue exceeding €30 million ($35 million). Its core brand, Hau-Hau Champion, is the most popular grocery brand in Finland.
Highest standards
VAFO’s mission is to provide a wide portfolio of premium pet products manufactured to the highest standards and instilled with VAFO’s extensive nutrition and marketing know-how.
The group is owned by two sons of the original founder, Frantisek Bouska: Pavel Bouska and Jan Bouska. Pavel took over the CEO role from his father in 2006.