Quality assured fish from sea to table

FJORD BOHEMIA I PROFILE

A decision to move away from service to retail clients has enabled Fjord Bohemia, a Czech Republic-based fish food manufacturer and distributor, to enjoy a 100% turnaround in business growth. Having undergone a three-year overhaul, with fresh investments, the company is now focused on expansion. Profile by Andy Probert.

The year 2020 proved a new and exciting turning point in the fortunes of Fjord Bohemia, a fish food producer and distributor, where business has rocketed since it transitioned from service-led provision to a retail supplier.

The company’s new chapter began to be written three years previously when, in 2017, an experienced Far East Russian fishing production company acquired it and set about investing in new machinery, infrastructure and providing a new focus.

Fjord Bohemia launched an incredible 70 new product lines across 2020 and 2021 and has enjoyed 100% growth with its repositioning to serve the retail sector.

“We remain a mid-sized agile company in the heart of Prague, with a determination to increase fish volumes and create more quality products to meet the requirements of an ever-growing market,” said Fjord Bohemia’s Managing Director, Mikhail Darkin.

The company was established in 1999, with its main activity in the distribution of fresh fish to the Czech HORECA market. One of its prime product offerings was smoked salmon over beechwood.

FJORD BOHEMIA I PROFILE

In 2006, the company built a service platform with cold storage, production space, logistics and transportation to help support the market expansion of Metro C&C in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

The dawn of a new era followed with the new owner’s arrival as it set about redefining Fjord Bohemia’s outlook while retaining its quality-assured, value-added approach to products and clients.

Mr Darkin said: “Our group has more than 30 years in the seafood business and is well-renowned worldwide. When it acquired Fjord Bohemia, it heralded a reorganisation, facility modernisation, and heavy investments in new technologies. It took three years, and from 2020 we actively began full operations.”

The company’s 75-strong workforce continues to work through an average volume of 70 tonnes of fresh fish produce each week, sourced from 14 European countries. Around 50% of its end products are exported to Austria, Slovakia, Germany, Italy, France, Hungary, Bulgaria and Montenegro, and the remaining 50% is destined for the domestic market.

The new technology drive included state-of-the machinery for filleting, preparing, portioning, cutting and skinning. Fjord Bohemia also has MAP packaging, skinning and vacuum packing technologies for different products.

Facility modernisation

Fjord Bohemia’s production line features the newest Marel filleting machine, which can fillet up to 25 fish per minute, or 3.6 tonnes per hour. It also has a Marel portion cutter which offers high speed accurate portioning thanks to laser vision, and integrated software that detects the size of each fillet and calculates the optimal use for each fillet.

“Not forgetting that we also still do smoking and marination of fish as well,” added Mr Darkin. “Salmon represents Fjord Bohemia’s biggest volume in fish products, but we also handle halibut, cod, Alaska pollock and squid. A diverse approach ensures we can offer the full range of options to our clients across Europe.”

He said: “The automation and additional machinery has brought us many benefits. Safety, quality and efficiency have improved. We get a better yield and can take greater capacity.”

The facility also offers storage and maintenance, and dispatch in the shortest possible time concerning the supply and temperature chains. The complete process also includes preparing all necessary documents for the shipments and pallet labelling for long-term storage.

It can store about 350 pallets of frozen goods, 100 pallets of refrigerated goods, and 100 pallets of dry goods. The company can also offer labelling and repackaging services according to the client’s specifications.

Mr Darkin said: “Since we transitioned to retail channels in 2020, 70% of our turnover is generated through the supply of our own brand or private label products to blue-chip supermarket clients, such as Lidl, Tesco, Metro Group and Kaufland. We also started up our cooperation with leading European e-grocery retailer Rohlik Group.”

The rest of the business sees only 15% dedicated to service provision, and the rest is to private and independent concerns in the HORECA segments.

He explained: “After the company’s reorganisation, in 2020 and 2021 we went through a lot of product development and implemented 70 different products over those two years.

“We saw 100% business growth in 2021 compared to 2020 and it was the best trading year in the company’s history. There has been very fast growth, and the factory’s capacity remains big enough to cope with the extra demand.

“The utilisation of the new machinery means greater throughput in delivering more value-added fish products. With our additional skin packaging machinery, we will seek to increase production from January 2022.”

Fjord Bohemia’s production is based on international food standards, and in working with fresh, frozen, marinated or smoked products, the inspection process is exceptionally high.

“When working with European retailers, we always maintain the highest standards. Our production and quality departments are certified to HACCP, IFS, MSC, ACS and BIO accreditation.”

Right place, right time

Mr Darkin commented: “Apart from Covid-19, the major challenge is responding to the fast-growing demand for our products. This requires greater synergy throughout the company to help with this growth and maintaining the highest quality standards.

“Being based in Prague, Fjord Bohemia can offer a unique platform and a great location for logistics. Our modern facilities and machinery – some of which are unique to the region, such as the filleting line – give us an ideal opportunity to provide complex solutions to clients. We are like a Swiss knife in offering multiple solutions from one location.”

Fjord Bohemia, stated Mr Darkin, maintains “an open book approach” to clients, with honest communication and transparent relations. It also offers educational meetings for potential clients to see the production plant.

“There’s a belief that there is enormous potential for this market to continue to grow,” he said. “The consumption of fish in the Czech Republic is still very low compared to Europe. On average, a European consumes 18kg of fish per year, while it is 6.25kg in the Czech Republic.

“Equally, there are not many players on the market in the Czech Republic, so we believe we are primed for domestic growth. Fish consumption has increased as people have remained at home during the pandemic and fish is healthy – another growing trend in the food industry.”

He concluded: “Having come through its extensive modernisation, Fjord Bohemia is now in the right place at the right time to offer the best quality product and service to clients.” n