Dejan Vatovic, Technical Manager at Zajecarska pivara – “Zidarac “is still the most popular

During the past previous years, Zajecar-made beer has been selling better and the brewery business records growth year in year out. Zajecarska pivara has been existing as of 1895. It operated under most various circumstances and ownership engagements. Since 2004, they have been a part of Efes and in 2008 they became a part of Heineken group.

In his interview for eKapija, General Manager of Zajecarska pivara, Dejan Vatovic, says they are extremely satisfied with the results and that the Zajecar –made beer finally became brand outside the Timok region.

eKapija: What is your current capacity?

- We have 80% of the capacity at the annual level and in the season, during summer months, all 100%.

eKapija: How satisfied are you with the financial results? What was the previous year like?

- Last year was excellent. For two or three years now, we have been generating good results and every week is better than the last one. During the previous three weeks we doubled the production which is a big success for us and on the other hand for our people as well who handled the challenge completely.

(Photo: Jelena Đelić)

eKapija: It seems that, although the Brewery has existed for 119 years now, it flourished after becoming a part of Heineken. You have been with the company for 15 years. How do you see that privatization?

- Growth definitely is related to Heineken’s arrival. Zajecarsko pivo used to be traditionally positioned and very popular but it was localized only in the eastern Serbia. After 2000, after all privatizations and crises, it fell even deeper and closed only in the Timok region. The arrival of Heineken which is a big name opened for us a number of doors. We simply decided to make Zajecar-made beer available in other parts of the country because we really believe that brand of such a quality should not be a privilege only of the Timok region.I think we were surprised as well how good it went.

eKapija: Which beer sells best?

- The old "zajecarsko" of 0,5 liter, popular "zidarac" in the old glass bottle. It generates a large sales percentage, some 70% of total production proizvodnje.

eKapija: Will there be new products, new tastes from Zajecar?

- It is hard to say because “zajecarsko”beer at this moment generates such a result that it exploits all the capacities.

eKapija: Can we expect new investment cycle in the Brewer? Are you going to work on capacities expansion and investments in equipment?

- We invest every year in different ways. There was no need to invest in capacities during the previous years so we invested in quality and health and safety at work. Apart from that, the moment Heineken came, there has been plenty of investments in aligning with the company standards. We are now expecting capacities expansion. We are starting discussions with respect to the investment amount for the next year.

Jelena Djelic