The Slovenia Times

Fonda fish farm happy under Italian owner

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The family-run business, which specialises in breeding top-quality sea bass, partnered with Vale Ca' Zuliani from Ravena a year ago in order to keep the business running.

"The mood is very positive. We've kept all the jobs, our company's strategy," the director Irena Fonda has told the STA, also praising good two-way cooperation in transfer of know-how.

The fish farm employs 18 people plus seasonal workers. The Italian partner has let them preserve their quality-based direction and approach in the supply of customers.

"We have broader shoulders than we used to have," says Fonda, adding that they have managed to expand the farm capacity after initially failing to get the support from a creditor bank.

Despite the red figures at the moment owing to the fact that the fish is not big enough to be sold yet, the cash flow is encouraging, she said.

The farm focuses on quality rather than quantity, aiming to sell most of the bass locally. The fish quality increases the further north you go in the Adriatic, and "we are the northern-most fish farm in the Adriatic".

At first they sold virtually all of their fish abroad, while 13 years since launching the business and ten years under the Fonda brand, most of the fish is sold in Slovenia, and increasingly many to Austria.

An important factor has been education of customers through guided tours of the fish farm. "People come here, have a good time for an hour, while they also learn quite a lot."

The director has noted a change in people's mentality. As the start of their business, Slovenians ate 5.3 kilos of fish pert capita a year, a number that has doubled to ten kilos since.

Still, the figures remain low when compared to more than 25 kilos in Italy and more than 44 kilos of fish per capita consumed in Spain.

One of the farm's plans is to place Slovenian fish on the menus at Slovenian schools and kindergartens. "Kids like good fish," says Fonda, adding that one problem is public procurement rules.

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