Dario Kelemin’s love for bees was instilled in him by his father Ivan Kelemin, who began beekeeping in 1974. Initially, his father sold honey and other bee products to companies that were purchasing such products at the time. However, at the beginning of the nineties, everything changed due to market disruptions, which also affected bee products. Dario was saddened that he could not sell such high-quality natural honey from his valuable bees, so he realized he had to take action. He then began packaging honey in jars and selling it at markets in Zagreb.
When he noticed how much customers at the markets praised and loved his bees‘ products, it became clear to him that he needed to start a company and begin selling his products in stores. Therefore, in 1994, he and his wife Milena founded the company Pčelarstvo Daruvar d.o.o. with their own funds, which they have been running together ever since. Kelemin’s determination and willingness to take risks in challenging business circumstances have seemingly become his trademark, as he did not shy away from crucial decisions even in later business operations.
The beginning was modest. Their bees produced the honey, and they only needed to buy packaging to be able to package it and put it on the market.
The jar is not enough
They offered honey to stores, but the quantities they produced in their apiaries soon became insufficient, so Kelemin began arranging the purchase of honey from other beekeepers. He emphasizes that they have been collaborating with the cooperatives they started working with back then up to today. The cooperatives have grown and expanded their business year after year alongside Pčelarstvo Daruvar.
– Sales also increased every year, but so did the competition in the market. More and more companies with such and similar activities were opening, but others began packaging imported honey, which became increasingly difficult to compete with on price. Our stance has been and remains that Pčelarstvo Daruvar will not import honey but will sell exclusively Croatian honey. I started thinking again about how to develop the business by doing what the competition does not do and distancing ourselves from it. I came up with the idea to produce wooden stands in which we would package our products and offer them as gastro souvenirs in tourist destinations. That decision proved to be correct, as today the sale of gastro souvenirs, gift boxes, and sandblasted glassware accounts for about 80 percent of our total revenue.
We offer more than five hundred products: from classic jars of honey, souvenirs, the aforementioned gastronomic souvenirs, gift boxes, sandblasted bottles with brandies and liqueurs, homemade products like ajvar and extra jams to pumpkin oil… We have a good collaboration with Duga grana, a company that produces brandies and liqueurs for our needs. We offer twenty types of brandies and liqueurs, including those made from domestic cherries and figs. All of this finds its place in a bottle that is later processed by us through sandblasting according to the customer’s wishes. All our products are of top quality and under constant supervision. Our company implements a HACCP system (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) that ensures food quality and tracks traceability from raw material to final product. The products are mainly sold in all tourist destinations in Croatia – describes Kelemin.
A gift for every occasion
He emphasizes that alongside tourist gastronomic souvenirs, an important part of the offer is personalized gifts sold at their retail locations. This allows customers, he said, to immortalize special moments with gifts they have designed themselves, and Pčelarstvo Daruvar produces them according to their wishes.
– At our retail locations in Daruvar, Bjelovar, Zagreb, Pula, and Šibenik, everyone can find a ready original gift for every occasion. The personalization of each product we offer has proven to be the right decision as it has enabled the company’s development and brought us recognition in the market. An important part of our offer is also the gifts that companies give to business partners. They must have the company logo, a special dedication, and similar. We also sell them outside Croatia; so far, we export them to Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, and Slovenia. There, just like in Croatia, product personalization is recognized as something original that customers seek. The production of such products requires great effort and teamwork from all employees involved in the details, from the beginning to the end of the production process. Each employee, besides the work operation they perform, is also responsible for controlling the one that preceded it. Responsible employees have enabled the expansion of the product range and, more importantly, each of our products can be made in a thousand editions – states Kelemin.
He particularly highlights the company’s fleet and drivers as a great advantage. He notes that with five vans, they deliver goods to the most remote parts of Beautiful Croatia to ensure fast, timely, and safe delivery, which is extremely important, especially in the summer months.
