Candy Subotica: cocoa scale-up

“If you want to grow your business, you need to invest in infrastructure” says Silvia Angeli, Exports Manager at Candy Subotica. Candy Subotica specializes in the production of high quality cocoa powder and takes its name from the town where it is located in northern Serbia.

With a modern production line and a dedication to customer service, the company offers a varied selection of cocoa powder products destined for the confectionery industry, to be used mainly as chocolate coating. “Around 40% of our production goes abroad, and we’ve just signed a new deal in Russia,” explains Silvia, who has been in the company since its establishment 23 years ago. “We’ve recently been growing at a rate of 5% per year and we expect more growth next year.”

In the process of scaling-up, Candy Subotica sought financing to invest in its production line, upgrade its facilities and testing laboratory, and maintain a healthy cashflow. “As we increase our sales to international customers, we need to secure financing not only to increase our capacity, but also to keep our supplies flowing.” To that end, they received a loan from Banca Intesa, backed by EIF.

This financial support allowed the company to hire three persons in 2017, with plans to hire four more in 2018 as they continue to grow their exports. “Our international orientation is one of the reasons I enjoy working here so much. We get to travel a lot, we are at every international fair, and we are constantly meeting new people from the cocoa industry”, explains Silvia.

Candy Subotica is now preparing to invest in new machinery, and in particular a butter-press that will allow them to expand production also to cocoa butter and liquor, becoming a complete provider for the chocolate industry.

Company: Candy Subotica (Serbia)

Type of business: food

EIF financing: COSME - Loan Guarantee Facility (LGF)

Financial intermediary: Banca Intesa

For further information about EIF intermediaries in Serbia, please refer to: http://www.eif.org/what_we_do/where/rs/index.htm