Polish pet food producer Ares specializes in making sausages for dogs and says this product category is posting the most dynamic growth among all wet dog food market segments in Poland. With an established position in the domestic market, where it is a leading producer of such products, Ares is now doubling efforts to increase its foothold in numerous foreign markets, according to company representatives.
“We produce sausages for dogs at our own plant in Piotrków Trybunalski,” Kamil Cichecki, the company’s export and marketing manager, told Petfoodindustry.com.
Sausages are the “most rapidly developing form of wet dog food in the [Polish] market in terms of value, Cicheki added. “They have an expiry date of one year if stored at room temperature, and they can be more delicious than canned dog food.”
Premium products added to dog sausage portfolio
In Poland, most of the company’s output is sold in the low-price segment, but over the past year, Ares has also introduced a premium version of its sausage, a grain-free product made with vegetables and linseed. At the same time, the manufacturer is ramping up the production capacities of its factory in Poland’s central region of Łódzkie.
“We just began another expansion project, as we are building a new storage facility there to replace an outsourced storage facility we are currently using. We are also increasing our production space,” Cichecki said.
Asked whether the producer was planning to create new jobs as part of its ongoing investment, the manager said, “We expand our workforce, just like we do with our production capacities, practically every year.”
Export expansion plans
Ares’s investments are related to the company’s drive toward higher export sales.
“We plan to develop our products within the premium and superpremium segments, above all owing to the rising interest [in the company’s products] by foreign customers,” Cichecki said.
The business says it makes an average of 1 million sausages per month.
“Our products are available in many EU member states—among others, in Spain, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Lithuania, Denmark, Greece and Croatia,” according to Cichecki. “We also have a strong presence in the Balkan states: Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
Outside Europe, Ares is exporting its products to Israel and Canada, he said. “Our Canadian distributor is currently introducing our sausages to the U.S. market,” the manager said. “This year, we will also enter the Czech, Slovak and Estonian markets.”
