Yaroslav Palka, founder of Palko, a company that produces modern Ukrainian ground lard spreads, talks about his participation in the Favorite Food&Drinks competition and shares his plans for the future.
Palko took part in the Favourite Food & Drinks competition in autumn 2024. Please share your impressions of the competition. What are the results for this year?
My impression is that I was honoured to take part in the competition.
I was interested in this event because of the opportunity to meet and communicate with decision makers - category managers. Of course, having the opportunity to discuss future cooperation is very valuable.
If we talk about specific results, we started working with Auchan, where we entered as a supplier for the Private Label. The negotiations lasted about 8 months, we passed several serious audits and proved that Palko is a company that really has HACCP, ISO, and we can be a reliable supplier.
Also, after the competition and introductions, we are at different stages of negotiations with other companies, with some of them we have already signed contracts. But I'm not disclosing them yet.
Could you please tell us about yourself and the company? How long have you been on the market?
We have been on the market since 2023. We're a relatively young company, but we started right away with the right things - for example, we built workshops that meet all food safety requirements. That is, we really have the kind of shop that should be there: with a polymer floor, proper ventilation, and the right production processes, from receiving raw materials and washing containers to sorting finished products in the warehouse and storing them.
We started by launching a modern Ukrainian lard spread, and now we are working on expanding the range.
In addition to the spreads themselves, you can also buy canned vegetables and juices on your website, is this your own production?
Favorite Food&Drinks gave us the opportunity to develop new contacts not only among retailers but also among the community of contractors and suppliers. We met Shchedryk, an agro-processing company, and now we are their customers - they produce private label products for us. This acquaintance gave us the opportunity to broaden our horizons a little.
"Palko started with ground lard, but lard is not a product in itself, it needs to be sold with bread, grissini or crackers. With something that complements it as a complete set, so you can bring it, open it and taste it right away.
We are now seriously expanding our number of SKUs - from canned food and juices to baked goods and other products.
Our goal is to create a multi-assortment company called Palko.
We have our own production facilities that will be the main backbone - ground lard, lump lard, a sausage shop, pates, snacks. We also have a Private Label division, where we are trying to cooperate with various producers, including the tasting competition community.
Your main product is Iberian lard. Is this bacon of this variety originating from Ukraine or is there another story?
We were looking for a reliable supplier who could supply raw materials with the required organoleptic qualities without interruption. And unfortunately, in Ukraine, a significant amount of lard products are made from meat breeds of pigs. That is, for pig farms, lard is a by-product.
At first, we tried to use both Ukrainian and Polish lard, but realised that within 2-3 months it loses its properties and taste.
There was a time when we stopped production, refused to use Ukrainian suppliers and disposed of a huge batch of products that we had in stock. We made a loss, but we came to the conclusion that if we want to be a national brand, we have to do everything perfectly. Experts recommended using Spanish Iberian lard, because the quality of this bacon is of the highest level. This gave us a shelf life of 6 months. The product does not spoil and has an impeccable taste. If it is properly preserved - without moisture, with a certain proportion of salt, spices and preservatives, and always with a vacuum - the product can be stored for more than a year. But we decided to indicate a shelf life of 6 months.
What's next in your plans, your own farm?
We plan to export our products to the European Union, and Spain is the only country that has overcome the African plague and has the ability to export to Europe. Therefore, unfortunately, if we grow our own lard on our farms, even of Spanish Ibrian breeds, we will not be able to export abroad.
Our main goal is to attract chains - at the moment, Palko products are present in about 300 supermarkets and retail outlets across Ukraine. And we continue to expand our coverage in those chains where we are present.
At the same time, we are working on expanding our product range - by the end of the year, we will have completed the sausage shops. We are also taking on the confectionery group and building a workshop to produce those items that we believe will be in demand.
After that, we will expand both in terms of the number of outlets and the number of SKUs. We are planning to have 20-30 SKUs of our own products, currently we have 3. And in some time, we plan to become a national multi-assortment manufacturer that can cover almost half of the entire consumer basket of Ukrainians.
So I think in 5-10 years you will see us in every department. In gastronomy, groceries, and confectionery. Everything except alcohol - this is my personal position that we will absolutely never produce alcohol.
Of course, salo is mostly associated as a snack for alcohol, but we set ourselves the task of breaking this stereotype. Our lard is a modern Ukrainian spread, a light snack, a natural product that satisfies hunger.
The interview was conducted by Daria Spasova