Dr Spiro Fuqi, president of Rives, a company that processes freshwater fish into a number of products traditional for the eastern part of Albania.
The company Rives was established by Spiro Fuqi, a chemical engineer by training, some two decades ago. Located on the outskirts of Pogradec, a city on the shore of the Lake Ohrid and a few kilometres from the border with Macedonia, Rives specialises in completely natural products created from the fish caught in the lake.
My products are bio and natural without the addition of any chemical preserving agents, says Mr Fuqi, as he leads a small group on a tour of his processing facility. In addition to being natural many of the products are unique as they are based on fish from the Lake Ohrid. Some of the species present in the lake, such as the koran, a variety of trout, are endemic to the lake and are not found elsewhere. Rives buys this fish and processes it using traditional recipes, another important feature of the production.
Glass jars with a two-year shelf life
Over and above this the products are packaged in glass jars and have a shelf life that is equivalent to or even longer than a canned product, something that is relatively uncommon. Mr Fuqi is justifiably proud of this innovation as the product offers all the advantages of glass, in particular the transparency that enables the customer to see the contents, yet has the shelf life of a metal can. Among the fish from the lake that the company processes are bleak, koran, and eel. All three are first grilled, filleted, the bones removed, and then introduced into the jars. The jars go through an autoclave that sterilises them at 121 degrees C and very high pressure for a period of 30 minutes to give the long shelf life. Mr Fuqi has drawn on his education as a chemical engineer to conceive and implement the entire process from raw material to finished product. While all the fish products start by being grilled they are subject to different treatments at later stages in the process. Some have oil added to them in the jar, while other are combined with vegetables, and yet others are placed in a sauce.
All raw materials are locally sourced
Among Rives fish-based products is one that combines koran roe with koran fillets, nuts, pepper, olive oil and other ingredients in a special recipe to give what Mr Fuqi claims to be an aphrodisiac. One version of the product is for men and the other for women, he explains, though he does not elaborate on the precise difference between the two. Although the company’s origins lie in fish processing Mr Fuqi has now also begun to process meat as well as vegetables. The meat products include items that use fillets of pork and beef, while the vegetables include peppers, and dry beans. In keeping with the desire to produce traditional recipes from the area Rives also uses dairy items such as cottage cheese, and yoghurt in the preparations. All the raw materials are sourced locally giving the company an important role in the economy of the area by buying from farmers and providing employment to several. The company has distinct times when it processes its three main product types. Fish, for example, is processed between 15 September and June of the following year. The factory is then thoroughly cleaned and prepared for next activity which is the processing of vegetables. This is the cycle according to which I have chosen to work, says Mr Fuqi, as I can exploit the season, when the vegetables are at their best. To emphasise this he points to the facility entrance, where a group of women workers is processing a huge pile of different-coloured bell peppers and green chillies.
All the work whether related to fish, vegetables, or meat is done by hand. The fish is cleaned manually before being grilled on a wood-fired rather than an electric device. At Rives, explains Mr Fuqi, we want to create an authentic traditional taste and so we do not adapt the recipes, but follow them precisely. Nine tenths of our fish products use fish that is grilled before it is subject to further processing and from raw material to final product the entire cycle is completed within 24 hours as we have no refrigerated storage. The lack of a cold store means that sensitive raw material such as fish or meat arrives fresh on a daily basis and enters the production on arrival. By virtue of the products themselves as well as the high standard of production Rives has earned a certificate from the Ministry of Agriculture that guarantees that the products are traditional and natural. The products are distributed in Albania, but are also exported, so far to the Czech Republic, Italy, and Switzerland, and soon, Mr Fuqi hopes, to Germany.
Network of own stores stokes demand for products
The company produced 400,000 jars in total last year of which 350,000 were fish products. To distribute his products within Albania Mr Fuqi has agreements with retailers with the result that his products are on display in 400,000 stores across the country. In addition he has established a chain of 10 shops that only display his products. At the moment the chain is mostly present in the southern part of the country, because that is where people are familiar with the recipes. In the north they have a different food culture and selling traditional food from the south there will take time and effort. The idea behind setting up the network, says Mr Fuqi, was to get an indication of the popularity of the products as well as to promote and market the products and the brand in a way that would not be possible through traditional retail stores. Since establishing the network some 10 months ago demand for the products has doubled, he claims. The network of shops does not compete, however, with the retail stores on price, as consumers pay the same, whether they buy from the one place or the other. Mr Fuqi has even made a film about the company and its development that also shows a visit by the prime minister of Albania to one of the company’s stores to show his support for bio products and traditional Albanian recipes.
| Rives | |
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Udenisht Tel.: +355 6750 05005 President: Dr Spiro Fuqi | Activity: Production of natural fish, vegetable, and meat products following traditional Albanian recipes with no preservatives Volumes: 400,000 glass jars Shelf life: Three years Markets: Albania, Italy, Czech Republic, Switzerland Distribution: Retail stores across Albania and chain of 10 own stores in the south |
Energetic and enterprising, Mr Fuqi would now like to expand production at Rives and for that he is on the lookout for potential investors who could contribute not just financially but also with suggestions as to how he can better penetrate foreign markets and develop products that will be appreciated by consumers with different tastes. This might call for new recipes, but there will be no compromise regarding the bio nature of the products.
