The desire to provide families with healthier nutrition has directed Milivoj Dragošević’s entrepreneurial journey from a hobby to the creation of a successful company that produces, processes, and sells healthily raised turkey and chicken meat. Purex’s roots date back to 2002, when he started raising turkeys for his own needs in the Omiš hinterland, in the village of Smolonjama, when the first flock of turkeys was ‘settled’ in a small barn. However, Dragošević, a graduate mechanical engineer, quickly expanded the business to include chickens and traditional Dalmatian specialties from pigs, so today Purex owns eighteen poultry farms in the Dalmatia region, and in Hrvace, a facility for processing and preparing meat for sale.
Own Retail Network
Dragošević emphasizes that all animals are fed with their own feed produced in the village of Košutama near Trilj, which has developed the initial mission and guiding principle of producing healthy food into a standard. In other words, he explains, ‘meat without toxins’ is no longer a privilege just for his children but for a wider circle of people who appreciate healthy products. Purex produces about 2,500 tons of turkey and chicken meat and meat products annually, and in the so-called extended fattening, 400,000 chickens with an average weight of 3.5 kilograms and 120,000 turkeys weighing about 15 kilograms are produced. Female turkeys average eight kilograms, Dragošević said, while males weigh 22 kilograms.
– In its stores, Purex offers fresh turkey and chicken meat, semi-durable preparations for grilling and marinating mainly from turkey meat, but also some from chicken, breaded steaks, wrapped breasts, and a smoked program. We also have cured meat products from old breeds of pigs raised traditionally, including first-class prosciutto, pancetta, roasted pork, and first-class durable sausages. In our bakery, we produce five types of bread, completely additive-free and only with natural yeasts, as was traditionally done. I sell all products daily in 27 of my retail units, of which twelve are in the Zagreb area and fifteen in Split. We decided on our own distribution and retail network to ensure self-sufficiency and independence. We will increase the number of stores in line with production and staffing capacities. We will remain in the Split and Zagreb areas, and for now, we do not plan to expand our offer beyond Croatian borders. In the stores, we also offer products from our partners, such as sauerkraut, eggs, flour, wine, various cheeses, olive oil, or canned fish. We raise poultry in twelve of our own facilities: eight in Turjaci, three in Borovci, and one in Smolonjama, and we also rent six farms in the wider area of Sinj, i.e., in Dugopolje, Muć, and Ugljane. Slaughtering and processing are carried out in our own facility in Hrvace near Sinj – Dragošević described.
