HALAL BUSINESS INFO Rok Andlar, Ivan Šimić i Jurica Protić

Guest Rok Andlar, Ivan Šimić i Jurica ProtićHosted by Boris ŽivkovićMay 3, 2026

Rok Andlar, Ivan Šimić i Jurica Protić

About this episode

What you'll hear in this conversation

For decades, Croatia's economy has been built on the quiet strength of family businesses. This conversation brings together three such companies—a plastic packaging manufacturer, a food producer, and a leading catering service—each with a history spanning decades and a shared strategic move: Halal certification. What might appear as a niche religious standard has, for these businesses, become a powerful engine for market expansion and a source of competitive differentiation. As Rok Andlar of Gets d.o.o. puts it, "every certificate you possess as a company is a competitive advantage." This conversation explores the operational realities of adopting such a standard, the unexpected markets it unlocked, and how a deep understanding of customer segments beyond the obvious can reshape an entire growth strategy.

Insights from the conversation

What to take from this episode

Gets d.o.o., a plastic packaging manufacturer, became the first and, for a long time, the only company in its sector to achieve Halal certification. Sometimes, the greatest competitive advantage comes from applying a niche standard to an upstream, seemingly unrelated industry, allowing downstream partners to complete their own Halal product chain.

For Gets d.o.o., the Halal certification process was straightforward because polyethylene, their core material, inherently met the requirements. Not every certification demands a radical operational overhaul; some simply require formalizing that existing practices already align with the new standard, making the primary effort one of documentation and communication.

Clarum, a food producer, adopted Halal in 2008 specifically to access the "ethnic market" in Europe, particularly Germany, and countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, with an eye on the Middle East. Export growth often requires targeting specific demographics within foreign markets, and a specialized certification can be the most direct path to serving those distinct consumer segments.

Clarum found that their Halal certification largely built upon their existing HACCP food safety protocols, requiring "small adjustments" rather than a complete redesign. For food manufacturers, implementing a new quality standard like Halal often means extending existing safety frameworks rather than starting from scratch, especially when core ingredients are already compliant.

Zvona Catering was the first catering company in Croatia to become Halal certified, recognizing an "undernourished niche" that led to continuous growth rates before the pandemic. Being the first to identify and serve an underserved niche, even in a mature industry, can establish market leadership and secure consistent growth by addressing demand competitors have overlooked.

Zvona Catering's biggest challenge in implementing Halal was finding certified suppliers and establishing separate preparation areas and tools to avoid cross-contamination. For service businesses, specialized certifications extend beyond the product itself, demanding a complete overhaul of the supply chain and operational segregation, creating a significant barrier to entry for competitors.

Jurica Protić notes that public perception of Halal often narrowly focuses on pork and alcohol, but the standard encompasses a much broader range of requirements. Companies pursuing specialized certifications must understand the full scope of requirements beyond common misconceptions, as the details of implementation are often more complex than initial assumptions suggest.

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