A partnership turns into a success story

Even before the two companies started working together in 2014, Vafo was already present with its products in Ukraine. However, Pavel Bouška, who has been CEO of Vafo for many years and Chairman of the Board for several years, was not entirely satisfied with the distributor for Ukraine at the time. He was looking for a new business partner for the country, which has a population of over 45 mio at that time. In 2013, Bouška met Polina Kosharna. The young woman and her family founded the company Suziria in 1993 with a 6 m² pet shop in Kharkiv. For a long time, the young company only operated in the Kharkiv region.

After her father’s death in 2010, Polina Kosharna took over sole responsibility for the family business as CEO. She had big plans. She wanted to import pet products from abroad and gradually build up a distribution network across Ukraine. Kosharna built Master Zoo, a nationwide pet supply chain that could easily compete with Western specialty retail groups in terms of product range and quality of presentation. From the outset, Bouška was impressed by the efficiency and professionalism of the Ukrainian company. Like Kosharna, he had ambitious goals for his company. He wanted to develop Vafo into one of Europe’s leading pet food manufacturers – a plan that he and his team pursued with the same determination that Kosharna had brought to the development of Suziria. From the outset, Bouška saw great potential for growth in the Ukrainian pet food market. The two business partners hit it off and steadily expanded their collaboration in the years that followed.  

According to Bouška, Vafo is now number two in the Ukrainian dry dog food market in terms of both sales and tonnage. In the cat dry food segment, the company is “only” number five in terms of tonnage, but number four in terms of sales. However, Bouška is confident that the company will continue to gain ground in the cat food segment in the coming years.

In an interview with PET worldwide, Kosharna and Bouška stressed that their collaboration has been very direct, trusting and honest from the start. When problems arose, they were not swept under the carpet, but practical solutions were sought. From the outset, both companies were committed to serving their retail partners as locally and individually as possible. These efforts, together with Vafo’s extensive and high-quality range, made a big impression on them and played a major role in the steady growth of the Czech pet food manufacturer’s brands in Ukraine.

Then came 24 February 2022, the day Russia invaded Ukraine. Bouška had just visited Suziria in Kharkiv. He and Kosharna had been discussing joint projects and plans for further growth in the Ukrainian pet food market. The war changed everything. But the partnership between the two companies remained intact and even strengthened as well as the pet market in Ukraine. Vafo selflessly helped Suziria employees and their families who had fled abroad before the war, providing not only a roof over the heads of those made homeless overnight, but also the necessities of life. The joint relief efforts of the two companies to support animal shelters in Ukraine or to supply the Ukrainian pet trade with goods were also impressive. Vafo and Suziria have worked hand in hand and have not been discouraged by the depressing situation in Ukraine. What is almost unbelievable to outsiders is that Suziria has not let the brutal war stop it from growing. “We can’t let the war affect our lives too much,” says Kosharna confidently. She acted accordingly. As Kharkiv became one of the most contested areas, Suziria moved much of its inventory to other locations in the country. New logistics centres and production facilities were set up in the Kyiv area, in Lviv and in Kalush to serve customers across the country. Although 11 Master Zoo stores were destroyed during the war (4 of them have been rebuilt), the pet retail chain continued to expand despite the missiles and drones that Russia fired at Ukraine.

Suziria now operates around 200 Master Zoo specialist stores across the country and expansion is set to continue. This year alone, 30 new sites are planned. The group, which has been built up over the last 32 years, consists of Suziria Ukraine, Suziria Brands and the national pet retailer Master Zoo. The company group operates throughout Ukraine and internationally, producing and globalising its own brands: Savory, Half&Half, Pryroda, Puramur, Special One, Provet and Pet Fashion. The Suziria Group aims to increase its current market share of 15 per cent to 20 per cent by 2027. By working together to sustain the Ukrainian pet industry and supporting their retail partners, Suziria and Vafo are on track to achieve double-digit growth for the Vafo brands in 2023 and 2024, despite the war. Like Kosharna, Bouška is optimistic about the future of the Ukrainian pet market.

Vafo plans to continue to invest heavily in the Ukrainian market to ensure that pet ownership continues to thrive there. Bouška: “We want to help the country return to normality as soon as possible.”