Eisberg Hungary is celebrating its 30th anniversary, a company whose journey began when McDonald’s, expanding into post-Communist Hungary, needed a reliable local supplier for salads. Today, Eisberg not only produces its own products but also supplies packaged, ready-to-eat vegetables to nearly all domestic retail and fast-food chains. Zoltán Gazsi, the company’s managing director, gave a tour of the Gyál plant and shared insights on how they tackle inflation, climate change, and raw material shortages.

It’s easy to speak positively about business strategies, company visions, and impressive financial results, boasting about profits. However, the real test lies in the impression left after a plant tour. To use an extreme example, you might leave thinking, “Thanks, but now that I’ve seen it all, I’ll never eat that food again.” (I’m sure a similar unpleasant culinary experience has just popped into your mind.)

Fortunately, stepping out of Eisberg Hungary’s headquarters in Gyál, the feeling was quite the opposite: a product that was already likeable and frequently featured on our table now became a true favorite—what we’d call a “love brand” these days. This refers to the nearly 30-year-old facility, where 200 employees work on 5,000 square meters using professional sorting, washing, drying, and packaging machines to produce fresh, ready-to-eat salads in bulk.

The experience began with a long, choreographed hygiene ritual before entering the so-called “clean zone.” A kindly strict supervisor guided us through the process, starting with donning a mask—something we did almost instinctively after two years of COVID—followed by gloves (necessary for those with nail polish). Earrings had to be removed, and we were given fleece pullovers and white protective coats.

The ritual didn’t end there: no hair strand was allowed to stick out from under the hairnet, and sandals had to be swapped for spotless, freshly unpacked white rubber boots in a designated area. These boots then had to be scrubbed clean by two sets of brushes before entering the fresh, green-scented world of lettuces, lollo rosso, spinach, endive, arugula, and batavia. Beforehand, thorough hand washing and disinfection were mandatory.

Eliminating Ladybugs

“From a food safety perspective, which is more problematic: a hair strand or a ladybug?” asked Zoltán Gazsi, managing director of Eisberg Hungary, as he guided us through the plant and enthusiastically demonstrated various clever salad-processing machines. The correct answer is that a hair strand poses almost no food safety risk but is incredibly unappealing in food. Meanwhile, a ladybug—despite its charm—poses a risk because it’s uncertain what surfaces it previously crawled on.

At Eisberg Hungary’s finely tuned plant, every effort is made to ensure neither ends up in a salad bag and that the finished product is impeccably clean and safe. As the latest slang puts it, everything is “spotless.”

One example is their optical sorting machine, which uses infrared, laser, and color cameras to detect foreign materials among the sea of salad leaves on the conveyor belt. It then removes them with high-pressure air jets. Gazsi and the machine operator proudly demonstrated this “toy,” which is tested with materials like stones, wood, metal, and plastic before each operation. After sorting, there’s thorough washing, precise cutting, and drying—a process reminiscent of a hair salon, but for lettuce. And we’re talking about an enormous amount of lettuce.

The warmth between Gazsi and the employees is also says a lot. Everywhere we went, workers greeted him with broad smiles and, where hygienic, even heartfelt hugs. “This isn’t a show for you,” Gazsi said. “This is how it always is when I visit the plant. The ‘hugging ladies’ can’t resist.” Though he admits he can’t operate every machine, Gazsi can, in theory, cut lettuce—albeit not as quickly as his colleagues on the vegetable chopping line.

“Fifteen years ago, when I became the head of Eisberg Hungary, I worked on the production line for six months to learn the processes and understand the physical demands of each role. When I came home dirty and exhausted after evening shifts, my wife eventually asked, ‘Are you sure they hired you as a director?’” Gazsi recalled of his early factory days.

As managing director, Gazsi bears significant responsibility. Eisberg Hungary supplies pre-packaged, ready-to-eat salads to most retail and fast-food chains in Hungary, either under private labels or the Eisberg brand. Quality assurance is equally stringent for both, with differences only in recipes and cut sizes. For example, if a retail chain wants a cheaper product, more cabbage and carrots can replace lamb’s lettuce or rucola upon request.

Balancing on a Tightrope

Gazsi explained that rising raw material and food prices are only part of the problem. The real headaches are climate change and labor shortages, which have plagued the company for the past five to six years in what they call a “continuous raw material crisis.” This means securing the required quantity and quality of raw materials demands increasing effort, with daily re-planning based on availability.

“For instance, one of our key raw materials, iceberg lettuce, can no longer be grown in Hungary during the increasingly hot months of June to mid-September. During this period, we source lettuce from cooler regions like Poland or Germany. But it’s not simple abroad, either. In winter, Spain—the largest European grower—faces irrigation water shortages, sandstorms, and floods. Meanwhile, heatwaves in Italy complicate baby leaf cultivation,” Zoltán Gazsi lists the problems caused by global warming.

The Managing Director adds: their work is essentially a major logistical operation. The quality of raw materials, even with the most professional cultivation, is highly subject to the whims of nature. At the same time, Eisberg Hungary races against time, as their primary raw material, lettuce, is highly perishable with a relatively short shelf life. Because of these short expiration dates, they cannot produce for stock in advance; instead, their production aligns strictly with incoming daily orders.

Beyond the daily challenges posed by raw material shortages, Eisberg Hungary also faces the global rise in the costs of raw materials, packaging, energy, and labor. Despite these obstacles, the company has managed to hold on, attempting to survive with a relatively modest price increase of 10-15% in the spring—low by market standards. The company’s strategy so far has been to offset rising costs by improving the internal efficiency of the plant and organization, trying to minimize losses internally for as long as possible.

“I see several companies around us in the market faltering. After raising their prices sharply—sometimes by as much as 60%—their sales volume starts to decline, manufacturing capacity utilization drops, and this creates further problems. We’re all walking a tightrope right now, trying to find the price level that consumers can still bear without us going bankrupt,” shared Gazsi Zoltán with Index regarding the dilemmas of the market.

Salad as a Luxury Item?

Until now, Eisberg Hungary has grown its turnover by 8–10% annually. Whether they can maintain this growth under current price conditions is uncertain. Gazsi Zoltán believes an even bigger mystery is the future of salad consumption in Hungary. There is market potential, as statistics show that in Switzerland, annual per capita salad consumption is 8 to 8.5 kilograms, while in Hungary—one of Europe’s most obese countries—it is less than 1 kilogram.

“For me personally—and I’m not saying this as an advertisement—there’s always something green on my plate. For me, breakfast isn’t complete without salad next to scrambled eggs. However, we don’t know what decisions consumers will make as prices continue to rise. Have we reached the point where they say, ‘I can’t afford much, but I’ll still buy salad’? Or will salad be the first thing they leave out of their shopping carts, opting instead for bread, butter, and cold cuts?” Gazsi wonders. For now, he cannot predict how consumer behavior will develop. Nevertheless, he envisions a future where the market will likely segment. One group will integrate salad into their lives so thoroughly that they consistently purchase it, willing to pay for its special ingredients and convenience. Another group will turn to simpler, cheaper mixes based on carrots and cabbage. The rest may drop out of the market entirely.

“The combination of global labor shortages and climate change is causing significant losses for everyone in the industry. For example, a major heatwave can destroy crops or lead to overlapping planting cycles. This disrupts the market with overproduction, followed a few days later by skyrocketing prices due to shortages. That’s why I don’t find it unlikely that in the future, we’ll have to pay much more for all high-quality and properly food-safe products,” Gazsi Zoltán explains, outlining a potential future for the sector.

(Source: index.hu)