Sweden

The Kronfågel brand has enabled Swedes to enjoy great chicken for the past 50 years. Over the years, the brand has built a firm reputation for being the favourite chicken brand that’s highly trusted for quality and taste. In fact, the brand is so loved that it actually had one day of the week dedicated to a Kronfågel dinner. The brand brings longstanding family values which appeals to both young and matured consumers. Kronfågel offers products within both Ready-to-eat and Ready-to-cook categories and is known for innovative product offerings and the packaging of different cuts.

Interview with Country Manager Fredrik Strømmen

Kronfågel is a market leader within chicken products in Sweden and has several strong brands. Customers are found within retail, catering kitchens, restaurants and industry. Since its founding 50 years ago, Kronfågel’s ambition has been clear: to do good for people, chickens and our planet.

In 2022, Kronfågel focused intensively on reviewing its entire organisation. This resulted in a special development programme comprising ten concrete measures to strengthen Kronfågel’s work with animal welfare, sustainability and health.

“For example, our aim is to be world leading in low antibiotics usage, to phase out soy in favour of more climatesmart feed, and to reduce the use of plastics by 30 per cent by 2025,” Fredrik Strømmen, CEO of Kronfågel, explained.

One of the reasons for the review was that Kronfågel had lost trust among Swedish consumers in connection with media scrutiny.

“We went from one position to another in a short time. Since 2021, our efforts have largely been to win back the trust of consumers,” explained Fredrik Strømmen. We have stepped up our efforts with communication and been more transparent about how we work.

Increased collaboration throughout the value chain

All of the work we have undertaken has entailed increased collaboration within Kronfågel, as well as with growers, suppliers and other stakeholders.

“Many small changes have been made. We are now getting more organisational functions to work together, which, moving forward, is important for our creation of a winning culture,” Fredrik Strømmen explained.

“For example, during the year, Kronfågel conducted close dialogues with Katrineholm Municipality, where the Valla production plant is located. The talks pertained to environmental issues from the discharge of process water where Kronfågel operates, and were aimed at reducing water consumption phosphorus and nitrogen.”

Product development in collaboration with customers

In April 2022, Kronfågel launched the product, Grand Chicken, jointly with the Max Hamburger chain of restaurants, which was highly successful in terms of sales in 2022.

“When we add it all up, nearly 1,000 tonnes of chicken fillets were sold as chicken burgers by the Max chain in 2022. This is a good example of how we can work closely with customers to jointly generate greater value,” Fredrik Strømmen explained.