"Since we started the internationalization process in the 1990s, our employees in Veneto have almost quadrupled." This is confirmed by Roberto Brazzale, president of the Vicenza-based dairy group of the same name, from Zané, precisely, with more than 200 years of history. In 2022, the company had a turnover of more than 300 million euros with exports going to 70 countries. At the last Tuttofood it presented itself with the latest in recyclable packaging in paper for freshly grated Gran Moravia made by the Brazzale Science nutrition food & research center "that enhances the product's characteristics".

The company has, in the Veneto region, five operating sites with about 500 employees today between Alto Vicentino and Alta Padovana: another 500 are in the Czech Republic, where since 2000 Brazzale has developed a plant, integrated with the Italian ones, that processes about 800 thousand liters of milk a day, 80 percent of what the group processes in Europe. It also operates in the central European country with its own chain of 25 stores, La Formaggeria Gran Moravia, which sells 600 items of Italian food products of various kinds, not just dairy products.

"In the Alto Vicentino area, where today there are three times as many staff as there were 20 years ago, we have invested 60 million euros in the last 10 years -Brazzale continues-. This includes the robotic warehouse in Cogollo del Cengio, which is energy self-sufficient with a photovoltaic system and is giving us great satisfaction. And the average professional level of our employees has greatly increased. In addition to technicians and workers, for whose training we rely so much on the collaboration with the Itet Aulio Ceccato in Thiene, we need more and more figures able to follow complex processes in Italy and abroad for production, logistics, commercial". 

In China, the world's largest importer of dairy products, the group has a plant for the domestic market that processes local milk and semi-finished products from Europe: in Brazil, on the other hand, it is present with a beef cattle farm for the domestic market, as well as having planted a forest with one and a half million trees for CO₂ offsetting.

In order to invest in milk supply and initial processing of traditional Italian cheeses in Moravia, Brazzale abandoned the PDO label, facing criticism that rained down from many quarters. "Today -explains Brazzale reported by Northeast Economy- between the two countries we have a seamless supply chain and production process that makes us unique in Europe in our sector. The Czech Republic is a great producer of excellent quality milk, with a suitable climate: just think that the availability of farmland is ten times that of Italy, and forages are excellent without the need for artificial irrigation".

"If you want to grow by serving an international market that demands Italian food, you need to go where there are adequate resources in terms of quantity and quality -he adds-. But in Italy resources are limited. The success of our investment in Moravia is an example of how in a system of global value chains, you need to think in global terms without putting boundaries limits. Otherwise you don't grow, and you have less good and less competitive products".