VAFO, one of the largest producers of superpremium pet foods in Europe, works hard to ensure that its successes make a positive impact in the places where it does business. Every year, VAFO spends millions of crowns on public benefit activities across the continent, with the majority of them concentrated in its home country, the Czech Republic, where it has its headquarters and several factories. For instance, the company recently organized its third annual VAFO SPOLUbydlíme (VAFO COhabitate) grant program, through which it supports local projects near its factories and also donates tens of tonnes of pet food to area animal shelters.
As the VAFO logo clearly indicates, the company makes products for dogs and cats with love and the highest possible quality to provide them with the absolute best care. And it’s been doing so very successfully for nearly 30 years now. In that time, VAFO products have become immensely popular among customers, and demand for them means that today VAFO brands are found in countries all over the world. But the company’s activities don’t stop with sales alone. It pursues a number of projects aimed at putting its success back into the communities it operates in by promoting happiness and welfare.
At the end of last year, VAFO introduced the 100% climate-neutral brand Planet Pet Society, which uses so-called second-chance raw materials. But by no means is a sustainable approach the brand’s only defining characteristic. A full one percent of all sales goes to the restoration of the Baltic Sea, whose waters bathe the shores of countries in which VAFO has production facilities. “In cooperation with the Finnish nonprofit organization John Nurmisen Säätiö, we’re doing our part to help restore the Baltic Sea, its flora, and the entire ecosystem. We subscribe to the idea giving back to places we take from. Four of the seven companies comprising VAFO Group are based in Baltic countries. We’re also offsetting our carbon footprint with the new Brit Care Sustainable. In cooperation with the organization MyClimate, we support projects at both the local and global level that focus on restoring and protecting the environment,” explains Tereza Alvarez Sone, marketing manager at VAFO Group.
And VAFO remains true to its Czech roots, too, by supporting local charity projects. The VAFO SPOLUbydlíme grant program is currently in its third year, and to date it has raised more than CZK 5 million in support of public benefit activities in the vicinity of its production facilities in Chrášťany and Číčenice. The supported projects typically focus on children’s activities and support for various nonprofit organizations and associations. “In addition to the VAFO SPOLUbydlíme grants, we also work with the bakery U Dvou rohlíků, which helps people with disabilities by providing them with jobs and social rehabilitation services. Last year, they prepared traditional Czech sweets for us, which we sent to our customers around the world,” adds Alvarez Sone.
VAFO also watches out for its four-legged companions all over Europe by donating more than 100 tonnes of pet food per year. In the Czech Republic, it has been filling bowls for abandoned dogs and cats for seven straight years through its Clik&Feed platform, and since 2021 it has donated large quantities of pet food to war-torn Ukraine. In Poland, the company rebuilt a shelter for old animals and puppies that had been destroyed by fire years earlier.
