Transylvania food company is located in the Saxon village Saschiz. We weren’t allowed to visit their factory, but some of the employees were willingly sharing information about their company. Besides, they had a shop where all their products were for sale.
It was founded by the Scotsman Jim Turnbull, one of the founders of the Adept foundation, in 2005.
Their main product is elder flower cordial whose main ingredient, elder flower, is picked by local people, mainly the the poorest ones in the village, in early summer. The permanent staff amounts to 8, while seasonal workers in 2012 were about 1200. They picked more than 27 tonnes of elder flower in May and June 2012.
Emphasis is made on providing fair wages and let everyone have a contract such that noone is being exploited in any way. In any case, the company does not do charity and it has to make money in order to pay their workers.
Using wild fruits, fruits from meadows, orchards and gardens, they produce various types of syrup and jam using the following:
- blackberry
- cornelion cherries
- raspberry
- bilberry
- wax cherry
- strawberry
- rose hip
- apples
- plums
- nuts
- morello cherry
- quince
- apricot
- blackcurrant
- rhubarb
- raspberry
The seasonal workers are only employed for about a month each year, but the company is planning to expand such that they should employ workers for up to half a year.
An interesting video can be watched here.
