Family business established in 1991

Jitka and Miloš Špitálský started their business in primary agricultural production in 1991. On 6.3 hectares of land in the cadastral area of Přerov nad Labem, they concentrated on growing early potatoes and vegetables. With time, they expanded their business by acquiring new plant-growing areas with more diverse soil structure to be able to diversify the range of vegetables grown.

The business was gradually joined by subsidiaries such as Brazel, s.r.o., Akcent, spol. s.r.o., ZEMOS-AGRO SEDLČÁNKY zemědělská obchodní, a.s, ZVO s.r.o., and Agro Vyšehořovice a.s.  In 2019, the company structure changed substantially. AKCENT spol. s.r.o. and BRAZEL, s.r.o. merged with ZVO s.r.o, and all the rights and obligations from commercial contracts were transferred to ZVO s.r.o.. Marek Špitálský remained in the position of the Governing and Executive Director.

A generation change occurred in the leadership of ZVO Group in 2015 when Marek Špitálský became the Director and the management passed from father to son. Nevertheless, ZVO Group continues to operate as a major family business, cultivating land of an area of 4,300 hectares.

Odbytové družstvo Polabí (Polabí Sales Cooperative)

Odbytové družstvo Polabí, seated in Starý Vestec, is responsible for the sales and distribution of all the vegetables and potatoes grown. The cooperative is situated in a strategically favourable place (it has common borders with all the production subsidiaries and, as well, it is not far from the D11 highway). The cooperative possesses equipment for post-harvest treatment of vegetables and strives to use state-of-the-art technologies to be able to meet current market requirements.

 Besides ZVO Group’s products, the cooperatives sells vegetables produced also by its other members who are not related to ZVO Group by ownership structure. Currently, the cooperative delivers its vegetables and potatoes to a majority of chain stores in the Czech Republic.

Former Mochov freezing plant in

After having acquired the premises of the former Mochov freezing plant in 2016, the company could expand its storage capacities and focus on root vegetables, potatoes and celery root (including post-harvest treatment).  In addition, the company has gained a huge competitive advantage as it will now have a storage capacity of 9,000 t of potatoes and root vegetables.  With this capacity, we will be able to store and distribute potatoes and root vegetables of our own production for the entire year.

Certification – quality assurance

All our vegetables are produced in accordance with the Integrated Vegetables Production System (IPZ) and in accordance with GLOBALGAP, as documented by the certification process which we complete successfully on an annual basis.

Based on the Integrated Vegetables Production System (IPZ), we can produce high-quality vegetables, preferably by environment-friendly methods, and minimise the use of unwanted agrochemicals with undesirable side effects.

The vegetables grown in accordance with IPZ are subject to regular monitoring by an independent supervision authority.

GlobalGAP is a voluntary international private sector standard, designed for agricultural products.  It works as a practical manual for good agricultural practice (G.A.P.). 

GAP certification covers the following:  

• Food safety and tracking;
• Environment (including biodiversity);
• Health and safety at work and good life conditions for employees;
• Good life conditions for animals;
• Integrated Crop Management (ICM); Integrated Pest Control (IPC);
• QMS, risk analysis, and HACCP,