Koprivnica-Krizevci County
Home of Podravka and Vegeta seasoning (invented 1959), plus the Hlebine School of naive art. One company's success built an entire regional economy—and created corresponding vulnerability.
In 1959, Zlata Bartl—a Bosnian Croat chemist working at a small food company in Koprivnica—mixed salt, dehydrated vegetables, and flavor enhancers into a blend she called Vegeta. It became one of the most successful condiments in European history, sold in 70 countries, generating hundreds of millions in revenue. The company was Podravka, founded by the Wolf brothers in 1934. Today Podravka and its pharmaceutical spinoff Belupo together employ thousands, dominating a county of 101,000 people. Koprivnica-Križevci demonstrates what happens when a single company creates an entire regional economy.
The county occupies the Podravina—the Drava River lowlands along the Hungarian border, where rich alluvial soil supports grain and vegetable cultivation. Koprivnica itself received royal charter as a free trading town in 1356, became a Military Frontier garrison in the 16th century, then reverted to merchant life after Maria Theresa's 1765 decree. The 1863 railway connection transformed the town into an industrial center, but it was Podravka's 20th-century growth that defined its modern character.
The county also produced an unexpected cultural export. In the 1930s, farmer Ivan Generalić began painting rural scenes in the village of Hlebine. Art critic Krsto Hegedušić recognized his work and promoted what became the Hlebine School of naive art—peasant painters depicting Podravina landscapes with luminous colors and dreamlike detail. Today the Gallery of Naive Art holds over 1,000 works, and the Podravina motifs festival turns Koprivnica into an open-air gallery.
The county's revenue reached €2.34 billion in 2023, up nearly 5% from the previous year—strong performance driven largely by Podravka's exports and Carlsberg's brewery operations. But this success creates vulnerability: when one company anchors an economy this comprehensively, its fortunes determine the region's fate. By 2026, the question is whether Podravka's continued expansion—including a €48 million logistics center opened in November 2024—can offset the demographic pressures draining workers to Zagreb and beyond.