OUR STORY

Our story began in 1996 when two young businessmen decided to build a company. Since then much has changed as well as much has stayed the same. We are still the producer of high-qualified food products but we are developing day by day and trying to make our products better, quality higher, production capacity bigger and people happier.

THE BEGINNING

Young Swedish businessmen Johan Boden and Carl Sturen came to Ukraine for the first time in 1993. It was caused by cucumber crop lost in Estonia that year; so they had to look for replacement for the lost supplies in other states. Having come to Ukraine, they found a new platform for establishment of their own company. Looking for investors, Johan and Carl got support and understanding from Professor Hans Rausing — the founder of the Tetra Pak Company, a leading producer of food packaging. Young businessmen had to build the company and production facilities “from the scratch” — and they managed to do it.

1996

The Chumak company’s birthday is on May 29th, 1996 — a day when Ukrainian Private Joint Stock Company Chumak was launched with $4.1 million start-up capital. At the beginning, Chumak introduced ketchup to the customers. Heretofore nobody recognized ketchup as a type of food – the closest known product was tomato sauce. The Company successfully advocated for the official adoption of the "ketchup" term and launched the first ketchup-producing facility in Ukraine.

1997

The Company purchased its second production facility in Kherson region. After a thorough renovation, Chumak was able to process ripe Kherson tomatoes within hours after harvesting. This year marked the start of servicing McDonalds as Chumak became their first supplier in the CIS.

1998

The Chumak Company as a supplier of cucumbers, ketchup and sauces for McDonald's began to pass SQMS annual audits - Supplier Quality Management System (to identify McDonald's expectations with respect to quality management systems and food safety). SQMS audit covers the requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 22000, PAS 220 and McDonalds requirements.

1999

The Company introduced new environmentally safe packaging — EcoLean, a state-of-the-art packaging material that binds natural carbonates with plastics. Chumak significantly improved the vegetable growing technologies introducing drip irrigation to the Kherson region. The relevant system was deployed in Ukraine for the first time. They brought plastic drip irrigation pipes from Sweden to serve 20 hectares of land.

2000

This year, on the edge of two centuries, the Company grew by 78% as a result of successful sales-work and reasonable product positioning. Chumak also boasted the Europe’s largest cucumber field. The Company started co-packing cooperation with a leading Argentinean Food Company "Molinos de la Plata", producing sunflower oil under the brand Molinos.

2001

Chumak became the only producer in Ukraine that makes tomato juice using ripe fresh tomatoes, rather than tomato concentrate. The high-quality level of Chumak production was once again confirmed when the Company won the contract for producing Calve ketchup for Unilever.

2003

The Company introduced new tomato paste in a new convenient package Tetra Classic. The "Tomato Pyramid" quickly became popular among the customers as it is optimal for the one-time dosage of tomato paste for many dishes. In December, Chumak launched ketchup in doy packs, which quickly gained popularity because of high quality and excellent taste.

2005

Chumak brand captured major market shares in all its main categories. Major news included new varieties of ketchup and mayonnaise as well as targeted offers for the catering market. Chumak took part in developing condiment culture by launching two new lines of products: Chumak Condiment Sauces and Salad Dressings "Salad+".

2007

The Chumak Company put into operation the largest tomato processing plant in the Central and Eastern Europe. The Company processes tomatoes using technologies and equipment of leading European manufacturers, which ensure high processing efficiency of excellent quality of products.

2008

The Company introduced a new technology for production of preserving agents-free mayonnaise. In March 2008, the Investment Company Dragon Capital and East Capital Bering Ukraine Fund jointly bought 70% stock of Chumak from one of the company’s co-founders — Professor Hans Rausing. In 2009, Chumak was certified of Safety Management System of Food for compliance with the national standard DSTU ISO 22000 Ukraine, which corresponds to the international standard ISO 22000: 2008.

2010

Chumak launched new pasta plant. In addition, the Company started to offer spaghetti sauces – the product that is absolutely new for Ukrainian market. In 2011, the Company launched a new type of pasta of soft wheat. This pasta combines Italian quality and interesting price for consumers.

2012

Chumak offered to consumers a new line of natural juices produced from local fruits. The line includes popular tastes such as Apple, Multifruit, Apple-Grape, Peach and others. In 2012, with a score of 84% out of 100%, Chumak passed SCQM audit of Heinz Company. In 2013, Chumak introduced new product – Ketchup for Children, which was recognized as the most successful launch of the year.

2014

The Company launched new fruit product for children above three-year-old - smoothie “Fruzi” in suitable tetra classic package. Chumak passed the audit for compliance with integrated safety management system and the quality of food products ordered by Auchan and the result of testing was 99% from 100%. As a result of the audit for compliance with the system of quality and safety food management by company Metro, Chumak gained respectively 99% from 100%.

2015

The Chumak Company launched Yellow ketchup – a unique product on the world market of tomato ketchup. The next step in the development of the Сompany was the certification of safety management system of food products for compliance with the FSSC 22000 certification. The reason was the requirement of clients such as Unilever, trade networks of the EU and Ukraine. FSSC 22000 - one of the certification schemes for processing of food products, approved by the Global Initiative for Food Safety Standards - GFSI.

2016

The Company launched new products: Ketchup Light with stevia extract which totally replaces sugar and Ketchup Red hot with spicy jalapeno pepper. Chumak achieved certification according to the results of the certification audit for FSSC 22000 certification for the production of pasta. Now Chumak is aimed at the promotion of its products in Europe and the USA, so at the beginning of 2017, it is planning to pass the audit for compliance with the international global standard BRC GFSI series.

2017

CHUMAK has successful passed BRC audit with A and AA grades. The audit scope for main production facility (tomato paste, ketchup, red sauces, mayo and white sauces, juices) received A grade while the audit scope for pasta production facility received a grade of AA, the highest grade possible for BRC audit. The decision to obtain BRC Global Standards certification came from the CHUMAK export strategy where the quality and safety guarantee is a fundamental requirement for every retailer or distributor.

2019

From 2019 Chumak company is owned by Delta Wilmar - the Ukraine affiliate of Wilmar International Ltd Singapore, one of Asia’s leading agribusiness group.