ZIV

What ZIV does

ZIV EOOD is a privately held Bulgarian confectionery manufacturer founded in 1994 and headquartered in Varna. The company produces biscuits, wafers, croissants, chocolate, candies, cake bars, spreads, salty snacks, sugar-free variants, protein-enriched products, and fruit beverages across a portfolio of seven brand identities (Sweet Plus+, SaLza, 22 Carats, Crystal, Zido, ot Mazzetto, Beliva). Operations are anchored by three automated production facilities: Balchik (28,000 m², 14 production lines), Veliko Tarnovo (7,000 m² production area, 6 lines), and Varna (salty snacks and bakery). The company holds ISO 9001:2015, ISO 22000, BRC Global Standard, IFS, RSPO, and UTZ certifications, supporting both branded manufacturing and private-label capability.

ZIV's go-to-market is multi-channel. In Bulgaria, the company sells through a chain of 8 factory stores (Balchik, Varna, Sofia, Pazardjik, Stara Zagora, Shumen, Graf Ignatievo) and its own e-commerce platform (ziv-eshop.bg). Internationally, products reach over 40 countries through country-specific distributors across Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. The company is the largest Bulgarian-owned confectionery manufacturer, ranks fourth among Bulgaria's Top 25 confectionery manufacturers, and is the second-largest exporter in the segment. Revenue is generated through unit-pricing of packaged consumer goods, with no public revenue disclosure; the company is funded entirely by operating cash flow with no disclosed institutional investment.

Name

ZIV

Legal name

"ЗИВ" ЕООД

Website

https://ziv.bg

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

ZIV is a Bulgarian confectionery manufacturer producing biscuits, wafers, croissants, spreads, snacks, sugar-free and protein products, and fruit beverages under brands including Sweet Plus+, SaLza, Crystal, and Beliva, sold in 40+ countries and through 8 own factory stores in Bulgaria.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Confectionery Manufacturing

NAICS

Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing (3113), Snack Food Manufacturing (31191), Nonchocolate Confectionery Manufacturing (311340)

SIC

Sugar & Confectionery Products (2060), Bakery Products (2050), Cookies & Crackers (2052)

akta.pro primary industry

Chocolate & Candy Snacks Manufacturing (AFAKAIAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Sugar Confectionery (Gummies, Hard Candy, Chews) (CRADABAB), Spreads, Sweeteners & Syrups (Jam, Honey, Nut Butters, Maple) (CRADAAAC)

Keywords

• Confectionery manufacturing
• Biscuits and wafers
• Salty snacks
• Sugar-free products
• Spreads and creams

Headquarters

HQ city

Varna

HQ country

Bulgaria

HQ region

Europe

Offices12 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Confectionery Manufacturing and Sales: ZIV generates revenue through manufacturing and selling a wide range of confectionery products including biscuits, wafers, cake bars, chocolates, candies, snacks, and spreads. Products are sold through own retail stores, e-commerce platform, and through extensive distributor networks in over 40 countries worldwide.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

ZIV manufactures and sells a wide range of confectionery products including biscuits, wafers, cake bars, croissants, chocolates, candies, spreads, salty snacks, protein-enhanced products, and fruit beverages. Products are sold through a chain of 8 own factory stores across Bulgaria, an own e-commerce platform (ziv-eshop.bg), and an international distributor network covering over 40 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and South America.

Product overview

ZIV is a Bulgarian confectionery manufacturer offering a diversified portfolio of sweet and savory food products across multiple brands. The core Sweet Plus+ brand encompasses biscuits, wafers, chocolates, candies, and creams sold worldwide. The SaLza brand covers salty snacks including grissini, bread snacks, and crispy rolls. Specialized product lines include PROTEIN (high-protein wafers, bars, and spreads), SUGAR FREE (sugar-free biscuits and wafers with polyol sweeteners), and ZERO SUGAR ADDED (no-added-sugar wafer products). The Beliva sub-brand offers nut and seed-based spreads in various flavors including hazelnut, peanut, coconut, halva, and Dubai-style. Premium offerings include 22 Carats croissants, Crystal heritage confectionery (acquired 2022), and ot Mazzetto fruit drinks. The company operates three production facilities in Balchik, Varna, and Veliko Tarnovo, producing over 40 product categories sold in more than 40 countries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Sweet Plus+: Main brand under which sweet products are sold – biscuits, wafers, sponge cakes, chocolates, candies. Created in 2002, current logo established in 2006. Sold worldwide with warranty of great and consistent quality.
• CRYSTAL
• SaLza
• 22 Carats
• Zido Whole Food
• ot Mazzetto

Products and services

• Sweet Plus+ Main brand under which ZIV sells sweet confectionery products including biscuits, wafers, sponge cakes, chocolates, and candies, sold worldwide with consistent quality.
• SaLza Brand for salty products including salty biscuits, grissini, bread snacks, and rusks, featuring natural spices, Himalayan salt, and seeds.
• 22 Carats Premium croissant brand with DUO variants featuring two types of cream fillings, offering French-style croissants with Bulgarian quality.
• Crystal Heritage confectionery brand producing chocolates, hard candies, biscuits, waffles, and Turkish delight under sub-brands Amphora, Surprise, Tea, Trimontium, Maritsa, and The Ball.
• Zido Whole Food Whole food brand offering minimally processed foods including wholegrain flours and seeds, fats, sea salt, brown sugar, dried fruit, and raw nuts.
• ot Mazzetto Fruit drinks and syrups brand containing pieces of natural fruits, produced without colourants, flavourings, or preservatives, packaged only in glass bottles.
• Beliva Spreads and Creams Spread and cream brand offering hazelnut, peanut, coconut, halva, Dubai (pistachio and kadaif), and sugar-free variants made with nuts, milk, cocoa, coconut, and sunflower tahini.
• CHUDO/RYDO Protein Line Protein-enhanced product line including coated protein wafers, protein bars, protein waffles, and protein spreads, all sugar-free with sweeteners and formulated with pea, rice, hydrolysed beef collagen, and whey protein.
• Sugar Free and Zero Sugar Added Line Sugar-free biscuits, wafers, and wafer cakes with zero added sugar, using polyol sweeteners (maltitol) for health-conscious consumers, including cocoa and coconut biscuits, chocolate-coated biscuits, wafer rolls, and mini wafers.
• Marshbon Marshmallow Candies Marshmallow candies available in strawberry, banana, Ringo, and Twist formats, made with sugar, glucose syrup, and bovine gelatin.
• Kids Zone Baby Biscuits Biscuits designed for children including milk biscuits, baby biscuits with milk, banana, and einkorn variants, fortified with vitamins B1, B2, B6, B9, B12 and calcium.

Quantifiable outcome

• Fourth largest confectionery manufacturer in Bulgaria
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Gemeos GmbH (Austria)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOfficial distributor for Austria. Address: Schulstraße 4, 4484 Kronstorf, Austria. Trade-consulting-logistics services.
• Monolith International GmbH (Germany)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDistributor in Germany. Address: Hertzstr. 3/1, 71083 Herrenberg, Germany.
• EFENİL GIDA İNŞ. TURZ. TEK. MAK. TEM. SAN. TİC. LTD. ŞTİ. (Turkey)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTurkish distributor and sales partner. Address: Yunuseli Mh. 666 Sok.No:2 BURSA, Turkey. Also serves as distributor in Germany.
• Malincho International (USA)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUS distributor. Address: 2545 Fire Rd Ste 3, Egg Harbor Township, 08234-5667 New Jersey, USA.
• EURO FOOD & DRINKS LTD (UK)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUK distributor. Address: Unit 3, 38 Lockfield Avenue, EN3 7PY, Brimsdown, London, UK.
• BG AIDA IMPORT EXPORT Ltd (UK)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUK distributor. Address: EN11 0BZ, Hoddesdon, UK. Phone: 020 8801 4848.
• SIA SALDUMI (Latvia)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLatvian distributor. Address: Brīvības 90, Rīga, LV-1001 Latvija.
• UAB GRŪSTĖ (Lithuania)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLithuanian distributor. Address: Naftininku str. 38-2, LT-89132 Mazeikiai, Lithuania.
• Amanos Brand SRL (Romania)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRomanian distributor. Address: Sat Afumati comuna Afumati, soseaua Bucuresti-urziceni Nr. 64B. VAT: RO43050835.
• LUCIFER BRANDS SRL (Romania)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRomanian distributor. Address: Bd Ficusului nr.21, Bucharest, Romania.
• Kunming Danhui ipm&Exp Trading Co., Ltd. (China)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorChinese distributor. Address: Room306, 3rd floor, N5 building, Kaixuan garden, South 3rd ring road, Xishan District, Kunming city, Yunnan Province.
• NAMGO razvojno poslovanje d.o.o. (Croatia)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCroatian distributor. Address: Kraljevec 72/1, Zagreb, Croatia.
• Zeidan import AB (Sweden)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSwedish distributor. Address: Nässjö, Sweden.
• MAYFERE sarl (Portugal)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPortuguese distributor. Contact: [email protected], Tel: +33 4 68873366.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Loacker: Italian wafer and chocolate confectionery specialist (Loacker Quadratini, wafer bars). Directly comparable to ZIV's wafer category focus at Balchik and Veliko Tarnovo facilities, with similar mid-sized European family-owned manufacturer profile.
• Bahlsen: German family-owned biscuit and wafer manufacturer (Leibniz, Pick Up, Choco Crossies). Closest product-line match to ZIV's Sweet Plus+ biscuits and wafer portfolio, both serving European retail with branded and private-label baked confectionery.
• Manner: Austrian wafer confectionery manufacturer (Manner Schnitten, wafer rolls). Closely comparable product mix centered on wafers, similar export-driven distribution model across Central/Eastern Europe, and family-owned heritage positioning comparable to ZIV.

Broad incumbents

• Ferrero: Global confectionery leader (Ferrero Rocher, Kinder, Nutella, Tic Tac). Competes in chocolate spreads (Beliva competes with Nutella adjacent segments), chocolate bars, and snacks, and represents the premium incumbent ZIV benchmarks against in Eastern Europe.
• Mondelez International: Global confectionery major (Oreo, Cadbury, Milka, Toblerone). Competes with ZIV across biscuit and chocolate categories globally, and sets the shelf-space and pricing benchmark ZIV must meet in European retail channels.
• Orkla Foods (Confectionery & Snacks): Nordic-headquartered branded consumer goods group with confectionery and snacks divisions (Nidar, KiMs, Kalev). Broad incumbent in the European confectionery and snacks category, comparable product breadth and multi-category branded model.
• Nestlé Confectionery: Global confectionery and biscuits operator (KitKat, Smarties, After Eight). Major incumbent across ZIV's sweet and wafer categories, with significantly larger marketing budgets and retailer negotiating power in European markets where ZIV exports.
• pladis (Yildiz Holding): Owner of United Biscuits and Godiva; major biscuit and confectionery player with deep European retail relationships. Direct incumbent pressure on ZIV's biscuit and wafer categories through McVitie's and private-label partnerships.

Regional players

• Kras (Kandita / Kraš): Croatian confectionery manufacturer (Kras, Zvečevo). Direct Balkan peer competing with ZIV in Croatia, Bosnia, and across the Adriatic region; similar scale and export-driven model with national heritage branding.
• Kandia Dulce: Romania-based chocolate and confectionery manufacturer (Kandia, ROM). Comparable Eastern European family-grown confectionery player, head-to-head competitor in Romania (one of ZIV's named export markets) and across the Balkans.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SweetPlus_BG
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCsR48OHiTP5zDdM7yer-04w?view_as=subscriber
• Facebookfacebook.com/sweetplus.bg
• Instagraminstagram.com/sweet_plus_bg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ziv-ltd-bulgaria

Compliance6 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ZIV