We have been a strong partner for the fruit industry since 1951
Today, more than 70 years later, 200 employees are still working relentlessly to satisfy your needs for high quality products and outstanding customer service!
Hans Zipperle founded the family business in 1951 as a bottling company with three employees in a post-war building rented from the Italian military. They quickly recognised market trends and began to expand by exporting grape juice to Germany.
Around that time, more than 70 years ago, we started bottling our own apple juice and grape juice. The first customers are acquired by bicycle and the company soon delivers to several pubs and hotels in the area: it marks the start of a traditional South Tyrolean brand.
Still located in sunny Merano the company grew steadily and rapidly. The original leased building was purchased from the military and the expansion continued. New storage cellars and production facilities were built. Hydraulic presses were now used and a big step was taken by starting the production of juice concentrates.
The bottling business of our own beverages for local customers also continued to grow.
To meet the growing demand for juices, nectars and sparkling beverages, a new bottling line was needed. Back then, the glass bottle was widely used, partly because there were few viable alternatives. Today, it stands out through its environmental performance, especially over short distances. One of the most convincing attributes however has always been its ability to perfectly protect the quality of the product.
The growth continued and in 1970, the original business was incorporated as the Hans Zipperle AG known today. It has always been a family business and is still in the hands of the families Zipperle and Brandstätter. The character and principles of a family business will also be continued in the future.
In 1975, the first production line for fruit purees was put into operation – a milestone, because fruit puree is still an important component of our product portfolio today.
As processing volumes continued to increase, storage capacity also needed to be expanded, and so another storage tank unit was built.
The trend towards non-alcoholic beverages solidifies and the market continues to grow. More fruit puree production lines, presses and a plant for recovering energy from fruit residues are added. The storage capacity also increases enormously during these 10 years.
The company keeps investing in order to be able to meet the needs of its customers in the best possible way – just as it always has and will in the future.
Also, at the beginning of the 80s another milestone was reached – in addition to conventional fruit, organic and contractually grown fruit was now processed too, which allowed Zipperle to offer products that were monitored from cultivation to harvest. A service we still guarantee today!
We have always cared about the environment and began using modern energy management methods at an early stage. We modernized our waste-to-energy plant for steam generation and built a new drying plant for the pomace produced along our production processes.
An organizational development team for quality, on-the-job safety, and environmental protection was introduced, and our wastewater pre-treatment system was optimized as well.
All these were additional steps to reduce the environmental impact of our activity. These were urgent measures, as the storage and production capacity continued to expand during this period of our history: for example, by installing an aseptic bag-in-drum filling line.
In 1997 we obtained the Eco-audit.
Our constant development continues:
- By processing and extracting purees from stone and pome fruits through two additional puree lines.
- By expanding the warehouse and the refinement unit by modernizing our filtration lines of juices and concentrates.
- Through our efforts to reduce our environmental impact by optimizing our steam generation in 2006 and 2007, and last but not least by installing a photovoltaic system in 2008.
In 2010 we received the following certifications: IFS, BRC, ISO 2200 and ISO 9000. We are also Halal and Kosher certified. More information on all of our certifications can be found under Downloads.
We installed a production line for highly viscous puree concentrates, further expanding our product range in this segment.
We also expanded our storage capacity by a high-bay warehouse, additional storage tanks and a new warehouse for 50,000 drums. The last one also contains refrigeration cells, which additionally protect the quality of sensitive products.
We are also continuously investing in the quality of our products along the production processes. In 2019, a new filtration and stabilization line was installed.
A new filling line now also allows us to fill bag in boxes containing 5-20kg.
Our activities are becoming increasingly diverse. To protect our environment in the best way possible whilst doing so, we are continuing to invest in the reduction of emissions and will increase the use of climate-neutral energy sources.
We will continue to fill our beverages for the regional market in reusable bottles. It is an environmentally friendly solution for the short distances in South Tyrol and Trentino and the best way to protect the quality of our products.
