Jelena Popović-Bujić has turned a local lettuce business into a global health food giant.

Jelena Popović-Bujić transformed her father’s lettuce business into a produce powerhouse by introducing state-of-the art technology and promoting healthier habits.

Leaving a successful marketing career behind, Jelena joined Iceberg Salat Centar to help her father fend off its biggest competitor. She revitalized the business and helped to make the company crisis-proof by modernizing processes, building the brand and diversifying both its products and customer base.

Today, Iceberg Salat Centar offers a wide range of fruits and vegetables to supermarkets and restaurants. Jelena, who has doubled the company’s annual revenue since joining in 2015, is now planning to boost exports and expand its range of ready-to-use salads and vegetables for restaurants.

In addition to manufacturing quality produce, Iceberg Salat Centar has developed advanced greenhouse farming technology and production systems. The company has built over 5,000 state-of-the-art greenhouses for customers throughout Serbia. 

Promoting healthy eating is core to the company’s culture. In 2018, Jelena created the Healthy Habits Club, a blog that includes cooking and fitness advice that is now followed by more than 50,000 people. Her Little Farmers project has taught thousands of young children from Belgrade how lettuce is grown and allows them to plant their own produce.

Looking toward the future, Jelena’s ambition is to become a significant exporter of Serbian agricultural produce. She predicts that exports will make up more than 40% of the company’s annual turnover in the next three years.

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