In Granfrutta Zani there is a specific catch phrase behind numbers
MORE
THAN
FRUIT
This means:
- quality extended to all the steps of the supply chain
- control procedures, analysis, traceability and professional services offered
- growing together and respecting the world in which we live
- obtaining all the most important certificates
In addition to the above, we offer everything that lies within a fruit: taste, aroma, texture, sweetness, appearance, sensorial properties.

Today Granfrutta Zani represents brands that are well-known for their quality and tradition. It is a reliable and qualified organization that shares its development guidelines with its members. Since 1962, when it was founded, it has always pursued healthiness and the sensorial value of the fruits. It is a family history that started with Luciano Zani who arranged meetings and negotiations on the fields, just in front of the fruit on the trees. He only had one truck to load and taste controls were based on smelling and tasting the fruits.
The growing techniques have changed at lot since then and nowadays laboratories analyse everything that man cannot evaluate by himself. Aroma and taste are still the foundations of the fruit and vegetable sector, and Granfrutta Zani is fully aware of the product value.
Warehouses
80,000 m2 (26,000 indoor)
Specialised in:
peach, nectarine and kiwifruit processing for the foreign market.
Refrigerating capacity:
Total capacity: 19.360 tons
under controlled atmosphere: 43.634 m3
Type of activities:
reception, sampling, cold storage, controlled temperature and/or room temperature storage, controlled atmosphere preservation, processing, packaging, deliveries to another Coop. Granfrutta Zani’s plant, distribution platform for large-scale retailers.
130,000 m2 (25,000 indoor)
Refrigerating capacity:
Total capacity: 22,787
under controlled atmosphere: 10,042 m3
Type of activities:
reception, sampling, cold storage, controlled temperature and/or room temperature storage, processing, packaging, deliveries to another Coop. Granfrutta Zani’s plant, distribution platform for large-scale retailers, residue analyses on plant protection products.
7,650 m2 (4,500 indoor)
Refrigerating capacity:
Total capacity: 10,327 tons
under controlled atmosphere: 6,553 m3
Type of activities:
controlled temperature and/or room temperature storage, controlled atmosphere preservation, deliveries to another Coop. Granfrutta Zani’s plant.
12,200 m2 (5,000 indoor)
Refrigerating capacity:
under controlled atmosphere: 6,000 tons, 6,553 m3
Type of activities:
reception, sampling, controlled atmosphere preservation, deliveries to another Coop. Granfrutta Zani’s plant.
16,338 m2 (3,575 indoor)
Refrigerating capacity:
Total capacity: 3,000 tons 10,773 m3
Type of activities:
reception, sampling, cold storage room, controlled temperature and/or room temperature storage, controlled atmosphere preservation, deliveries to another Coop. Granfrutta Zani’s plant.
Research & Development
Granfrutta Zani’s research activities pursue two main goals: development and quality control.
Development is a process promoted by the cooperative company to ensure that its production is sustainable, to protect crops and to maintain fruit properties all along the supply chain.
- renewable energies
- biodegradable packaging
- preservation and protection of the product properties
- organic products
Quality control is guaranteed by the procedure governing the entire supply chain and by extremely careful analyses on plants.
Before the controls requested by customers are carried out, our fruit and vegetables are submitted to specific quality tests in laboratories:
- Agri Paradigma
- Ph srl
- BonassisaLab
History

- 1961
Luciano Zani brought his first fruit-loaded truck to the fruit and vegetable market in Milan.
Luciano Zani brought his first fruit-loaded truck to the fruit and vegetable market in Milan.
July 4, 1961 - 1962
The first cold store was rented. Granfrutta Zani was founded.
The first cold store was rented. Granfrutta Zani was founded.
July 4, 1962 - 1964
The first plant was opened in Granarolo Faentino
The first plant was opened in Granarolo Faentino
July 4, 1964 - 1972
Granfrutta Zani Cooperative Company was established
Granfrutta Zani Cooperative Company was established
July 24, 1972 - 1992
The plant in Sant’Andrea di Faenza was purchased
The plant in Sant’Andrea di Faenza was purchased
July 24, 1992 - 1995
The plant in Bagnacavallo was purchased
The plant in Bagnacavallo was purchased
July 24, 1995 - 1996
The Producers’ organization certification was achieved
The Producers’ organization certification was achieved
July 24, 1996 - 2002
The plant in Sant’Andrea was rebuilt
The plant in Sant’Andrea was rebuilt
July 24, 2002 - 2019
The plant in Sant’Andrea was rebuilt
The plant in Sant’Andrea was rebuilt
February 1, 2019
Today
- Five operating plants in Faenza and Ravenna’s areas
- 3 photovoltaic systems for a total of 1560 kWp
- Member producers from all over Italy
- Collection centres in Lazio, Campania, Basilicata, Molise, Calabria and Puglia
- 95 permanent employees
- About 1,000 seasonal workers
- 100,000 tons of fruit and vegetable distributed every year
- Fruit is distributed on markets scattered all over Italy, in Europe, Africa, Asia and America
These numbers were achieved thanks to Luciano Zani’s insight and innovative vision. Those were the early Sixties and everything started from an image especially dear to him: “The warehouses storing fruit”. “They looked so nice to me”.
That is why the founder decided to stop selling cars and purchased his first warehouse.
“In 1961 I drove the first two trucks to the wholesale markets in Milan”. “In the spring of 1962 I rent a cold store in Faenza and bought some second hand wooden crates after selling the last cars I had.”
Together with Luciano, this story was written by his two brothers Pietro and Italo and his wife Antonietta.
The first warehouse opened in Granarolo Faentino in 1964, “In an unpaved shelter belonging to a Granarolo’s cartwright.” “All operations were performed by hand: loading, unloading, packaging, bringing goods to the rail station. We always had to fight to get a wagon, those who were late had to come back the following day.”
“In 1964 we built the first two cold stores: we had 17-18 workers but in the new plant they became one hundred. On the same year we started to export to Switzerland, Austria and Germany.”
From production to purchasing. “In 1966 we started to complement local crops with the early and late-growing ones from the South”. “My idea was that of working a little bit more to make the real difference”.
yesterday
today
Certifications & Audit
Standard IFS – It is a conformity standard created to identify quality suppliers in the food sector. Depending on needs of the large-scale distribution, IFS certifies Granfrutta Zani’s value in harvesting, classifying and packaging fruit.
BRC Certification – This certification aims at strengthening and promoting food safety across all production phases. The BRC Global Standard for Food Safety guarantees compliance with quality standards.
ISO 22005:2007 – certification that regulates supply chain and company traceability systems in the agri-food sector
GlobalG.A.P. – Set up in 1997, this protocol establishes good practices to be applied to primary production. It is an international certification enhancing a safe and sustainable agriculture based on product traceability and respect for the environment.
GlobalG.A.P. GRASP – Being an additional module to GlobalG.A.P., GRASP evaluates the social practices that are adopted for the workers of the agricultural sector. It analyses workers’ representation, their rights and compliance with contracts, working times and children’s rights.
IQNet / ISO 22000:2005 – This certification deals with food safety and is granted after evaluating the capacity to control food safety-related dangers in order to guarantee product healthiness for human consumption.
Certificazione BIO – According to CE 834/07 and 889/08 European Union rules, this conformity certificate acknowledges the organic method adopted across all production phases.
SMETA – Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit – è una metodologia di audit etico che abbraccia tutti gli aspetti delle pratiche aziendali responsabili quali condizioni di lavoro, salute e sicurezza, ambiente di lavoro, business practices.
I report di audit SMETA sono pubblicati nel sistema SEDEX insieme con le azioni di miglioramento intraprese dall’azienda verificata, piattaforma che garantisce trasparenza e condivisione efficiente delle informazioni.