It was in 1925 when the grandfather Apostolos Papadopoulos and his family, refugees from the Black Sea area, came to Xanthi and launched the first butcher store. 

The second generation of owners, the six children of grandfather Apostolos and grandmother Despina, continued and expanded the family business and in 1939, they moved to the Municipal Market of Xanthi. 

Nowadays, the third generation of owners continues to develop the family business into a modern and vertically integrated company, one of the very few in Greece with such an organization and operation model. 

A vertically integrated company

In the privately owned Production Park of 55.000 square meters located in Labrino, Xanthi, you can find the business units of breeding, slaughtering, meat processing, production of cold cuts and meat products, processing of animal derivative products and sub-products and the provision of services and processing of rendering sub-products, while the butchery has been continuously operating since 1954 in the Municipal Market of Xanthi. 

In 2018, after obtaining the relevant certification by Eurocert, the company took the initiative and its selected products bear the label ELLA-DIKA MAS.  

Apostolos Papadopoulos Meat Company is included in the national list of production units and several young scientists choose it every year to carry out their internship. 

The Company goes green

In the company’s Production Park:

• Systematic separation of materials for recycling is conducted, which are forwarded to the cooperating recycling company. 
• Electricity is generated by photovoltaic systems installed in a park building, which covers part of the company’s needs. 
• Biogas is produced from processing of the liquid residues of the rendering process and it can be converted into electricity, capable of meeting the company needs, 

While the butchery shop has replaced a percentage of disposable plastic bags with other biodegradable corn starch. 

The innovative treatment of liquid waste was awarded in 2017 with the Ecopolis Environmental Awareness Award and in 2018 with the Environmental Award. 

The present and the future 

With continuous investments in operational, organizational and administrative modernization the company aims at:

• Offering on the purchase of branded, safe and qualitative products and services 
• Developing the Greek meat market 
• Expanding its products’ distribution network
• Creating and maintaining health working relationships, beneficial to all, with employees, customers, suppliers, partners and the wider productive, business, scientific, educational and local community.