Viktor Kofler

Andrea Kofler from Lana was practically born making speck: For three generations the family company has been producing, alongside a wide range of meat and sausage products, the full-flavoured Speck Alto Adige.

Many years ago, Andreas Kofler‘s grandfather made his own speck for the family. His father Victor and his uncle were the first in the family to make a profession out of speck production; the brothers went into business together around 30 years ago. In the early days, they worked together at a butcher’s shop in Untermais/Maia Bassa, after which Andreas’ uncle went on to sell his speck at the Gampenpass/Passo Palade while Andreas and his father now own their own shop at the entrance to the town of Lana.

The family company - and their speck - are distinguished by a perfect fusion of traditional recipes handed down from generation to generation together with modern production technology. A lot has changed since his grandfather’s days, when speck was cured in a smoky cellar, says Andreas. When asked what it is that makes Kofler speck so special, his smiling answer comes back in a flash: “Because it tastes so good.”

The company has been a member of the Consorzio Tutela Speck Alto Adige for two years, and as such, they are authorised to use the “Speck Alto Adige PGI” seal of quality. At Kofler’s, it takes 22 weeks for the fire-branded ham to become vacuum-packed cuts of speck ; during this time, from seasoning, to smoking in beech and juniper, to vacuum packaging, there are a lot of steps in the production process. Hand-processing has been a priority for every generation of the Kofler family, as has the family philosophy: Never stand still, always improve. “We give our best every day,” says Kofler Jr. “And together with one family secret or another, that’s how we manage to keep making our speck better and better.”