The story of the Czech brand Amylon

The popular Amylon brand from the heart of the Bohemia has evolved from a traditional Czech brand into a successful modern brand combining the original and honest practices of our grandmothers with innovative respect for new trends in catering, but still with sincere respect for customers, the land and nature.

The story of the Amylon brand dates back to the second half of the 19th century.

1891

In this year, the journey of the first puddings in Bohemia began.

The company’s tradition dates back to the end of the 19th century. At this time, Christian Pešek started the industrial processing of potatoes. His work was then continued from 1891 by his brother-in-law František Malinský, who gradually bought up other starch factories and built a strong enterprise from a small factory.

1912

Company Amylon was founded

The founding of the company Amylon, which was established by the merger of starch factories in Nížkov and Přibyslav, dates back to this year. At this time, a typically Czech menu was being created in our country. We are proud that our products are among the foods with more than a century of tradition, such as Karlovy Vary spa wafers, Prague ham, Pardubice gingerbread and Znojmo cucumbers. The use of Amylon puddings has been passed down from generation to generation; those who know Amylon puddings from their parents or grandparents continue to use them.

1945

The company was nationalised like many others

and the plant in Ronov nad Sázavou became part of the national enterprise Amylon Havlíčkův Brod, later a state enterprise Škrobárny.

1982

Transition from a socialist enterprise to a successful company

as described by Vladimír Zeman, current CEO of Amylon a.s.

The dream of my father, a bank clerk, was that I would also join a bank. I didn’t want to do that, so on 1 July 1982 I took up a position as a standards officer in the general directorate of the state-owned company Skrobárny, which had been taken over by Amylon since 1949. And this was the beginning of my more than 40-year professional journey with this wonderful brand.

After the war and several years of work I decided to study at the University of Economics in Prague, majoring in Industrial Economics. Unfortunately, the party committee at this time forced me to join the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, which I of course refused, and I was not recommended to continue my studies due to the impossibility of further professional advancement. As the not entirely pleasant pressures did not let up even after the Velvet Revolution, I moved from the General Directorate to an independent starch factory in Havlíčkův Brod, which proved to be an important step for the following years.

1989

With the regime change came a change in economic thinking and privatisation

From party-oriented, centrally led, and not entirely efficient management, there was a rapid transition to market-based practices supported by innovation, where, for example, new production standards, which were reflected in higher wages for employees, led to an increase in production of more than 30% at comparable costs. In 1991, almost “overnight”, I took up the position of economic deputy and left the company.

After the announcement of the coupon privatization, together with the plant director, we prepared a privatization project for the plant in Havlíčkův Brod, which was approved, but unfortunately without the most lucrative pudding production plant in Pohledštie Dvořáky near Havlíčkův Brod, which was sold to a Brazilian entrepreneur by the decision of the Ministry. In the privatisation project at that time, most of the shares were offered to the surrounding agricultural holdings, but unfortunately, due to lack of interest, the entire volume of shares was eventually subscribed by coupon privatisation. After about a year we decided to look for financial investors towards buying the shares from individual shareholders, which was successful and since then the company has been in Czech hands, now owned only by myself and two investors from outside the company.

1994

January 1994 we start as a joint stock company and start new investments

At that time, the joint-stock company Amylon a.s. included a starch factory in Havlíčkův Brod, a syrup factory in Ronov nad Sázavou and a dextrin producer in Polná. However, we wanted to maintain the production of puddings under the Amylon brand, so we decided to purchase machines and return the production of puddings to Ronov nad Sázavou, where they are still produced today. Changes also took place in Havlíčkův Brod, where we focused on efficient innovations, replaced old machines and started production of glucose syrups.

2003

Modernisation of wheat starch production

The technological change was completed in 2003 with the modernisation of wheat starch production. In 2003, my long-time partner decided to retire and sell his share, so I became the director of this heartland company from the Bohemia and I have been sitting in that chair ever since.

2004

EU accession has opened the market environment to companies from Europe

Then Nestlé stopped buying liquid syrup from us for the Chocolate Factory because of its sources in France. Bottom line, we lost 70% of our sales. Initial efforts to find export outlets, mainly in Poland, were unsuccessful, although we spoke English and had attractive prices, our ignorance of the Czech football league results was so crucial to local buyers that we did not close the deal. Having learned our lesson, we prepared properly, studied the results and rosters until we closed the deal with several new buyers. With these buyers from Poland, Slovenia and Croatia, we started our export journey, which we are developing further.

2007

Organic quality, or a new direction for Amylon

This year, the first mentions of organic food quality began to appear at foreign trade fairs. The concept of organic crop production in the Czech Republic was almost non-existent, we had to obtain information and standards from abroad. Nevertheless, I believed that organic produce would become an important part of the menu and the food market. Despite the initial resistance of some colleagues, we developed the first packaged products in Ronov nad Sázavou and set out to find customers. We toured weekend markets, fairs and other gastronomic events across the Czech Republic, with colleagues explaining the benefits of organic quality. The beginning was slow, but we started to get new customers and new products, and eventually we expanded the production of industrial starch products in organic quality. As a result, we have grown in this sector as well and now we are one of the major organic producers in Central Europe.

2011

The second challenging milestone was the recovery process in 2011.

At this time, the price of the main raw material, wheat flour, was rising sharply and the increase failed to be reflected in selling prices. This led to a large financial loss of CZK 23 million. We quickly started rescue processes, consisting in replacing most of the management team and recruiting experts from other companies. At the same time, we invested in new machinery despite the global crisis and intensified our trade in starch raw materials, which in aggregate boosted our economic performance in the following years.

2022

Even after 110 years, the company continues to operate in great shape

The last dynamic years have also confirmed the correctness of our vision for the future. We will continue to support Czech agriculture, food industry and starch production and distribution. We have a clearly defined strategy in which we manage not only to meet the requirements of our customers, but also to exceed their expectations. We will continue to reduce energy costs, promote sustainable production and automate our processes. In our development kitchen, we will continue to prepare tasty meals and household helpers that not only meet the high demands of the modern diet, but also taste good and are healthy.