World of Heineken 38 - summer 2008
In 1517 a Czech gentleman farmer named Jiff
Birka founded a brewery in the Czech hamlet
of Krusovice, just southwest of Prague. Now,
centuries later, the Krusovice brewery is on
the brink of a new era.
Krusovice began exporting its lagers to
Russia in 1997, after the brand did well in
the post-Communist domestic market of the
90s Czech Republic. This was no small feat,
since KruSovice was only one of 75 former
state-owned breweries fighting for a share of
the domestic beer market. With competition
at home so fierce, export had never been
a priority for the Bohemian brewer. Sales
abroad were almost non-existent. Krusovice
would have to build its foreign market from
scratch.
GO EAST, YOUNG MAN
Kamil Krakes, the current export director for
Krusovice, was among the first to recognise
the opportunities. Together with a dedicated
two-man team of Krusovice sales people, he
decided to attempt an expansion of the brand
beyond Czech borders.
In an ironic twist of faith, this put Kamil
in direct contest with his own father,
Frantisek, who was then CEO of Starobrno, a
competing Czech brewery. But by the time
Heineken acquired Krusovice, Starobrno had
already been integrated into the Heineken
Group. This meant the two served on the
same management team for a short while,
prompting local newspapers to run headlines
such as "Father and son finally reunited."
This was all far down the road in 1997, when
Krakes Jr. began his foray into the beer
business. At first, progress with the export
expansion was painstakingly slow. Kamil spent
most of his days contracting distributors,
exploring markets and telling the story of
his brand abroad. Then, in 2003, his efforts
finally started to pay off. "That was the real
breakthrough: when we reached 100,000
hectolitres in exports for the first time," says
Kamil. "Nobody had dreamt of that before."
Things have moved fast after that. In a mere
five years exports tripled to their current
300,000 hectolitres per year. Kamil already
has his eye on the next benchmark. In 2010,
Krusovice exports are poised to surpass
domestic sales. "We intend to sell half a
million hectolitres by that year," says Kamil.
In particular, the brand has proven to be a
blockbuster in the dynamic Russian market,
where today it is the number one imported
beer. Kamil is confident that Krusovice will
soon acquire a similar status in Ukraine, a
nation of almost 50 million inhabitants that
recently opened up its beer market to foreign
imports. Not that the brand is exclusive
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