Kofola, úspěšný český výrobek – anglicky
The Kofola Company j.s with its domicile in Krnov, is one of the most significant producers of soft drinks in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It has one production factory in each of these countries and also in Poland. Its non-alcoholic beverages are exported to Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia, too. It employs more than 1,000 employees in total.
Experts say that Kofola was “vaccinated by Baťa”. What is meant by this expression? With a little bit of exaggeration it can be narrated as a fairy tale about poor, but hardworking people, who with limited sources managed to build a company with turnover counted in billions of Czech crowns. Another very interesting fact is that the boss didn’t follow a usual formula of becoming a part of a strong, multinational company. We can observe such a situation mainly in the consumer industry, at random chosen cases of Danone or Nestlé, which gained control over all confectionery industry in our country. Kofola made its own way. First it squared up with local producers such as Nealko or Linea and later on started its fearless campaign to defeat the global players Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Who wouldn’t know Kofola’s slogan “If you love it, there’s nothing to solve!” This strategy was worth investing. In the Czech Republic Kofola has built up a firm position in the market of soft drinks and in Slovakia even run over the major competitors. The company didn’t stick only to this tasty brown drink. In last ten years it has enlarged the offer by Top Topic grape drink, Jupí drink, mineral water of Rajec and last but not least RC Cola. The last-mentioned product is aimed directly against the two main thereinafter competitors. RC Cola is distributed mainly in the gastronomic sector in contrast to Coca-Cola and Pepsi, which keep focusing on large chains of hypermarkets. And the result? Nine years of a continuous expansion, recently even counted in tens of per cents. It is important to say that this fast increase in profits can also signify to a certain extent a hazard for the company. Kofola in 2004 evidently predicted a bigger growth of incomes than it actually managed to reach. Here we can see the risk of being too optimistic.
Why has been Kofola one of the most famous and favoured domestic non-alcoholic beverages for several decades? The company stresses that unlike the classic cola drinks, Kofola’s sugar content is lowered by one third, and its caffeine content is reduced by as much as one half. These features may have a certain influence over consumers. But from my point of view I see other reasons why it is so popular with a lot of people. The first thing is a tradition – Kofola is not only the drink of the young, but also their parents enjoyed the same taste of the same beverage in their teens. The other fact is very simple – Kofola is Czech. That’s it! For many patriotic people (including me) this is the cogent argument why to buy it. Czechs simply like Kofola because of the tradition, the origin and as a matter of fact – the taste! In my opinion the “true brown“ is an appropriate example of a successful Czech product.