Jan Vokurka had a clear idea of what he would do in life from his childhood. “I am deeply convinced that one is born with some such preconditions. Someone has been fascinated by animals and music since he was a child, and then he really does it. I knew I wanted to do business, ”says Jan Vokurka. At the same time, he admits that he belongs among the “Husák’s children”, ie from the generation born at a time when entrepreneurship was unthinkable. But thanks to an accidentally discovered book about American entrepreneurs from 1911, he decided to take this path at the age of five. Today, he leads the company with an annual turnover of over 83 million crowns, which is a fifth more than in 2019.
This year’s winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 competition in the Liberec Region previously worked in a high position at Nestlé. He got into the food industry thanks to his enthusiasm for FMCG, ie fast-moving consumer goods. As part of this, however, he discovered the category of drinks he was passionate about, and today, as he himself says, he is a proud beverage. However, he was motivated to leave a large corporate mainly by his desire for freedom. “I left a successful position from a large corporate in uncertainty, so to speak from mud to puddle. The main motive was the desire for freedom, the desire to fulfill one’s own visions, the desire to create something. I loved Nestlé, I still have respect for it and I love it, but in a corporate company you will always find that you have to submit. The advantage of doing business is that you set the rules yourself, and it’s the way you want it, ”says Vokurka.
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The family company Kitl was founded in 2007, but the idea was born in 2005. The first product was a wine called Kitl Šláftruňk, which is a wine with herbs for a good night’s sleep. Today, the company is famous mainly for its fruit syrups. Now the company focuses mainly on exporting products to Ireland.
At the time when Jan Vokurka founded Kitl, he knew the current trends well and some have been sticking to them for over a decade. “Current trends are created by snapping a finger, they are immediately shared via social networks and work within a month. But many of them will disappear in the same short time, ”notes Vokurka. “Today we have a ‘plastic age’, when plastic’s greatest enemy is plastic. Some companies and society have overreacted to this, ”he adds. According to him, Kitl is following the golden mean and is trying to implement all trends with so-called reason.
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Kitl adheres to the sustainability trend, especially in terms of rescuing old factories. “I honestly think that building in a field where grain grew a year ago is not right. There are many beautiful old buildings that could be saved instead of stopping the greenery with new factories, ”Vokurka points out. It was in accordance with this conviction that Kitl bought the Vratislavická kyselka buildings in Vratislavice nad Nisou, which it is now trying to renovate and start offering mineral water with healing effects, the origins of which date back to the second half of the 19th century. Kitl is now renovating the sourdough complex, reconstructing its production halls and engineering networks.
Jan Vokurka’s company is currently also taking action to save the Kittel region. This is an area where Dr. Jan Josef Antonín Eleazar Kittel lived in the 18th century, who had healing abilities and was famous for his willingness to help others. Now there is an educational trail in this area that tells more about his life. The Kitl company secured the public collection “Let’s Save the Kittel Region” already in 2007, ie in the year of the company’s establishment. Proceeds from the collection are used for repairs of real estate in the Kyselka area, archaeological excavations in the Kittelovsk region, but also for the protection and restoration of nature and greenery in the Kittelovsk region.
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