Home » Technology » The production of ketchup in Uherské Hradiště ends, the owner closes the Otmy complex

The production of ketchup in Uherské Hradiště ends, the owner closes the Otmy complex

When Jan Machálek attended the baptism of a book about his father, Otakar Machálek, the founder of the well-known food brand Otma, two years ago, he praised himself that his father’s vision was continuing successfully.

Today, however, it is clear that at the beginning of next year, this company will say goodbye to the local part of Mařatice in Uherské Hradiště.

Company Orkla Foods The Czechia and Slovakia, which owns Otma, have decided to close the race. It is planning new investments in its plants in Bzenec and Babice, which are to increase their production capacity. It will also move most of the workers from the Hradiště production of ketchups, ready-made sauces and purees of the Otma and Hamé.

According to the company, this is a long-term strategy, it is not a reaction to the coronavirus epidemic.

“Production at another Orkly plant will in no way affect the brand, recipe, taste or quality of the products. Nothing will change for consumers at all, “said Petr Novák, supply chain director of Orkla Foods Central Europe.

Founder’s grandson: Large companies concentrate production

But it will be a significant change for the company’s employees and the inhabitants of Mařatice. The Otma brand has belonged to this place for 82 years. In 1938, the aforementioned Otakar Machálek founded a factory for the production of fermented cucumbers and cabbage and also gave it a name composed of the first letters of his name. Traditional Slovak crops were a success and the company has survived in the same place to this day.

The son and grandson of the founder also still live in Uherské Hradiště. Jan Machálek did not want to comment on current news about the closure of the company at the beginning of next year.

“It’s a normal trend, large companies are concentrating production and closing various smaller branches. Of course, it freezes a person, but that’s the way it goes, “said Pavel Machálek’s grandson, who led Otma as director in the 1990s after her return to family ownership.

“It simply came to our notice then. They have worked here for often for twenty or thirty years, but I have heard that the company will offer them jobs in nearby companies, “he added.

Orkla confirmed his words. Mařatice currently has 112 employees and the vast majority will be given the opportunity to work in nearby Kunovice, Babice or the Old Town. The remaining employees will be offered help and support for employment outside the company.

This is good news for Orkla employees working in Bzenec and Babice, and the owner still counts on these plants.

“The plant in Bzenec will specialize in the vegetable portfolio and cucumbers, Babice will focus on the production of ready meals and pâtés, and the Austrian Felix plant in Mattersburg will produce ketchup, sauces and part of the purees,” Novák explained.

The company was founded by a former legionnaire

He tried to do business with canned food in the USA, where he headed in the 1920s after returning from working in the legions during the First World War. It was a big school for him, he remembered the mistakes and mistakes he had made.
Otakar Machálek’s second attempt (1893–1967) came out and in the summer of 1938 he decided to open a factory in Mařatice for the production of fermented cucumbers and cabbage. It was named Otma, after the first letters of his first and last name.

“The products are known for their excellent quality and are in demand everywhere. The company also exports, mainly to Italy, Austria, Romania, as well as the Nordic countries of Finland and Norway, “said the regional press in 1947.

Machálek had an unusual life story behind him. He came from the family of a baker from Uherské Hradiště and had thirteen siblings. During the war he came to Russia, as a legionnaire on the Eastern Front, he forced to travel through Siberia and returned to Moravia via China, Japan, Canada and the USA only after more than seven years.

At home, he started trading in general merchandise and picking cucumbers and cabbage. He toured the markets and bought vegetables from aunts and grandmothers. In a marathon factory, he then sold what people had done to themselves at home until then. He added jams, fruit juices or plum jam to pickles and cabbage.

After nationalization, the Communists arrested Machálek in 1950 and sentenced him to four years in prison in a staged trial. He was released at the age of 61 in poor health. He died twelve years later, and was rehabilitated in 1968.

After the revolution, the company returned to the hands of the Machálek family and in 1999 became part of the Hamé group. which has included premium quality products under the Otma brand. The Hamé Group was sold in 2008 by the entrepreneur Leoš Novotný to the Icelandic company Nordic Partners, since 2015 the owner is the Norwegian company Orkla.


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