Interview: Stanislav Bernard

SB: When you ask today about a plan, I have to laugh. During the auction of the Humpolec brewery, which was in an extremely poor technical condition, somewhat beyond death, my partner and I made a calculation on a sheet of A4 paper. The asset value of the brewery was 9.5 million Crowns. We managed to get it for 52 million Crowns, including unusable supplies. Many people probably tapped their foreheads, thinking we were mad, but we were full of enthusiasm and determined to prove ourselves. After years of oppression came a possibility to start a business, to achieve something, to try to see if we had it in us. We have run into technical problems and lack of funds daily from the beginning. It was tough, but we wanted to have the best beer. That was our goal. In our first year of business we brewed approximately 107,000 hectoliters of beer. Meanwhile as the state enterprise Jihočeský Pivovar [South Bohemian Brewery], into which Humpolec fell, 26,000 hectoliters were made a year before.

SB: At the beginning of the nineties, people were so sensitive to advertising, because until then no advertising had existed, it was enough to hang an advertisement on the motorway bridge and sales immediately rose. It obviously doesn’t work like that anymore. You have to offer not only a quality product but fantastic service. Before you serve beer in a new restaurant, you have to invest tens of thousands of Crowns in glass, refrigeration, beer taps, table cloths, outdoor advertisements et cetera. Also consumer behavior has changed. More and more people buy bottled beer. This trend is Europe-wide. Fortunately this doesn’t concern us. Even today our sales of draft beer are growing. We have established business in new restaurants. However, the product range is changing. While desítka once prevailed, interest in lagers, special brews, ales and even wheat beer is growing. In recent years non-alcoholic beer and fruit beers also play an important role.

SB: When Dejan Štajnberger, the then creative chief of the advertising agency with which we cooperated, came to me for the first time with this idea, I couldn’t imagine that I would say, “We have the best beer.” But later I saw the power of humor, Bernard s čistou hlavou. [Literally, Bernard with a clean head, it is the brewery’s non-alcoholic variety. The image on the label shows a bald Mr. Bernard.] A personal touch is important. On the shelves with all those alcohol-free brands a bottle with the label Bernard with a shaved head can’t be overlooked and people appreciate that I know how to make fun of myself. As for negativity, not really, but one of the first email responses I got was when I appeared on the label. It read: “You brew fantastic beer, but what is the big-eared bat doing on the label”.

SB: Our dream is to build a cult brand and that must have not only quality and a story but also its own opinion. Certainly, not everyone always agrees with us, but based on reactions we have learned how the public feels. And the majority of the messages are positive. Several years ago with our employees we created mission for our brewery, which was “one’s own way to an honest Czech beer.” And we stuck to this. Also we have taken the side of preserving the taste of beer diversity and so we have come with the campaign to guard against “eurobeer”.

SB: I’m not a person who would only curse a situation and do nothing to change something. In the Czech Republic role models, unfortunately, are missing, which can offer a positive example. I supported Count Schwarzenberg, for example, simply so that such a role model can be even when I can’t agree with him in everything. In our campaign I represent my own opinion, which I stand behind. If I point out some absurdity, some broad social problem, it’s always that I agree with not only my co-owner Josef Vávra but also my team of co-workers. The reason why I became a co-founder of Nadační fond proti korupci [The Anti-Corruption Endowment Fund] is that I think it is to prevent the misappropriation of state funds that should be used for the construction of new roads and highways and investment in education.