Official press statement of BHMW as from April 21, 2016
The most important thing for every spa town is the fame of its healing springs. Those from Marianskolazaň are well-known, but for the past few years it has not been possible to drink them anywhere other than directly in the spa or on the colonnades. At the same time, it was the distribution of medicinal waters that attracted the greatest public attention even in past centuries, and the baths were then widely visited. Coincidentally, this year Mariánské Lázně is celebrating two centuries since the beginning of bottling of local healing waters, and this anniversary coincides with the resumption of operation of the bottling plant. Behind this important event is the team of the company, which has already completed the restoration of the bottling plant and historic buildings in Bílina, the source of the famous Bílinské kyselky a Jaječické bitter water.
We asked the representatives of BHMW a.s. a few questions. Veronika Sokolová, statutory director, Vojtěch Milko, foreign trade director, Karel Bašta for marketing, engineer Zdeněk Nogol, production director and company economist, engineer Ondřej Chrt answered.
Introduce your company BHMW as to our readers:
Vojtěch Milko:
Reconstructed buildings of the directorate of Bílina springs.
Our company specializes in bottling important natural healing resources into consumer packaging. We are a team of native North Bohemians and we are a Czech company. In 2011, we started the reconstruction of the Lobkovice spring buildings in Bílina, connected with the construction of a new production plant Bílinské kyselky a Jaječické bitter water. Today, we sell these unique items awarded with gold medals all over the world in innovative packaging in new quality and we are constantly expanding the markets to practically all corners of the world.
Since the spa waters are a matter of our hearts, we could not accept with a clear conscience the fact that the Marianskolazaňská kyselky are not bottled and thus do not reach our customers.
In doing so, they could help people who need their healing effects the most. We therefore started a process lasting several years, which led to the purchase of the Mariánskolaza bottling plant and the start of production.
I noticed a change in the name of the company, what led you to them?
Veronika Sokolová:
Our company was called BOHEMIA HEALING MINERAL WATERS. However, thanks to the successful purchase of the Mariánskolazaň bottling plant, we have decided to change the headquarters and name of the company to BOHEMIA HEALING MARIENBAD WATERS according to our new place of business.
A fully functional and beautiful spa town with a rich offer of spa care will appeal much better to current and future customers who love Czech spas. And this is undoubtedly the best in the field.
This name change also includes a new logo, a fountain with colored drops representing the product colors of all our products.
What specific springs will you be bottling and where and when will they be available?
Ing. Zdenek Nogol:
The first part of the production will certainly be available on the Czech market during this summer. Marianske Lazne waters will mostly be sold alongside our products Bílinská kyselka a Jaječická bitter. Part of the production will also be exported.
In the first phase, we are mainly preparing the bottling of Rudolf's Spring into 1,5L and 0,5L PET bottles, but also into 250ml gastro glass. Sours will follow next Ferdinand spring, Aqua Maria and Excelsior. We believe that it tastes great Rudolph's spring will interest most people.
Our main idea is that it makes no sense to drink technically artificially carbonated waters when we have such excellent naturally carbonated waters, our Marianskolazaňská kyselky. Who will ever compare artificially carbonated water with Rudolph spring, Ferdinand or with Bílinská kyselka, they will immediately understand what we are talking about.
After all, the bottling plant was out of operation for some time. What all did you have to do in the bottling plant and what problems did you solve?
engineer Ondřej Chrt:
AQUA MARIA design logo
We dealt with the complete overhaul of the existing technology and the addition of the line with new modern equipment. The goal was to supply the domestic market with top-quality packaged products that would meet high quality requirements in the shortest possible time.
But we knew that it was impossible to underestimate anything, because these products would represent Mariánské Lázně in the eyes of all customers. We also agreed with the town hall that we will use the town logo on the bottle caps. This is our first step towards supporting tourism and the spa industry.
For many years, the company worked at the springs in Bílina, where you reconstructed heritage buildings into a representative residence. Are you planning something similar above the Ferdinand colonnade in Mariánské Lázně?
Karel Bašta:
The Lobkovice spa complex in Bílina was sensitively designed by the builder Sáblík in an almost symmetrical concept with an extensive forest park. Our company BHMW reconstructed all the buildings belonging to the operation of the bottling plant, including the exhibition front building, which was newly given a real castle character.
The complex in Bílin is so beautiful that the Czech public will be able to admire it in the series "Já Mattoni", where our spa buildings in Bílinská kyselka played the role of Mattoni's Kysibelka spa, which has just been completed.
In Mariánské Lázně, the original building of the bottling plant is not such a prominent architectural landmark, however, we are preparing a reconstruction project which, in its final phase, would transform the bottling plant with roof gardens and new buildings into one picturesque spa complex with the colonnade of the Ferdinand Spring.
The whole place would thus be a very photogenic relaxation location naturally connected to the surrounding area, and the operation of the bottling plant would, just like today in Bílina, take place under the green roofs of the plant. Basically underground.
We would like it to be possible to view the operation of the bottling plant from the colonnade extension in the future, which would give the factory building the character of a spa facility. We internally call the whole project "New Ferdinand".
How do you cooperate with the city management and its representatives? The town hall likes this plan with the "New Ferdinand".
Vojtěch Milko:
Cooperation with the management of the city of Mariánské Lázně has been excellent from the beginning. We feel support and interest from representatives and councillors. I hope that it is our job to continue to convince them that we are serious about everything. We greatly appreciate this support. We appreciate all kind gestures and will do our best to meet all commitments and fulfill all development visions.
We intend to represent the city in a high-quality manner and contribute to the development of the spa industry and the tourism industry with our activities. We also want to support and organize research into new balneological procedures so that Mariánské Lázně becomes the capital of European spas.
The city is now celebrating the 200-year anniversary of the beginning of bottling the springs. Was this the intention to restart bottling this year?
Karel Bašta:
It wasn't, but we think it's an interesting coincidence and we hope that the new start will be at least as successful as the first one in 1816. That more and more important personalities will go to Mariánek.
For example, we would like to apply ourselves in the world of golf, our product BILINER was the official water of the world golf championship in 2013. We would also like to be more active in the world of fashion and beauty, the BHMW company has already been a partner of the Czech MISS with the Bílinská kyselka product several times. We imagine that the brand AQUA MARIA from Marienbad could be an icon in the world of European fashion.
What other things do you support as a company?
Vojtěch Milko:
We are also an official partner of the Czech national football team (FAČR), a partner of FK Teplice and HC Litvínov, we also organized junior tournaments "The Cup of Bílinské kyselky". We would like to operate similarly in Mariánské Lázně. We look forward to spending a lot of time here and to participating in writing the modern history of Mariánské Lázně.
