A bold decision and brave beginning
Even at a young age, Tone felt that working in the civil service did not bring him satisfaction, although, as he says, he had a good job. With his inner voice urging him on, he decided to venture out independently into entrepreneurship. Aged only 22, Tone and his wife Romana, who was still a student at the time, saw an advertisement for a bag-making machine which they bought, accompanied by Tone’s father, even though they didn’t know much about bags. This began their company’s story in 1986. They started in a small basement space across the road from the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Center and bravely tackled bag-making.
“If someone had told me back then that my husband and I would have this company for 35 years, I wouldn’t have believed them,” says Romana, Executive Director. The beginning was difficult, as they were completely clueless about entrepreneurship. “We learned everything we needed on the fly. We asked people for advice and grew spontaneously with their help,” explains Romana. Their perseverance and diligence soon bore fruit.
“The first year we were the only employees in the company, and after that we employed one more person per year, on average,” says Tone. The company had the advantage of owning the only high-quality bag-making machine in Yugoslavia, which provided additional motivation and helped them persevere. Initially, their product range was limited to food freezer bags, but they soon realized that production would have to be increased.
In addition to the Piskar family, several families work in the company
Their sons Uroš and Matej, who were involved in the business from an early age, also grew with the company. “I remember we talked a lot about business at home. When you’re part of a family company, you realize that it’s always with you,” says Matej, who is now in charge of company finances. Uroš remembers his first experiences with the family business very well: “When I was a child, I found it interesting when my uncle and I transported goods from store to store.” He says that he still benefits from those experiences today, when he is responsible for IT and Sales. If necessary, he also helps in production. “I used to be afraid that my brother and I would fight over the company,” confides Uroš, adding that this fear has completely faded, as they now complement each other very well. “It is interesting that I graduated from the Faculty of Economics, but I prefer to work with machines, while my brother, who graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, prefers to work in finance,” he adds with a laugh.
Members of the extended Piskar family are also involved in the story of the family business, including Tone’s brother and his daughter, as well as his younger son, who occasionally helps. Matej’s fiancée is also involved in the company business and is expected to take over management of the warehouse in the future. The Piskars are not the only family employed and there are several other members of the same families who work together. The Piskars want to maintain a sense of familiarity, so everyone uses first names only and they try to separate their private and work lives. “When we’re at home, we don’t talk much about business now, because it already takes up so much of our time,” says Romana.
Their specialty? Quality products!
The Piskar company can boast quite a few innovative products that they developed themselves and they are most recognized for household and waste bags. “We are constantly striving not only to lead and be innovative, but also to follow world trends and developments in the field of bag-making,” says Romana. Bags with ribbons, scented bags and wet umbrella bags are just some of the innovative products they have offered to customers in recent years.
They were the first in Slovenia to respond to market demands and begin producing biodegradable bags. However, Tone believes that these are not necessarily quite as kind to the environment as we might imagine. He compares them to electric cars: “If we think about how many raw materials are used for production, how much waste is created during production and after the end of use, when we have to recycle the car, we realize that the product may not be so ecological.”
By using state-of-the-art technologies, they produce first-class quality products which they supply to all major Slovenian traders, public companies, industrial clients and individual customers. Tone points out that they always put quality and honest relationships above everything else. “Some people wanted us to make products of inferior quality, just to be cheaper. We do not do that, because quality is our number one priority,” explains Tone, adding: “Maybe this generates less profit, but we’re honest with our customers.”
Caring for the environment is a top priority
From the very beginning, the Piskar company has paid a lot of attention to caring for the environment. “We were the first to start making bags in different colors to make it easier to separate paper, packaging and more,” says Romana. As much as 90% of their waste bags are made from recycled plastic. The company does not produce its own waste, because they recycle everything. For many years, it has been opening its doors to kindergartens and schools who are interested in the process of making bags.
“We want to raise awareness among the children who visit us, among our employees and all our buyers about the importance of waste separation,” says Romana, adding that children should be taught how to recycle in practice as early as in kindergartens and schools. The Piskars have also participated for several years in the campaign “Let’s Clean Up Slovenia”, by donating their bags.
The Piskar company wants to make the children who visit them, their employees and all their customers aware of the importance of waste separation.
Proud of their employees, who helped them get through the COVID-19 crisis
The changes brought about by the measures implemented due to COVID-19 initially caused fear among the employees, as it was a completely new situation for everyone. “At the beginning, we noticed that some employees were very afraid, so we met several times somewhere outside for coffee or tea, talked through it and solved problems together,” reflects Romana on this challenging period.
They are a small business, so they quickly adapted and organized themselves. Hand disinfection has always been a part of their process, as they work with household products. However, they very much missed the fairs. “At a live fair, we were able to collect up to 800 contacts or more. At a digital fair, we only got three, which is not quite as effective,” says Uroš. Despite the restrictions, their production ran normally and turnover even increased.
They are very proud of their colleagues and since the beginning of the company, they have taken great care of their employees, as they realize that it is difficult to get good people and even more difficult to keep them. “Some of our colleagues have been with us for 20 or 25 years, which proves that they are happy here,” Romana says proudly.
Looking ahead: growth and preservation of Slovenian jobs
Thanks to a growing number of loyal customers, they constantly need to expand their production, modernizing it and recruiting new employees. Currently, they are also in the process of digitization, part of which involves their online store, which was launched in 2018. This makes their sales process faster and easier, while helping spread information about their company and products to a wider audience.
Although succession has not yet been discussed in concrete terms, Romana and Tone want their sons to continue the successful family story. “My husband and I have always been hard workers, so our sons have also grown into hardworking and fair boys. They respect our efforts, and we will be happy to hand the company to them,” confirms Romana on the company’s future. The decision on future development will ultimately be left to the sons. “Taking care of the company and its many employees is a great responsibility which is not easy,” caution the founders. In the future, they want to acquire new customers abroad, increase exports and add new products to their range. They also want to expand their brand recognition among younger generations and hope that they’ll learn to respect local Slovenian products. “We will definitely preserve jobs in Slovenia, and we also want to move into a larger facility,” says Tone, looking optimistically to the future.
Summary
Piskar in a nutshell: quality, innovation, perseverance, passion, hard work.
