Bohemia Converting s.r.o. was founded in July 2013. The company is 50% co-owned by partners from Norway, Norwegian Paper AS, where the original intention was primarily to cut wrapping paper from rolls into sheets and rewind large rolls into small rolls. We were supposed to deliver the final products to our partners in Scandinavia. At the beginning, we mainly offered papers for flower wrapping, industrial packaging, packaging of branded clothing and shoes, and papers used as fillings in boxes.Over time, we began to focus more on food packaging papers, especially baking and greaseproof papers. Currently, in addition to the Czech Republic, we also supply wrapping papers mainly to the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. From overseas destinations, we also supply Cyprus, the USA and Australia.
In the years 1997-2013 I worked at the JIP paper mill – Papírny Větřní, a.s. I started there as a sales support and gradually worked my way up through the ranks to the sales manager of wrapping paper for some foreign markets. I learned in detail the entire process of paper production and processing. I fully utilized my experience in 2013, when the paper mill went bankrupt. With my brother and a former customer, the Norwegian company Norwegian Paper AS, we founded Bohemia Converting s.r.o. in July 2013, which was primarily to process wrapping paper from rolls into sheets and to rewind large rolls into small rolls. We were to deliver the final products to our partners in Scandinavia. In Český Krumlov, we rented vacant production space next to a company that owned a flexo printing machine, brought in used cutting and rewinding machines from Norway, hired 7 employees who had lost their jobs at the paper mills, and tried to get started somehow. Initially, in the first years, we processed more paper for wrapping flowers, paper for industrial packaging, gift wrapping, and paper for packaging branded clothing and shoes. I used all the experience and knowledge from the paper mills, established contacts with former and new customers, and started building the company. Three years later, with an operating loan from the bank, we were finally able to develop further and expand our production to two-shift operation. After approximately 4-5 years, we started cooperation with the relatively unknown French paper mill Papeterie du Leman (PDL), which was just developing the production of silicone baking paper and had no parent rolls to cut and process. Our co-owners from Norway at the time had been processing similar paper for years for another Norwegian paper mill with similar production, so they taught us how to work with this slippery and unstable material in due time. We gradually developed and currently process approximately 200-250 tons of baking paper per month. In 2019-2021, we started building a new hall in the former agro area, because we could no longer move in the old premises due to lack of space. At the end of 2021, we finally moved into our new production hall with an area of 3000 m2 and began to focus more on processing wrapping papers for food packaging. It was necessary to go through some certifications at the new location, set new standards and rules in order to meet the required hygiene criteria. In 11 years we have managed to build a company with 45 employees, a turnover of almost 300 million and processing almost 6000 tons of wrapping paper per year. Richard Kordíkexecutive company director, CEO
