Interviews

Mokate – the power of family tradition

Wednesday, 14 August, 2024 Food From Poland 41/2023
Since the beginning of its operations, Mokate has been a family company. As the fourth generation in charge, Dr. Adam Mokrysz and his wife, Dr. Katarzyna Mokrysz, work together for the success of the Mokate Group. For many years, their goal has been the creation of a brand-name international enterprise based on family values.
Currently, the Mokate Group consists of several enterprises operating in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, the UK, South Africa, and Dubai, exporting their products to almost all countries of the world. The company owns three production plants: in Ustroń, Żory, and Votice, Czech Republic.

Mokate’s annual revenues approach PLN 1.5 billion, 80% of which come from foreign markets. “We like challenges that require bold and visionary action. With our experience and perseverance, we manage to overcome these challenges and expand successfully on international markets. Our export activities account for more than 70% of the Group’s revenues. Its further development is possible because of our focus on innovation and the quality of our offer,” stresses Dr. Adam Mokrysz, the CEO of the Mokate Group.

The company employs more than 1,500 people worldwide. The Mokate Group is dynamically increasing its exports, implementing innovative products, and contending successfully for global consumers. The best-known Mokate brands include: LOYD, Mokate, NYCoffee, Minutka, Marila, Marizzi, Alpino, Babcia Jagoda.

“Since the beginning of our operations, the company has been a family enterprise, which is an enormous value for the entire brand. Staying true to the tradition and to family values has been the basis for the development of the Mokate business so far. The family nature of the company is manifested, above all, in the relations there, since Mokate employs entire families, including multigenerational ones,” says Dr. Katarzyna Mokrysz, the General Director of the Mokate Group.

The success of the Mokate Group is all the more satisfying that the company engages in activities in the area of corporate social responsibility. The Mokate Group builds its CSR, among other things, on the basis of the popularization of chess. This game is a tradition of the Mokrysz family. On the initiative of the company’s founders, chess clubs have been established, and the Mokate Chess Academy was created several years ago.

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Mokate is known and appreciated in Poland and beyond. What has contributed to the successful expansion of the Mokate Group to foreign markets?

Adam Mokrysz: At Mokate, we try to act and build our growth on the basis of 3 pillars: vision, courage, and action. We face challenges with courage, we focus on teamwork and cooperation with experts, we set ourselves ambitious goals and we pursue them step by step with wonderful people. Most of all, we like working and we work with great passion. 

Katarzyna Mokrysz: Mokate is a flexible company, able to skillfully adapt to changing consumer needs and market conditions. We present an agile approach, our offer often includes innovations and new products. We explore and look for new, attractive markets, we cooperate with reliable business partners. Investment in new technologies and in our plants is a priority to us. Teamwork, perseverance and consistency of the decisions made, as well as the ability to calculate well, are important elements allowing us to develop dynamically.

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The production plant in Ustroń

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The production plant in Żory

What challenges are faced today when managing such an enterprise as Mokate? How do you combine your family tradition with the global scale of business? 

Adam Mokrysz: Indeed, I think the greatest challenge is to reconcile the local, family level with international development and the scale of the company’s operations. The foundations of our identity, our DNA, are based on family tradition, human beings, but also on Polishness. We are proud of it and we have turned those features into our competitive advantage. 

Katarzyna Mokrysz: Work in an international environment means a great diversity of cultures that broaden our horizons, stimulate creativity and allow for exchange of experience. We observe different trends and flexibly adapt to the circumstances. This is how creative ideas, new product concepts, or even investments are born. The knowledge and know-how of our teams is invaluable; as a family company, we know this well and we can take advantage of this like no one else. Of course, there are many more challenges – of a different nature: formal and legal, technological, logistic. But we handle them excellently, thanks to the teams of people on whom we base our business. 

Thank you
Tomasz Pańczyk, Editor-in-Chief




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