Jars for preserves, bottles for wine, oil, liqueurs or brandies, small jars in which we give creative gifts for the holidays or buy products from family farms – all this, and more, is provided to the domestic market by a company with an unusual name located in Novak near Samobor. The company Bumbar, oriented towards special glass packaging, has gone through an interesting journey in its thirty years from a local establishment, wine sales, to the distribution of glass bottles. It got its name from a family nickname, and it was founded by spouses Vladimir and Ljerka Sakač together with Andrija and Terezija Horvatinović (Ljerka’s parents). Bumbar still operates as a family business, which, along with Vladimir and Ljerka, is run by their sons Domagoj and Krešimir Sakač.
Over the years, the company has established itself as one of the largest importers and distributors of glass packaging in Croatia, and besides the domestic market, it has found its place in the European Union, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia. Today, it generates 15 percent of its total revenue from exports, which amounted to 39.95 million kuna last year, and in retail and wholesale, it offers its customers more than 600 types of different bottles and other glass packaging.
Bottles in Exchange for Wine
Bumbar’s story began in a hospitality establishment in Rakitje run by Ljerka’s parents, where her husband Vladimir worked for a full ten years before starting the joint business. The idea to open their own company was born after the establishment began having problems sourcing certain wines, and a series of circumstances led them to bottle sales.
– We started selling wine in 1992, and it developed very well. But shortly after we started the business, it happened that the wine supplier could not pay for bottles in Italy, which is why he asked us to import a truckload of bottles. This event was a turning point because we then really decided to take on the procurement of bottles, but since the producer could not pay for them, we initially operated in the form of exchange: they gave us wine, we gave them bottles. But it didn’t take long for a complete turnaround to happen where we no longer ‘paid’ winemakers with bottles, but they paid us with wine. It sounds similar, but it has nothing to do with each other because at that moment we had already mostly reoriented to glass – explained Vladimir.
Although they combined working with wines and bottles for a longer period after that, in 2004 the company completely abandoned the part of the business that was oriented towards wine. Besides the change in business, that year was generally a turning point for them as they moved to their current space, into which 700 thousand euros were invested at that time. Along with the new space, the Bumbar store was opened, which they directed their business towards retail 18 years ago, and which today accounts for about one-fifth of the company’s revenue.
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Personal Contact Stronger than the ‘Web’
The new complex was financed by a loan, and seven people moved into those spaces, while today the company has grown to 33 employees. Among other significant investments, the Sakač family remembers the one from 2013, which significantly expanded the retail store, and the investment in warehouse space two years ago. They currently have no plans for similar investments and are pleased to say that they operate without any credit obligations.
And just like themselves, the market has changed over the years, so while Bumbar today sells a lot to family farms, producers of spirits, hotels, schools, restaurants, etc., Vladimir recalls the beginnings when about 80 percent of their customers were winemakers, who today represent only about ten percent. This only proves how much their customer base has changed and expanded. Adorning their working principle with the epithet ‘old-fashioned’, all members of the Sakač family are proud that they maintain a close relationship with customers, which is rare today. For example, they take orders exclusively through contact with customers, and Krešimir emphasizes that he prefers this method over opening a web shop where a customer buys something blindly and no one pays detailed attention to them or discusses the offer with them. This principle requires a lot of engagement, which, unlike large corporations, they can afford because they are a family business. And that is precisely their greatest advantage. Personal engagement, a business that has remained within the family, involvement in all processes in the company, and insisting on slow growth are the elements that have resulted in the formula for the success of the Sakač family.
