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Interview with Zdeněk Vik, Manager of Commerc

Plzeňský Prazdroj Brewery is celebrating an important anniversary this year. It was 170 years ago that the first batch of Pilsner Urquell was brewed. How interested was the public at that time in understanding how beer was produced? How much interest is there today in touring the brewery?

“Visits from outside the brewery permitted from 10 to 11 o’clock,” was the notice Plzeňský Prazdroj put up at the entrance gate to the brewery in 1892 in response to public interest in learning more about the brewing of the original Pilsner lager. Public interest was big. Pilsner Urquell was already famous throughout the world at that time and the brewery was and still is one of the icons of Pilsen. Since that time, visitors have become a natural presence in our facilities and we have a dedicated team of professionals to promote tourism. Every year 250,000 visitors take our tour in Pilsen and our ‘Secese’ Conference Center hosts over 700 events of all sizes!

I’m asking because your brewery was the first in the CR to be named an Anchor Point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. What does this means in practice and what specific activities are you running thanks to this connection?

Being designated an Anchor Point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH), the first such tourist destination in the Czech Republic, was a great show of appreciation for our work in the area of industrial tourism. Anchor points form the backbone of the entire project in individual countries, which together represent the industrial history of Europe. In practice, the designation means that our visitors can expect a very sophisticated tourist infrastructure and quality services. In addition to regular thematic exhibitions and active participation in the life of the ERIH project, we are trying to create tours where we focus primarily on the industrial landmarks of our brewery. An example could be offering current brewery tours on a carrier’s coach, which will take visitors past all the buildings in the so-called Špalek’s Project, which no longer serve their original purpose but in their time were part of a unique technical project.

What events are you preparing in connection with the celebrations? What can the public or your partners look forward to and what new attractions will you offer in the future as part of traditional corporate events?

We would like to properly celebrate our 170th anniversary in a manner consistent with both the successful history and modern age of Pilsner Urquell beer. Pilsner lager is not only the pride of Pilsen citizens, but is undoubtedly a national treasure. It’s a phenomenon that has spread the glory of Czech beer to more than 50 countries. We commenced celebrations on 19 April with the installation of a “beer clock” at the Pilsner brewery’s historical gate, which will remind future generations of beer lovers of this anniversary. For visitors, we have prepared special tours of the brewery called “the History of Pilsner Urquell and theBrewery Tour on a Carrier’s Coach for the whole season. We have opened a Pilsner Urquell store in Prague’s Lesser Town, which includes an exhibition that tells the story of this famous brand and provides a venue for corporate and private events. We have just finished a second Šalanda (the name of a historical cellar room) in Pilsen, which will make it possible to organize events for up to 50 people in the historical brewery cellars and the celebrations culminated on 5 October by attractive visual mapping performed again in Pilsen, the day when, 170 years ago, the first batch of Pilsner Urquell lager was brewed.Tell our readers something about the unique SECESE Conference and Meeting Center.

The ceremonial rooms of Pilsner Urquell are one of the jewels of our brewery. They were built by the burghers who held brewing rights starting in 1908. The owners of the brewery then decided to rebuild one of the buildings of the brewery into conference rooms for sessions of the General Meeting and for receiving visitors. Since that time, the brewery has had the honor to host major business partners in these exceptional rooms, in addition to celebrities from social and political life, corporate clients and private individuals. The SECESE Conference and Meeting Center at present includes several richly decorated halls and lounges with modern conference equipment for organizing corporate or private parties, meetings or presentations. It is, moreover, possible to rent a number of other areas and not just on the premises of the brewery, but also, for example, at the Brewery Museum. Together with the use of these exclusive ceremonial rooms, we offer professional services and years of experience in organizing conferences, including large international congresses and meetings.

You mentioned important guests from social and political life. Could you give us some examples?

We have been proud hosts of a traditional luncheon to celebrate the liberation of Pilsen, which this year was attended by, among others, the American and Belgian ambassadors to the Czech Republic. We also had the opportunity to host the President of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus, Jan Švejnar, Ivan Gašparovič, the Vietnamese ambassador and many other politicians, and not just from the Czech Republic either.
The celebrities that have visited us include Lucie Bílá, Ladislav Smojlak, Marta Kubišová, Petra Janů, Miro Žbirka, David Koller and many others. Among the athletes, I would like to mention the football team Victoria Plzeň led by Pavel Horváth.

What type of events is SECESE best for?

Secese has a variety of rooms ranging from the VIP lounge and halls good for small seminars and family celebrations to the large Pilsner Urquell meeting hall and Visitor Center that can hold up to 300 people. Meetings, seminars, presentations, conventions, social parties, barbeques for clients or private parties and wedding receptions are held here. A large courtyard is also available for major ceremonial occasions. The real specialty is Šalanda, a lounge hidden away in the vast labyrinth of lager cellars, ideal for informal meetings.

What accompanying program do you offer for events held at the brewery?

The tours of the Prazdroj or Gambrinus breweries alone are among the most popular choices of our offer of accompanying programs. In addition, we’re able to supplement these tours on request to include an extended beer tasting, refreshments, music and displays of fencing. As a souvenir for our guests, we can prepare commemorative certificates or an original gift item from the wide selection available in our gift shop. If the organizers wish to have their clients actively participate, we can offer them our Living Traditions programs, where guests can spend a moment as brewery coopers. They have the chance to try either how cellarmen used to handle wooden barrels at the brewery or how a real beer barrel assembled. A popular accompanying program is our Barbecue with Pilsner Urquell.

Yet another part of the aforementioned center is the Gambrinus sports arena. What does it offer?

The Gambrinus arena is part of the Gambrinus brewery tour, which was opened to the public for the first time in autumn 2010, although beer has been brewed there since 1869. Here, visitors can try a penalty shootout or take part in a genuine guitar duel “as if” at a rock concert. Our clients can use the Gambrinus arena for an accompanying program as part of an event they’re holding in another part of our premises or we can organize a “Gambrinus party” for them. This party consists of various activities good for teambuilding or for socializing with friends. Guests can spend four and a half hours in the heart of the brewery with beer and brewing professionals over our great Gambrinus beer. After a tour of the modern and historical areas of the brewery, guests can try the aforementioned attractions in the Gambrinus Arena. In the historical 1869 Brewhouse, they can learn how to properly pour Gambrinus beer from the tap under the guidance of our brewery experts and try both the classic variant and innovations of this most popular Czech beer brand. They can then spend another three hours of enjoyment with quality beer and traditional beer snacks.

For corporate and other events, clients can also use breweries Kozel in Velké Popovice and Radegast in Nošovice. What are the options there?

Renting conference rooms at the breweries in Velké Popovice and Radegast is new in our portfolio, but even here we’re able to provide standard conference services, which certainly include high-quality catering, audiovisual equipment and an interesting accompanying program.

The scenic brewery in Velké Popovice offers two Kozel lounges that can hold 30 and 100 people respectively. The picturesque courtyard of the brewery can also be rented for the presentations of, for example, automobiles, open air events, reunions, social events and concerts. Quality catering is provided for us here by the local restaurant Velkopopovická Kozlovna.

The Radegast brewery in Nošovice can rent out its Visitor Center with an auditorium and total capacity of 100 people.

As you mentioned, Prazdroj has opened a new store in Prague not far from Charles Bridge. Can events also be staged there? What kind of capacity and possibilities does it offer?

We opened the Pilsner Urquell Gallery on Kampa, one of the most prestigious locations in the center of Prague, to mark the 170th anniversary. It combines a brand shop and exhibition that tells the story of the famous Pilsner Urquell lager. The gallery also features unique outdoor spaces and cellars. A particularly unusual feature in the context of the whole of Prague’s Lesser Town is its yard with a high factory chimney. Pilsner Urquell Gallery is a good location for holding original private and corporate meetings and receptions. Up to 80 people can spend an unforgettable moment here all at once.

If we can return to the past, what events being organized directly at the Pilsen brewery do you personally consider really worth remembering?

Quite a few events will take place on the premises of Plzeňský Prazdroj throughout the year. The largest include corporate or public events organized directly on the courtyard of the Pilsen brewery. Recently a successful Pilsner Motor Show was staged there, or for example the opening race of the RunTour track competition. We successfully organized a celebration for 550 people marking 20 years of Škofin.

We are also pleased by the success of the Shakespeare Festival, which we had the opportunity to organize in July, and of course by the traditional Pilsner Fest, which took place during the last weekend in August. During that Friday and Saturday, the brewery was again visited by tens of thousands of people who came to enjoy excellent Pilsner beer and listen to some great bands.

Ing. Zdeněk Vik
Manager of Commercial Services
zdenek.vik@pilsner.sabmiller.com
+420 724 617 901

Pilsner Urquell Gallery – Experience Shop
U Lužického semináře 11
110 00, Prague – Lesser Town
Tel: +420 739 620 799
Email: galerie@pilsner-urquell.cz
Pilsner Urquell Gallery is located 20 meters from Charles Bridge in the Lesser Town district of Prague.

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