Jiří Boček, general manager of Budejovicky Budvar for the last 25 years, resigns from his job as head of the iconic state owned Czech brewery by the end of this year. According to a today’s report by Czech news portal seznam.cz, Boček suffers from severe health problems which forces him to scale down his activities for a longer time. He sent his resignation to Czech minister of agriculture, Marian Jurečka. The minister confirmed the reception of the letter, without confirming the reasons of the resignation. He stated that the long-term manager was responsible for the extraordinary success of the brewery in the last quarter of a century and that it will be hard to replace him. The tender procedure will start soon but most likely it will be necessary to assign an interim manager for a given time.
As a student Boček attended the Brewing School in Budvar from 1972 until 1974. He also worked in the brewery during that time. Afterwards he attended 3 years the Technical College for Food Technology in Prague followed by another 5 years at the University for Chemistry and Technology in Prague. In 1984 he joined Budejovicky Budvar as technologist, chief of the brewhouse and later as its second head brewer. In 1991, after the political turmoil in Eastern Europe he became the first man of the brewery, a role which he helds up to date.
During his tenure, Boček could defend the autonomy of the last remaining state owned brewery in the Czech Republic and quadrupled sales from 0.4 to 1.6 million hectoliters with a plus of 30% in the last 6 years. He was also successful in defending brand rights for Czech Budweiser beer in many countries around the world against American brewing giant Anheuser Busch. In 2015 Boček was awarded the Annual prize of the Czech and Moravian Brewing Academy. Last week he received the Medal of Merit out of the hands of Czech president Miloš Zeman.
