Our story – a combination of inspiration and passion

„Your idea doesn’t have to be big – it only has to change the world“

Janos Kotányi – the story of a man who set out to discover delight

As a child, Janos Kotányi travelled to the most remote places of the world – albeit only in his mind – and imagined the sounds, scents and dishes of foreign countries. He dreamt of taking the wide world into his home – the young discoverer was fascinated by the multitude of exotic herbs and spices. But instead of poking in old history books or simply travelling in the atlas he took a decision: in 1881 he starts up a paprika mill in his home town Szeged. This was the year of birth of the company „Kotányi”. The young man with the insatiable thirst for knowledge of flavours, scents and the proper flavour now processed the sweet peppers from his fields by his own hands. Doing so, he used his very own mixed recipe, a secret he kept to himself.

Janos’s splendid paprika blends conquered Vienna in a rush: it was in 1884 when the first Kotányi branch in the district of Döbling was set up and only shortly afterwards, the elitist Viennese society was able to get the well-known paprika, but also exquisite Cognac, Hungarian liquors and other delectability in Billrothstraße. Because of the famous fresh flavour of the paprika blends Kotányi was appointed “Imperial and Royal Purveyor to the Court”.

Alongside courage and curiosity a little bit of luck helped the young man to realize his vision of condiment trade. The quick economic expansion of the roaring twenties pushed the company to another rapid rise. And again Janos invested wisely and forward-looking: in addition to the already well-known paprika mill in Szeged he established a spice mill and spread his idea of the realisation of exotic culinary worlds in one’s own kitchen to cities such as Budapest, Berlin, Munich, Boston and New York.

Generational change – the influence of the family through the decades

The vision of Janos Kotányi was continued by his descendants: in 1925 Hans Kotányi was given responsibility of the company. Despite hard times of recession, word economic crises and World War II he successfully managed the business and so Kotányi received its 50th international award at a cooking exhibition in Paris. Hans Kotányi used all his energy in order to further realize his father’s dream: no matter if amateur or professional chef - everyone should be inspired to use herbs and spices from all over the world in his own kitchen.

In the 1950s Hedwig and her brother Friedrich reorganized the company towards modernisation. Both continued their grandfather’s philosophy and established numerous new branches so that more and more people would be inspired by fine flavours and the right relish. Regardless of all economic considerations the basic idea of creativity in the own kitchen was still sensible and was further enhanced by a range of interesting new products.

1981 was another significant year in the company’s history: due to unfortunate circumstances 24-year-old Erwin Kotányi was forced to take over the position of his uncle in the top management. Having just completed the Vienna University of Business Administration he leads the business to international rank - with passion and total commitment for the good taste.

Quality – based on confidence

Encouraged by the same vision as in the company’s beginnings the modernisation of the firm is now one of the main ambitions. In the 1980s Kotányi is one of the first companies that put a modern, flexible filling machine for paprika into operation – even with this big traditional heritage Kotányi stays state-of-the-art and proves to be modern and trendsetting by introducing a number of technical innovations in the production process. However, the secret recipe of Janos is still the same!

The company is getting larger and larger – in 1989 the new headquarters in Wolkersdorf, a small town in the Weinviertel in the province of Lower Austria, are established. This also means the foundation of one of the most modern spice enterprises in the world. The congenial spirit of Janos Kotányi is ubiquitous – with love, passion and personal commitment everyday about 150 employees make sure that only the best things come into the package.

Just like Janos Kotányi always cared for the best quality of the products, there are regular tests at Kotányi even today: in May 2003 Kotányi proved his quality programme with an ISO certificate, a significant decoration in the food market.

In order to fulfil even higher standards the company was awarded the IFS certification in 2005. This international food standard aims at improving the safety, authenticity and quality of the product.

International orientation – towards a new century

Anticipating the EU enlargement and following the pioneer spirit of the founder of the company, Kotányi started to invest in countries such as Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia as well as Latvia and Lithuania as early as the 1980’s. In the course of time, other southeast European markets such as Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Ukraine, were also incorporated. Additionally, Kotányi’s huge success spread to Germany, Italy and Russia.

Kotányi’s high quality products can be discovered in many countries across the world, be it in a school kitchen in China, on the flavour shelf of a hotel chef in Slovenia or at home, in your own kitchen in Austria. What started as a zealous idea became - thanks to Janos Kotányi’s inspiration - a source of passion, uniting amateur and professional chefs around the globe. Let yourself be inspired!