Radosav Komadinic, owner of Ice Cream Factory - When basketball player creates brands

He who knows not and knows that he knows not is a student, teach him; He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool, avoid him; He who knows and knows that he knows is a wise man, follow him. This Arab saying is one of his favorites. He knows that he knows. Rex coffee, Marbo, Que Pasa restaurant, Aleksandar Palace hotel are all behind him. And now he creates an "ice fantasy" and prepares two business undertakings. Although once on his way to become a professional basketball player, he has decided to make brands instead.

- Every man has a genius inside, but that genius has to be discovered. I love to create and make something that others don't have. I don't cry for a house on Dedinje or some other big material things. My next business will cost me more than I can afford, but that is life to me. What you need to do is follow your idea and never give up - Radosav Komadinic, director of the company Ice Cream Factory, says at the beginning of his story for eKapija.

A copy of the book "Lessons Learned from the World's Top Brands" and the special award for the exporter of the year 2010 are placed on his desk, while the shelves in his office are decorated by the packaging of his products.

In his opinion, the recipe to create a brand in 3-4 years must include the following ingredients: top quality, top packaging, and competitive price in first two years.

Brand that changes your taste

Most people start their day with a coffee. He decided to start his career with that black drink. There were many coffee roasting shops in Yugoslavia in the 1990's, but he was the first to open a private coffee factory.

- My four partners and me opened a private coffee roasting and packaging factory in Sopot and then I decided to make a quality brand. The coffee was named after my nickname - Rex. We were packing coffee in bags with one-way valve, which was never seen in our market before. I first saw that packing method used at the fair of packaging machines in Dusseldorf. Our coffee was of high quality and we quickly conquered the market. After only three years, we became the third largest coffee manufacturer in former Yugoslavia, right behind Centroproizvod and Franck. We exceeded the capacities of Droga Portoroz, Upi Sarajevo, Agrokomerc Kladusa.

The coffee factory soon started to roast and pack espresso coffee made by an Italian recipe.

- Thanks to Vujadin Boskov, who was a coach in Italy at the time, I was honored to see how a local laboratory operates and get a recipe for espresso coffee of an exceptional quality. We experienced a boom in former Yugoslavia with that espresso coffee. We even signed an agreement on the export of 500 tonnes of that coffee to France, but the war stopped us after we exported only 20 tonnes.

Komadinic was nicknamed Rex when he was seven. Milan Draskic, current assistant to the Republic Public Prosecutor, gave him that nickname.

- I was constantly running after a ball. We used to play with a handmade ball on a concrete surface and my elbows and knees were always bloody. I loved to be a goalkeeper and others were usually saying: "Look at small Rex how he jumps left and right," alluding to Tito's Rex.

(Mladjan Dinkic presents the Exporter of the Year award to Radosav Komadinic)

Athletes and Chipsy

He sold his stake in the coffee factory in 1994. As early as the next year, Misa, Andrej, Radosav and Bojan opened a potato chips factory under the name of Marbo Produkt.

- We named it Marbo after the initial letters of our names. All of us were athletes - Andrej and Bojan were hockey players, while Misa was a tennis player. There was only one potato chips factory in the country at the time - Pik Cacak, but it lacked both good packaging and quality. During our travels around the world, we saw how that product should look like. We learned the potato processing technology from a top technologist who came to us from Cacak - Mr. Simovic.

Just like Komadinic planned, Marbo became a brand in the third year of operations.

- We were making losses for two years and then we turned a huge profit in the third year. The value of our company grew ten times bigger in those three years. After that I sold my stake in Marbo to pursue some new challenges.

When a lifetime dream comes true

Between streets Kralj Petar I (the Karadjordjevic dynasty) and Car Lazar (the Nemanjic dynasty), the third Serbian dynasty - the Obrenovics, got its place in 2004 when a hotel was named after Aleksandar Obrenovic - Aleksandar Palace. After operating for only three years, one of the favorite hotels of tourists in the capital city was declared the world's best boutique hotel at the World Tourism Fair in London in November 2006.

- My lifetime dream was to open a hotel. I first opened Que Pasa restaurant on the ground floor of that facility in 2000 and then Aleksandar Palace hotel, as well as Kraljevina restaurant in the cellar of the hotel. I left the hotel and restaurant business in September 2007 and the company got into serious problems two years later and, unfortunately, had to be closed because my partners wanted to run it the way they thought was good. It is still in bankruptcy. That is what happens when people know not that they know not how to do business, which is why I now avoid them.

Radosav Komadinic then started the ice cream production business. Ice Cream Factory was set up in 2007 as an ice cream craft shop in New Belgrade. Since those ice creams quickly found their way to consumers, it was necessary to produce larger quantities, which was impossible to do at a craft shop.

- We were supposed to start industrial production of ice creams in family packs in 2009, but the equipment from Italy was delivered late so that we began production in 2010. I know that Ice Fantasy will become a brand because I know what I am doing. Exports will help us acquire a better position in our market.

He has recently given a lecture on the brand creation to postgraduates at the Agricultural Faculty in Belgrade.

He still has partners who help the company develop better, but, as he says, he chooses only the ones who have gone through thick and thin in the economy.

- My current partners are co-owners of In Hotel, Zobnatica, Kontiki. I do not have to teach them, I may even learn something from them, but what we need to do is make this brand famous in both Serbia and abroad.

Ice Fantasy ice creams have already found their place in the markets of Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russian Federation, and Bahrain.

Basketball player

He took his first basketball steps in the city on the Djetinja river. He remembers his childhood in Uzice for playing football and basketball in summer and sleighing and snowballing in winter.

- That was one of the most beautiful periods in my life. Nowadays, children are less playing outdoors because of computers. We did not even have a television. There were no discotheques or folkotheques at that time.

He had his first dance to the music of Indeksi, Pro Arte, Korni Grupa, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin.

As a first- and second-grade student in the secondary school, he was playing drums in a school orchestra. And then he fully focused on basketball.

- My late father was working for the Army, went across Igman mountain, experienced a lot, and he managed to share some of his experiences with me. He taught me that talent alone did not mean anything. I did not like to study Political Economics and Marxism and I did not have time to read books because of basketball practices, but I was the best mathematician in both primary and secondary school.

He stayed in Uzice until he graduated from the secondary school and then started playing for Rabotnicki from Skopje where he also "served in the Army". After that, he played basketball for Zemun's Mladost for one year.

- When I was 24 I went to Sweden to be a professional basketball player and I stayed there for one year. I somehow managed to get the license, which was very difficult for athletes at the time. That country was a big surprise to me, but also a great experience since it is one of the most developed countries.

When he returned to Belgrade, he first started coaching junior players and then he became the coach of a professional club at the age of 30. That club was Buducnost from Podgorica.

- I was one of the youngest coaches in former Yugoslavia. I stayed in Podgorica for one year since I did not want the president of the club to order me who should play the matches. I decided to rely on myself and started my own private business.

Although a professor in Physical Education and a senior basketball coach, he was of the opinion that he did not have to do what he studied for. He saw himself as a creator.

What matters is the engine and not the body of a man

- When I was 13, I hitchhiked to the seaside. We were selling soda and ice cream in Becici. Nobody told me to go, but I loved to work and earn my own money. Even as a student, I was always doing some part-time jobs and, in spite of that, I graduated from the faculty after three years.

In his opinion, there is always something to do if one wants to work.

- I cannot find quality staff when I need to hire new people. Younger generations have given up. They should become independent at earlier age. I left home when I was 18, while my two sons did that at 17 years of age – the elder combined business and sport, while the younger is at Master studies in the USA where he plays basketball for an university in Kentucky.

Komadinic says that his family sees him as a creative man.

- I am proud of my wife Mira and my children the most, but I also take pride in the peace that my family has been providing me with over the last 35 years, which is the foundation for all business successes.

He usually drinks coffee and exchanges opinions with his friends on weekends. He does not go to cafes often, loves homemade meals, while "War Kitchen" is the last play he watched at Atelje 212.

- I love to read books written by psychologists and those dealing with the business, brand making, etc. I do not watch television because it makes me feel depressed.

He watches only Partizan's basketball matches and some good European football matches. He stopped playing his favorite sport when he was 24, but he later became a member of the Managing Board of Partizan Basketball Club.

- I practice every morning for an hour at my home gym over the last six months.

Taking a rest with his product

He works for 12 hours a day at average. He has no time to travel.

- I traveled a lot and now I am dedicated to what I love, and that is the creation of brands.

Komadinic says he does not think about what happened, but only about what is going to happen. He quickly maked decisions and does not blame others for his own failures.

He does not hide that he still sees himself in the confectionery business because, in his opinion, the food industry represents a great potential of Serbia.

- There is still much to do in that field in our country. I already have two businesses in the pipeline. I don't want to retire. A man is happy when he has family, good health and when he can stay a child for the whole life, thus remaining young forever. Then he can work and create all his life.

S.O.

Ice Cream factory d.o.o. Beograd

Radosav Komadinic

Ice Fantasy

Rex

Marbo

Que Pasa restaurant

Aleksandar Palace hotel

Lessons Learned from World's Top Brands

Siepa

exported of the year

Centroproizvod

Frank

Droga portorož

Upi Sarajevo

Agrokomerc Kladusa

ice cream

ice cream production

espresso coffee

Vujadin Boskov

Milan Draskic

Tito

Pik Cacak

Aleksandar Obrenovic

boutique hotel

World Tourism Fair London

Kraljevina restaurant

Hotel In

Zobnatica

Kontiki

Indeksi

Pro arte

Korni grupa

Deep Purple

Led Zeppelin

Rabotnicki Skopje

Mladost Zemun

Igman

basketball player

basketball

professional basketball player

Buducnost Podgorica

Faculty of Sports and Physical Education

DIF

Becici

Mira Komadinic

War Kitchen

Atelje 212

Partizan