Josef’s story and remarkable achievements over the past seventy years are the stuff of legend in our family but they also resonate as a great Australian story.
Josef was the youngest of his class at 18 years of age, at rear, studying a master diploma of meat technology in Prague.
Two months before completing his studies in Prague, Josef met his best friend Bedřich Lysý and another friend in March 1950 at the Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk near Žd'ár to plan their escape. Thinking he may never see his family again Josef organised a photo with his parents, brother and sisters without telling them of his plans for fear they would be persecuted by the authorities if they knew. After completing his studies on the 30th May, Josef sold his belongings and met his best friend at an inn to finalise their plans. While checking-in at the pub the teenagers raised the suspicions of the innkeeper. Half an hour later, Josef and his friend had two Communist Party police banging on their room door demanding to know what they were up to. Josef told the police they were on holidays after finishing their studies and the officers took down their details before leaving. After that close encounter Josef dared not visit his family one last time for fear that they would be implicated in supporting his escape.
On the 8th June 1950, Josef with only a small suitcase containing all his worldly possessions, together with his two friends, set out from Znojmo at 9:30 pm walking by moonlight through farms and forests across the Czech-Austrian border guarded by minefields and soldiers patrolling with dogs. Josef and his friends eventually reached Pfaffendorf in the Russian occupied zone of Austria at 2:30 am. They then separated at the railway station to avoid raising the suspicion of authorities, as had occurred only days before when they were together at the inn. Unfortunately, Josef’s best friend was captured that night by soldiers and shot in the legs trying to escape before being imprisoned to work in dangerous mines, while the other friend he never heard from again. After buying a ticket Josef boarded the train, but authorities were also searching inside the coaches, so he stepped off the train and walked up the platform past the search party. He then boarded the train again further up where the authorities had already been to elude capture.
Josef and his wife Ada founded Continental Butchers together in September 1957. Their first factory and retail outlet were on Marine Terrace in Burnie on the North West Coast of Tasmania. The rent was £6/10 shillings per week. Ada worked long days in the business managing the packaging area and driving the delivery van before looking after the home and their daughter Margaret, while Josef worked day and night to ensure the business was a success. They often worked separate shifts, catching up on the road between their home in Penguin and the business in Burnie. Continental Butchers proved to be a success with four employees making five tonnes of meat products per week in 1957.
The Blue Ribbon factory at Camdale was opened to fanfare by the Premier of Tasmania the Hon. Eric Reece MHA in 1972 and production quickly increased from twenty tonnes to forty tonnes per week of meat products. Ada managed meat slicing and packaging operations, while Josef ran the business more broadly. Focused on expansion and vertical integration, they purchased Universal Smallgoods in Hobart in 1973 and Benders Smallgoods in Launceston in 1974, Ulverstone Abattoirs in 1975, established Colonial Meats in Hobart in 1977, purchased Barker’s Bacon Piggery in Penguin in 1977 and Killafaddy Abattoirs in Launceston in 1979.
Blue Ribbon was then successfully floated on the Australian Stock Exchange on the 26th November 1993 and effectively sold by Josef and Ada. At that time the business was the largest private employer in Tasmania with over 540 full-time employees.
Among their first property developments in 1994 was the Quest Trinity House Serviced Apartments at Glebe in Hobart and the redevelopment of the Peters Ice Cream building for food wholesalers Clements & Marshall and PFD Food Services on Talbot Road in Launceston. Both of these projects involved lease back arrangements. The group continued to be involved in property development as it also diversified into the wine industry.
The JAC Group’s first operational business investment in 1994 was Rochecombe vineyard and winery at Pipers River in Northern Tasmania. Rochecombe was purchased out of receivership after its crops had been wiped out by frost three years in a row. The vineyard was at risk of being grubbed and returned to pasture, however Josef’s team traveled to vineyards in Coonawarra and Padthaway and visited the Australian Wine Research Institute in South Australia to determine the best frost protection systems for vineyards. An impact sprinkler system was installed with a 300 megalitre dam and three diesel pumps spraying one million litres of water per hour on the 22-hectare vineyard during frost events to save the crop. As temperatures fall below zero the sprayed water constantly wets the canopy leaves and freezes releasing latent heat of fusion from the water molecules which insulates the cells in the leaves from freezing and dying. Rochecombe became part of a larger wine group formed by the JAC Group with the purchase in late 1994 of Heemskerk vineyard and its Jansz sparkling at Pipers Brook before they were sold to Pipers Brook Vineyard in 1998. Rochecombe vineyard and winery remains viable today due to Josef’s vision and is now owned by Accolade operating as Bay of Fires and House of Arras sparkling.
Among their first property developments in 1994 was the Quest Trinity House Serviced Apartments at Glebe in Hobart and the redevelopment of the Peters Ice Cream building for food wholesalers Clements & Marshall and PFD Food Services on Talbot Road in Launceston. Both of these projects involved lease back arrangements. The group continued to be involved in property development as it also diversified into the wine industry.
After purchasing Rochecombe vineyard and winery out of receivership in 1994, the JAC Group purchased other struggling vineyards and wineries, including Buchanan’s Loira vineyard near Exeter on the West Tamar and Heemskerk vineyard and winery with its Jansz sparkling brand at Pipers Brook in North East Tasmania. The processing of fruit from these vineyards was consolidated into one expanded winery at Pipers River and the wine business then became known as the Heemskerk Wine Group. To balance the volume of different grape varieties for production, a new vineyard was also established from scratch at Kayena on the West Tamar in 1995 with advice from pioneer winemaker Graham Wiltshire and later the world-renowned viticulturist Dr Richard Smart. The Heemskerk Wine Group was sold to Pipers Brook Vineyard in 1998 as it was seeking growth to become a publicly listed company. Jansz sparkling ultimately went to Yalumba while Rochecombe is now owned by Accolade but rebranded as Bay of Fires and House of Arras. Pipers Brook was not prepared to pay full price for the Kayena vineyard that had been planted from scratch as it was yet to become productive, and so with no restraint of trade in place Josef and Ada kept their Kayena vineyard and built a new winery on the site called Tamar Ridge.
Following the sale of the Heemskerk Wine Group to Pipers Brook Vineyard in 1998, the JAC Group appointed Julian Alcorso as chief winemaker and built a new winery on the Kayena vineyard it had planted from scratch three years earlier with the advice of world-renowned viticulturist Dr Richard Smart. The winery was called Tamar Ridge Wines to leverage off the beautiful Tamar Valley which is the largest regional centre for commercial vineyards and winemaking in Tasmania. Tamar Ridge achieved instant brand recognition and its wines won numerous awards from the first vintages, prompting Chris Shanahan of the Canberra Times to describe Tamar Ridge as “… surely one of the most stunning, complete and instant wine-brand creations in the history of Australia’s wine industry”. James Halliday in his Australian Wine Companion also elevated Tamar Ridge Wines to five stars as “an outstanding winery regularly producing exemplary wines” when it was only three years old. Tamar Ridge then attracted the attention of forestry company Gunns Limited which was looking for a wine brand to complement its wine managed investment schemes. In July 2003, Gunns Limited approached Josef and offered to buy Tamar Ridge Wines for a price too good to refuse given it was substantially more than the JAC Group had originally invested. At the time, Tamar Ridge over four years had won twelve trophies, twenty gold medals, thirty-six silver medals and in excess of one hundred bronze medals in wine competitions around Australia. Tamar Ridge was subsequently sold in 2010 to family wine group Brown Brothers and is currently the largest winery in Tasmania.
Following the sale of the Heemskerk Wine Group to Pipers Brook Vineyard in 1998, the JAC Group appointed Julian Alcorso as chief winemaker and built a new winery on the Kayena vineyard it had planted from scratch three years earlier with the advice of world-renowned viticulturist Dr Richard Smart. The winery was called Tamar Ridge Wines to leverage off the beautiful Tamar Valley which is the largest regional centre for commercial vineyards and winemaking in Tasmania. Tamar Ridge achieved instant brand recognition and its wines won numerous awards from the first vintages, prompting Chris Shanahan of the Canberra Times to describe Tamar Ridge as “… surely one of the most stunning, complete and instant wine-brand creations in the history of Australia’s wine industry”. James Halliday in his Australian Wine Companion also elevated Tamar Ridge Wines to five stars as “an outstanding winery regularly producing exemplary wines” when it was only three years old.
During the period between 1998 to 2000 Josef and Ada made significant investments into premium properties around Tasmania including the historic and architecturally significant 1880s Custom House building in Launceston. After many years of relative neglect, the Australian Government renovated the property to a high standard in 1998 and then offered it for sale with a lease back of the ground floor to Australian Customs and Border Protection Service which has since been renamed Australian Border Force. The JAC Group purchased Custom House following an extensive years long expressions of interest process upon satisfying the Federal Government that it had the financial capacity and good standing to ensure preservation of Launceston’s most majestic and unaltered example of Victorian Italianate architecture.
At the age of seventy-two when most people are in retirement, Josef through the JAC Group purchased out of receivership the Old Stornoway Vineyard at Relbia south of Launceston. Some might say that the 61-hectare vineyard was more than a hobby, but for Josef work is his hobby. After spending money on fixing the vineyard trellis and improving the pruning and fertilisation, the vineyard performance improved dramatically. As a result, Josef recognised the potential of this new vineyard to produce super premium wine grapes at commercial yields.
In 2004, the JAC Group purchased future urban and rural zoned land at Mount Pleasant behind Kings Meadows and Connector Park. The vendor previously had a deal with a neighbour that the neighbour would build a road on the land in exchange for a transfer of a small part of the land either side of the road. The neighbour was given a year’s notice to complete its road but did not do so. The JAC Group then purchased all of the land from the vendor but agreed with the neighbour to finish its road, and give the neighbour a right of way over the road to its strata estate, in exchange for the neighbour bringing forward construction of an access road through its light industrial estate to the JAC Group’s proposed subdivision. When the neighbour refused to build the second access road the JAC Group’s proposed subdivision was refused by Council and the RMPAT appeal tribunal on the grounds of a lack of sufficient traffic access. The JAC Group then obtained a Supreme Court order requiring the neighbour to complete the access road as agreed, and pay an award of damages for the economic cost of the delay. After four years of these trials and tribulations, and opposing a heritage listing of the entire site by a third party and neighbour, Mt Pleasant Estate was finally approved and is now one of the premier residential estates in Launceston. Determination and legal wrangling were essential to that success, which has since generated profits to fund the acquisition of several subsequent subdivisions.
To maximise margins and promote the brand, the 1880s homestead on the property was converted into a trendy cellar door and café in 2006. A new winery was then built in 2007 and several years later an award-winning winery restaurant and function centre was constructed in 2012.
After two years of protracted and complex negotiations with the Tasmanian Government, the JAC Group acquired the derelict vacant Old Launceston General Hospital on the 1st September 2008. The abandoned building had fallen into a state of total disrepair with asbestos issues and almost every window broken, but it did have 13,000 m2 of floor area over six levels of column and slab which would have cost more than thirteen million dollars to build new at that time. Fortunately, Josef was able to purchase the Old Launceston General Hospital to realise his vision to turn what was Launceston’s biggest eyesore into the city’s most majestic mixed-use development with a ninety-nine-room hotel, fourteen luxury apartments including two penthouses, medical suites, and commercial and retail tenancies.
The Josef Chromy Restaurant and Function Centre was built and officially opened by the Premier of Tasmania the Hon. Lara Giddings MP in 2012. The building was designed by local architect Jack Birrell of Birrelli Architects and won the Award for Best Commercial Architecture at the Tasmanian Architecture Awards in 2013. The importance of tourism and hospitality to vineyards and wine businesses is threefold. Firstly, sales are increased, and secondly, business profitability also improves by capturing full margin from growing grapes to selling bottled wine to the end consumer. A third benefit of establishing a home for the brand, is that it promotes the wines directly to consumers who then become brand ambassadors buying the wines elsewhere and recommending them to their friends.
The project involved two three-storey townhouses and five luxury apartments including one of Tasmania’s largest and most luxurious penthouses with a twenty-metre lap pool and spa, and unobstructed all-round views of Hobart. The Met Penthouse was ultimately sold to a prominent Tasmanian and his associated group for five million four hundred thousand dollars, which still holds the record for the most expensive apartment sold in Hobart.
The Met on EllerslieHawley Beach Estate is an outstanding coastal location, just a few minutes walk to some of the most beautiful beaches on the North West Coast and within 10 minutes of Devonport airport and the Spirit of Tasmania.
Spring Farm Estate is an outstanding location, just a few minutes to beautiful beaches and within 15 minutes of Hobart CBD, 30 minutes to Hobart Airport and a easy drive to the south coast.
Designed with families and lifestyle in mind - a great place to build your long-awaited dream home for quality of lifestyle!
Mersey Fields Estate has become the preferred place for buyers to build that long awaited dream home. Where the quality of lifestyle is just as important as the quality of the home. Boasting easy to build level blocks, shopping and Latrobe CBD only a few minutes away, this brilliant location certainly sets the estate apart from all others. With affordable blocks and a variety of block sizes, this certainly will make a strong point of difference for those people wanting to make Mersey Fields Estate home.
Ecclestone Estate has become the preferred place for buyers to build that long awaited dream home. Where the quality of lifestyle is just as important as the quality of the home. Boasting a grand entrance into the estate, Riverside Plaza Shopping Centre and Launceston CBD only 10 minutes away, this brilliant location certainly sets the estate apart from all others. With affordable blocks and a great variety of block sizes, this certainly will make a strong point of difference for those people wanting to make Ecclestone Estate home.
Ecclestone EstateThe JAC Group purchased the Penny Royal Hotel and Apartments in 2013 together with a derelict theme park located at the bottom of a twenty-metre cliff behind the complex. The Penny Royal colonial era theme park was originally developed by Roger Smith in 1979 and then sold to various operators before ending up closed for a decade and left in a state of total disrepair. Josef was keen to restore the theme park to its former glory because it was Tasmania’s only theme park and an important part of Launceston’s heritage. After consulting with his team, the JAC Group spent twenty million dollars to redevelop the complex which was officially opened by the Premier of Tasmania the Hon. Will Hodgman MP on a rainy evening the 18th March 2016. The redevelopment involved demolishing and faithfully rebuilding the old buildings to fit them out with new restaurants, cafes and bars, as well as an ice creamery and wood fired pizzeria. Cliff adventures were also added with a dozen rope bridges suspended around the cliff face, two zip lines that cross the complex and a twenty-metre cliff jump, as well as indoor and outdoor rock-climbing using auto belays for safety. The complex also includes a tall ship Brig Tamar cruise, convict ghost tour, gold panning and gemstone mine, a convict barefoot sensation obstacle course and the Matthew Brady dark ride that travels on water barges through gunpowder mills under the buildings around the perimeter of the site. The water barge dark ride is based on the story of notorious escaped convict, pirate and 'gentleman bushranger' Matthew Brady in 1825 using special effects, projections and realistic human animatronics from Sally Corp in Jacksonville, Florida USA.
The Peninsula @ Midway Point is one of Tasmania’s most sought-after locations, with magical bay views and stunning natural features while only being a stone’s throw from Hobart Airport and less than 20 minutes from Hobart.
Consisting of level easy to build on blocks that will create a great lifestyle for family living. With a variety of block sizes, there is a block to suit everyone’s desires. With sun drenched aspects and peaceful atmosphere, you could swear you were in the country.
The Peninsula @ Midway Point is one of Tasmania’s most sought-after locations, with magical bay views and stunning natural features while only being a stone’s throw from Hobart Airport and less than 20 minutes from Hobart.
The JAC Group purchased the TRC Hotel and Bottle Shop and several houses and units beside its Penny Royal Hotel in 2016, with the intention of developing a fifty million dollar five-star hotel at Launceston in Tasmania. The land is the last prime development site on the edge of the Tamar River Basin four hundred metres from the CBD and only three hundred and fifty metres from the Cataract Gorge, which is Northern Tasmania’s most popular and iconic tourist attraction. After developing a commercial car park on the site as an interim measure the JAC Group ran a commissioned design competition paying six architects to each come up with a different design for the Gorge Hotel. The designs were then assessed by expert planners, landscape architects, quantity surveyors, construction project managers and international hotel operators.
Consisting of level easy to build on blocks that will create a great lifestyle for family living. With a variety of block sizes, there is a block to suit everyone’s desires. With sun drenched aspects and peaceful atmosphere, you could swear you were in the country.