Interview with Mr. Ferenc Molnár, Founder & Owner, Mr. Zsolt Lengyel, CEO, Ilcsi

09 May Interview with Mr. Ferenc Molnár, Founder & Owner, Mr. Zsolt Lengyel, CEO, Ilcsi

Can you provide a brief history of Ilcsi and where it stands now?

My mother started working as a beautician in 1958 during the socialist era when cosmetics were scarce. Unlike many beauticians, she created her own products at home. Her handmade cosmetics gained recognition, making her well-known in Hungary and internationally. In 1992, she was invited to speak at the 46th CIDESCO World Congress in Cyprus and the 47th in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first and the only beautician from Eastern and Central Europe to date to receive such an honor. This success helped the international recognition of our company. Our first export partner was Slovakia in 1996, followed by other regions with Hungarian communities, such as Romania, Northern Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia.

Hunor Kelemen, president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania and part of the Romanian government, fought against the opposition between Hungarians and Romanians. Our products have bridged this divide. In Romania, our products are widely loved by both Hungarians and Romanians, with customers valuing quality over nationality. Today, we export to over 30 countries. Despite our global reach, we remain a family-owned company committed to handcrafted, small-batch production. We own a 20-hectare certified bio-farm where we cultivate herbs suited to our climate, sourcing additional ingredients from certified suppliers. Our factory operates at pharmaceutical-grade standards, though we produce cosmetics, not drugs. Quality and certification remain our top priorities.

We are a team of around 40 people, maintaining this size for efficiency and agility. We handle every aspect of product design in-house, from concept to formulation, with our chemical engineers leading development. While we outsource some marketing tasks, such as packaging, product creation remains entirely our own. With over 150 active products, we carefully balance development and marketing. Not every product we create is launched immediately, as new releases can impact existing sales. To maintain a manageable portfolio, we introduce three to ten new products annually while discontinuing the same number.

My mother originally developed all our products from scratch. I joined her at 22 and worked alongside her for 35 years. As the company expanded, we involved more employees in development. Today, three of my sons work at the company in roles ranging from marketing to production. My family generates ideas and our team brings them to life.

All our products, including the rose hip serum and black soap, sell in high volumes, otherwise, we wouldn’t produce them. As a small company, it’s not worth it. If a product underperforms, we replace it with something better. Think of us like a bakery: when something runs out, we make more. We don’t produce for inventory but for orders, keeping stock for only one to one and a half months. Everything is made fresh.

How would you describe the distribution of sales between domestic and international markets?

Our sales are split 50/50 between domestic and international markets. Considering Hungary’s population of less than 10 million versus a global market of 8 billion, our local success is remarkable. We are the absolute market leader — our closest competitors combined don’t match our size. Credibility is key and certifications are essential. All plants from our garden and processed ingredients are certified by Bio Garancia, an internationally recognized firm. Our products are certified by BDIH, Germany’s strictest certification body and comply with the globally recognized Cosmos standard.

These certifications ensure our products are cleaner than most grocery store foods. Many ingredients allowed and used in food production are banned for us. In fact, our products are safe to eat, though they wouldn’t taste great. Unlike most brands that use extracts and concentrates, we incorporate whole plants into our formulas. For example, while others create apricot body lotion by mixing a base cream with extract, we grow 50 apricot trees on our certified bio-farm, harvest them naturally and blend the whole fruit into our cream — no chemicals, no shortcuts.

When it comes to exporting and selling in foreign countries, do you work with partners or manage it independently?

We work exclusively with partners, both locally and internationally, and outsource sales as much as possible. In Hungary, a wholesale company handles Ilcsi cosmetics and hair care distribution, managing sales and logistics. Our local webshop’s picking and packaging are also outsourced to a Hungarian company with a warehouse maintaining a week’s inventory.

Additionally, we supply two of Hungary’s largest drugstore chains,  DM and Müller, delivering directly to their distribution centers. We own a single beauty salon in Budapest, which serves as a reference store. While all our products are available for purchase, direct sales are not our core business. Internationally, we sell exclusively through partners who handle both B2B and B2C sales. Our webshop is open to most European countries, though we are still resolving Brexit-related issues for the UK.

In the US, we have two key partners: SZEP ELET LLC in Indianapolis and Waterfall Distributors in California. Ilcsi is available through the distributor’s webshop and we plan to launch a direct Ilike webshop in the US soon.

What is the significance of being a Hungaricum-recognized brand or company?

Ilcsi received the Hungaricum certification from the Ministry of Agriculture, a designation for products that are purely Hungarian and meet strict quality standards. Unlike Pick Wintersalami, which is Hungaricum as a product, Ilcsi as a whole brand is a Hungaricum. This recognition strengthens our close cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Few companies hold this status. The Rubik’s Cube was Hungaricum when it was still Hungarian-owned, but no longer. We take pride in remaining a family-owned treasure. Our nomination was based on three key factors: the bio-plants we use (103 of 105 grown in Hungary), the rich black soil of the Carpathian Basin and my mother’s intellect and innovation. These elements earned us the Hungaricum title in 2014.

Hungarians abroad are familiar with Hungaricum and the Ministry of Agriculture is actively promoting it internationally through brochures and magazines. The Hungaricum logo appears on Ilcsi products in the US, but not on Ilike, although discussions with the Ministry are ongoing. They claim Ilike is eligible for the certification, but we have not used it yet, as it’s not officially documented by attorneys. Once confirmed, we will include the logo on Ilike products as well. The Ministry publishes a global Humgaricum book in multiple languages yearly, and Ilcsi is consistently featured.

What recent challenges has the company faced and how did you overcome them?

From 1999 to 2005, we worked with a partner in Canada and the US who asked us to produce cosmetics under the name “Eminence,” rather than Ilcsi. After six years of cooperation, they ended the contract in 2005 and started producing the products themselves, falsely claiming they were made by us. They even stole the brand story, inventing a fake connection to my mother’s Hungarian village.

Despite a lawsuit, they continue to sell products with misleading claims, including the “Made in Hungary since 1958” label. This led us to create Ilike, not just for better pronunciation, but also because we were legally restricted from using the Ilcsi brand. The Eminence brand, despite being much younger, continues to compete against us, using our history to promote their products.

Looking ahead, what is your long-term vision for Ilcsi in the next 5-10 years?

We aim to keep the company under 50 employees while expanding with a new headquarters, laboratory, factory and museum. The design plans are ready, but delays from the pandemic have pushed things back. We plan to triple the number of international partners and modernize our bio-garden to keep up with changing technologies and climate shifts. Growing plants takes time, so we always plan ahead.

We are already using solar panels to generate electricity and have a 20-hectare field with an efficient irrigation system. We also have our own water reservoir. Maintaining a bio-garden without chemicals is labor-intensive and finding workers for the seasonal harvest is challenging.

Why is now a great time to invest in Hungary and why should people choose and partner with Ilcsi?

Hungary is centrally located in Europe, with a well-developed highway system making travel easy. It has oneof  the lowest unemployment rates in the EU, though finding workers for specialized tasks can be challenging. Hungary is also an automotive hub, with major brands like BMW, Mercedes and Audi operating here. Tax rates are attractive for businesses, with a corporate tax around 9-10% and income tax at 15%, although VAT is high. The workforce is smart and trainable, but many people don’t speak foreign languages, particularly English. Our language is unique, spoken by only 30 million people worldwide.

Hungary has a strong relationship with the US and Budapest is known as one of the world’s most beautiful capitals. Investments in Hungary face challenges as the population ages, similar to trends in the US and Europe. However, there is a huge opportunity in tourism, particularly due to the country’s abundance of thermal water, Europe’s largest supply. This stretches across a 200-kilometer area, with Budapest sitting on a major thermal hub. The city has 20 thermal baths and spas with medical-grade thermal water are a cultural tradition.

We sell Ilcsi products for treatments, connecting our business to this sector. While high-end hotels with thermal water are common, there is still room for more investment in spas. Lake Hévíz, the world’s largest outdoor thermal lake, is also in Hungary. Budapest’s thermal water, which once supplied free hot water to homes, is rich in sulfur and has health benefits, though it caused issues with heating systems due to pipe clogging. Hungarians excel in swimming, water polo and other aquatic sports, similar to Montenegro. We have many swimming pools, not only because we love swimming, but because the country is rich in underground water. The challenge is cooling the water, as it’s naturally hot. Hungary ranks number one in the world for Olympic medals per capita in the Summer Olympics!

What is your final message to the readers of USA Today?

My mother was a beautician as well as an entrepreneur. For the past 30 years, we have organized an annual roadshow across Hungary, visiting major cities and meeting with around 1,200 beauticians. I regularly give speeches and demonstrate treatments with my team. We also collaborate with over 30 of the more than 40 beauty schools in Hungary. In addition to being a product manufacturer sold through retail and online channels, we focus on creating and providing our own schools for beauticians.

It’s essential for us to equip beauticians with the tools they need and train future professionals who will work with our products. We prioritize nurturing the next generation of beauticians.