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From Pilsen, Bohemia, to Chicago, Mexico, and back
to Chicago with occasional side trips to Czechoslovakia
In 1889, 14-year-old John A. Sokol came to Chicago from Pilsen, Bohemia to seek a better position in life. Starting out as a grocery delivery boy, he learned the food business and in November 1895, at age 20, he opened his first grocery store at the corner of Polk and Paulina . By 1902 he added three more stores.
Sokol's zeal for travel and adventure led him to Mexico a year later with his wife, Marie, where he invested in a coffee plantation. That adventure ended with the Mexican Revolution in 1905.
Not to be discouraged, Sokol returned to Chicago and started a wholesale coffee, tea and spice business on West Randolph Street, incorporating the name Sokol & Company in 1907.
Proud of his family heritage, Sokol helped found the Czechoslovakian-American Chamber of Commerce after World War I. Later he established European importing contacts from which his Chicago-based company could purchase herbs and spices.
In the 1920's Sokol introduced the Solo line of food products, which consisted mostly of cake and pastry fillings made from prunes and European-imported poppy seeds.
The Solo name became an instant success. Later the company expanded into dehydrated foods, imported spices and other Solo dessert fillings. In the 1950's the company added its distinctive musical note to Solo's logo.
In 1937 the Czechoslovakian Republic awarded Sokol its highest decoration, the Order of the White Lion, for his lifelong commitment to promoting trade with Czechoslovakia. During World War II his company sent relief packages to Europe that included cocoa, coffee and tea.
After Sokol's death in 1943, his son-in-law, John F. Novak, took over the company. Teresa Sokol Novak, the founder's daughter, assumed the presidency in 1952. She served in that capacity until her son, John (Jack) Sokol Novak, Sr. joined the company in 1957. Sokol's granddaughter, Mary Ann Sadilek, is the corporation's secretary-treasurer.
Today, the fourth generation carries on the family tradition. The current president of Sokol & Company is the founder's great-grandson, John Sokol Novak, Jr. "Whether people are in our family or not," he says, "they feel like they're part of a company that has family values."
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