Without the intention of feeling nostalgia for the past one should, nevertheless, look back and reflect on the progress made since the very beginning of our company more then seven decades ago.

In 1924, a pharmacist Vojko Arko set up a small trading business in essential oils, aroma substances, essence, plant extracts, foodstuff coloring agents and pharmaceutical products.

After four years of operation already, the business came under the ownership of a German joint-stock company SCHIMMEL&CO., the leading European manufacturer of aroma substances at the time from Miltitz. The supply to the markets of South Eastern Europe was performed through their branch in Celje.

However, this formed a rather weak basis for the activity to continue after 1945, the year of foreign capital ban in our country. Nevertheless, a group of people sharing same enthusiasm and persistence succeeded in preserving the activity despite unfavorable conditions for small businesses. The then authorities nurtured the idea of merging this business with the chemical industry, which would have probably put an end to it all. Thanks to hard-headed and determined individuals the struggle for recognition finally came to a successful end in 1952 when the business started to operate as a company under the present name with 30 persons employees.

After 15 years of continuous striving and sacrifice the company made a decision on its first major investment, which then also paved the way for the factory at a new location in Škofja vas. The 25 years to follow can be considered as the period of most intensive activity from the point of growth as well as the development of our company.

Etol has always been a market-oriented company and was among the first in the former Yugoslavia to seek contacts with internationally renowned foreign companies. The result of such endeavors was a joint venture agreement with the American corporation IFF, the leading world manufacturer of aroma raw materials and compositions signed in 1972.In this way ETOL has finally won its place in the world market.

Today ETOL is an internationally recognized company with several representative offices and joint venture companies abroad, e.g. in Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, Croatia and Macedonia.

Our interest is not only in selling the product but also our knowledge and experience in order to contribute to the quality of the final product which should satisfy the increasing demands of food industry standards and the requirements of consumers in particular.

More than 60% of ETOL's products are sold outside Slovenia. In a few years our export share is expected to reach 75%, which is the goal we are sure to achieve thanks to our constant search for the new markets and methods of approaching them. The secret of our success lies in our human resources and the technical and technological potential our greatest assets for the future.