From Brooklyn to Mayer: Gábor's Story

Some business stories begin in a boardroom. This one began much earlier—with a boy at a Budapest flea market, letters sent across the Atlantic, childhood raspberry syrup, and, years later, a hot ginger drink on a cold day in Debrecen.

Today, Gábor Oszter leads the team behind the exclusive distribution of the Mayer brand in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. But bringing Mayer syrups to North America was not part of a carefully mapped-out career plan. It grew from Gábor’s lifelong entrepreneurial instinct, his connection to both Hungary and the United States, and one unexpected conversation with Mayer founder Péter Galajda.

An Entrepreneur Before He Knew the Word

When Gábor was five or six years old, adults would ask what he wanted to be when he grew up. His answer was unusual: he wanted a small stand on one of Budapest’s main streets where he could sell hot dogs and hamburgers.

By the age of twelve, he was already waking up early on weekends to find a good spot at a Budapest flea market. What attracted him was not simply earning money. He enjoyed the activity, meeting people, and the experience of serving customers.

In 1989, Gábor left Hungary for the United States on the same day the Berlin Wall came down. He spent approximately 24 years in America, including his formative years in Brooklyn.

Staying connected to Hungary mattered deeply. At a high school of roughly 3,500 students, he remembers being the only Hungarian until he discovered one other Hungarian student and made it his mission to find him. He wrote dozens of letters home each month and gradually became part of a growing Hungarian community. Weekend soccer games in Central Park eventually brought together dozens of Hungarian players and friends.

That instinct—to connect people, cultures, and countries—would later become central to the Mayer story.

The Childhood Flavor That Never Left

Long before Mayer became a business, fruit syrup was part of Gábor’s childhood.

He remembers authentic raspberry syrups sold by women at the market near his grandmother’s home. The syrup was mixed with water as a drink and sometimes poured over palacsinta, the thin Hungarian pancakes familiar to generations of families.

Years later, during a cold visit to Debrecen, Gábor ordered something warm. A waitress suggested a hot ginger drink made with Mayer Ginger Syrup. The flavor was fresh and unmistakably real, and Gábor wanted to know what was in it and who made it.

He remembered the Mayer name.

Gábor began buying Mayer syrups from local stores and eventually started ordering directly from the company. Raspberry, strawberry, and sour cherry bottles rarely lasted long: friends enjoyed them so much that they either emptied the bottles or took them home.

The Delivery That Changed Everything

One day, a different person arrived with Gábor’s order. The regular driver was unavailable, so the company’s owner, Péter Galajda, had made the delivery himself.

A casual conversation in Gábor’s backyard quickly became something more. His entrepreneurial instinct took over, and he asked Péter whether he had ever considered bringing Mayer syrups to the United States.

For Gábor, it was more than a commercial opportunity. He had relatives and friends in America and wanted them to have access to authentic Hungarian products made with real fruit and careful craftsmanship.

Péter liked the idea, but Mayer’s production was already struggling to keep up with demand. He asked Gábor to contact him again in about a year and a half.

Gábor remembered.

When he called again, Péter remembered the conversation too. In February 2024, they met at Mayer’s newly expanded facility and talked for several hours. By the end of the meeting, they had shaken hands on the idea of bringing Mayer to America.

From a Handshake to the First Container

Food import regulations, documentation, and logistics were new territory, even for an experienced entrepreneur. Gábor expected the process to take close to a year. Instead, with the right people and documentation coming together, the essential approvals moved much faster than anticipated.

By the summer of 2024, the first shipment was being assembled. What had started as a conversation over a syrup delivery became a 20-foot container crossing the Atlantic.

As Gábor admitted in the podcast, he may have dreamed a little bigger than expected. But that willingness to attempt something difficult was precisely what made the project possible.

Would Americans Buy Hungarian Syrup?

Not everyone immediately believed in the idea. Some friends and relatives thought Gábor was crazy to bring fruit syrups to the United States. His original expectation was that Hungarians and other Eastern Europeans would form the natural audience because they had grown up drinking syrup mixed with water or seltzer.

That audience was important—but American customers began finding their own uses for Mayer.

Restaurants and bars added the syrups to cocktails. Coffee shops used them in drinks. Customers tried them in tea, lemonade, desserts, over ice cream, and even in marinades. What seemed at first like a distinctly European product proved far more versatile.

Mayer began with local friends and family, then expanded through distributors, artisan markets, direct online sales, and Amazon. The challenge was not simply selling another bottle of syrup. It was introducing customers to a different kind of product and showing them how many ways it could be used.

Hungarian Craftsmanship, Made for a Wider World

Although Mayer crossed the Atlantic, its production remained rooted in Hungary.

The brand continues to focus on carefully selected fruit and botanical ingredients, short ingredient lists, and handcrafted production. Péter began by pressing fruits such as raspberries and strawberries by hand. Production has grown since then, but Mayer remains a family operation in which the syrups and jams are still made in small batches rather than outsourced to anonymous industrial production.

That commitment has also brought international recognition, including multiple Great Taste Awards across the Mayer range. You can read more about the ingredients, craftsmanship, and awards in Why Mayer? Honest Ingredients, No Shortcuts.

For Gábor, however, Mayer’s mission extends beyond the product itself. His lifelong love of animals helped make support for animal welfare organizations in both Hungary and the United States part of the company’s purpose.

Listen to the Full Conversation

Gábor shared the full story with Christine Portnoy, founder of the Hungarian Heritage Podcast, in the episode “A Taste of Hungary with Mayer Syrups and Jams.”

Their conversation explores his Hungarian childhood, his years in America, the unexpected meeting that brought Gábor and Péter together, the challenge of introducing European-style syrups to American customers, Mayer’s handcrafted production, and the company’s commitment to giving back.