Food & Drink

SB meets… Lucia Alliegro, Ron Carúpano

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The Venezuelan rum model has its coronary heart set on world domination – and has the right plan to realize its lofty ambitions, as the corporate’s advertising director explains.

Lucia Alliegra Ron Carupano

Obsessed with rum: Lucia Alliegro, advertising director Ron Carúpano

How lengthy have you ever been working Ron Automotiveúpano?

I’ve been working with Ron Carúpano for over two years, working to take the model to the world.

What makes Ron Automotiveúpano stand out within the rum class?

With out sounding smug, however Ron Carúpano is the signature for premium rum in Venezuela. It’s an emblem for the democratisation of the consumption of wonderful high quality rum accessible by completely different worth ranges and all client segments. Coming from Venezuela, rum is a vital a part of our id; for us, it’s way more than a drink. It means heritage, custom and represents a window to share with the remainder of the world this beautiful distillate, distinctive in its variety.

The rum class is experimenting and dealing on making a premium picture. Customers have gotten way more crucial about what they drink and demand to know what’s contained in the bottle, who it was made by, and why it tastes a sure approach. So for Ron Carúpano, I consider we’re not simply any rum, we’re an ‘trustworthy rum’. What we imply by that’s that each one the organoleptic traits that you’ll find in our liquids come from our unaltered ageing and mixing course of, and greater than 250 years of mixing mastery which have helped us with innovation, high quality and heritage. We have now over 60 awards in several famend competitions to show our high quality.

Ron Carúpano’s ageing amenities are situated simply two miles from the Caribbean Sea in Carúpano, in japanese Venezuela. The temperature and local weather means our rum ages 3 times as quick, however we add no sugars or synthetic components to our rum.

Do you make spirits for third-party manufacturers?

We solely produce rum for the Ron Carúpano model. We create spirits within the worth section to fulfill the Venezuelan inside market calls for, however we solely export our aged rums portfolio, as there’s a related market alternative relating to premium rums consumption within the worldwide area.

How would you describe the ‘core vary’ of Ron Automotiveúpano?

For us, there are alternative ways we will describe our core vary. First, event is king. That’s a press release that applies all through our model as a result of we want our shoppers to know there’s a Ron Carúpano for each event, from dinner with associates to a celebration or celebration. We have now each variant that’s good for that event and elevate it to the following stage. We are able to take folks on a journey of discovery. From customary to ultra-premium rums, we have now a distinct variant for every stage of life.

We even have the one feminine grasp blender in Venezuela, Carmen López de Bastidas, and she or he’s been with us for 31 years. That’s a really, very large deal for us. She brings a chic high quality to the rum with out dropping the rum’s character and persona, with sweetness, acidic growth and a bitter aftertaste, all completely balanced.

Carmen López de Bastidas

That are your most profitable markets?

Final 12 months, 2020, was a 12 months that all of us will bear in mind for a lot of causes. For Ron Carúpano, we select to recollect it for its traces of resilience and reinvention. Final 12 months, Ron Carúpano expanded internationally and secured joint ventures with main spirits importers. Our efforts have been round penetrating the American and European markets. Final 12 months, we consolidated our presence within the USA, securing joint ventures with essential distributors in the US. Europe and the USA have proven an open and regular rum market alternative for Ron Carúpano. We additionally fully modified our model feel and look, our bottles and our picture, and that was why 2020 was such an necessary 12 months for us. Additionally, the Latin America international locations near us can’t be left behind since they supply necessary worldwide demand.

Which is your precedence: on-trade or off-trade?

We’re targeted on each retailers and bars. We’re current within the on-trade, together with bars, eating places and resorts, for instance. However we’re additionally specializing in the off-trade, that are supermarkets, liquor shops and boutiques. So we want to penetrate each segments.

What different markets do you need to develop to?

This isn’t a small market, however considered one of our grand ambitions is we need to conquer Asia. We all know we have to perceive intelligently penetrate this market as a result of it’s culturally very completely different to Latin America and Europe. However shoppers in Asia are very educated relating to spirits. So that is our subsequent aim in direction of model globalisation.

Are you able to inform me about any upcoming initiatives?

So we have now two forms of class; we have now our customary, premium, super-premium and ultra-premium rums. However we even have our Status assortment of rums, which features a 25-year-old single barrel rum. We solely produce 500 bottles of that variant a 12 months.

This 12 months we’re relaunching our assortment of Status rums, they’ve been fully revamped and renewed on the surface – however the liquid has not been touched, solely the packaging. That’s our largest information of the 12 months. We’re leaders within the premium rum class, and we prefer to be creative and pioneers, and the primary ones to do one thing.

The Ron Carúpano collection

The Ron Carúpano assortment

What do you discover most enjoyable about rum in the intervening time?

It’s the altering client views and seeing rum achieve relevance throughout the brown spirits section, and capitalising on the recognition of different brown distillates like Scotch whisky. It was a ignorance that drove shoppers to decide on rum inside business segments. After we ask, ‘why is rum being seen as a extra premium drink?’, the reply is straightforward: shoppers are starting to maneuver previous the misunderstanding that rum is only a enjoyable drink, or a mixer missing character.

Customers now perceive that rum is essentially the most various spirit on the earth and individuals are embracing each its mixability and in addition rum’s extra refined facet, with opinions transferring extra in direction of discernment, heritage and craft. That is extraordinarily necessary for Ron Carúpano as a result of we have now greater than 250 years of expertise and the best high quality requirements.

What extra can we anticipate to see from Ron Carúpano within the coming 12 months?  

We need to elevate shoppers’ experiences and create luxurious ingesting experiences. For us, event is king, and that’s the reason we have now created rums for social interactions, or for work events, to create unforgettable conversations and rejoice collectively. We encourage folks to toast with Ron Carúpano, just because, why not? Subsequent 12 months we shall be happy to maintain touchdown alliances that enable us to transcend our frontiers. Ron Carúpano’s globalisation is an ambition we’re working tirelessly to realize.

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