Rhum agricole is where we started in the spirits industry. We originated from Martinique and the first step we put in the industry was rum,” says Gregoire Gueden, chief executive of Spiribam, part of Groupe Bernard Hayot’s (GBH) spirits division, in an exclusive interview with Drinks International.
With 11 spirits brands from distilleries in Martinique, Saint Lucia, Mauritius, French Guiana and France, Spiribam is a major player in the agricole game, with Rhum Clément, Rhum JM and Saint-Maurice from the La Belle Cabresse distiller. However, Gueden notes: “Agricole is a very small, niche category within the global rum category and I like to compare it to single malt whisky in the global whisky category. It’s a wonderful subcategory because when we talk about agricole we talk about sugarcane variety, terroir, which is very interesting as a rum producer. We also grow our own sugarcane so it’s not only rum, it’s agriculture, distillation and ageing.
“It’s niche but growing because rhum agricole really matches all the expectations of the mature consumer,” Gueden adds. “They’re ready to pay a little bit more for better products and they want a story or face behind the brand and to understand how it’s made.
“Currently agricole is around 3 or 4% of the global rum category so there is a lot of room for growth.”
Last year the company acquired UK spirits distributor Mangrove Global, securing a direct route to the UK market. This addition to Spiribam’s global distribution network will operate alongside its already established routes to the US and France. “The spirits industry is run by major international players and if you are not able to deliver a strong route to market, even if you have the best product, it will always be very difficult to be successful.”
The acquisition comes as part of Spiribam’s short and mid-term goals, which Gueden explains are to build and expand the portfolio of brands the company owns. “We would like to find other brands that will join us in the near future, across all categories such as cognac, gin, tequila, mezcal, whisky. We’re looking at small, independent brands with strong DNA and roots. Our goal is to build this portfolio of small brands and as a group they will be stronger.”
Highlighting brands that have a long history and tradition, Gueden says: “Being part of a family gives you long-term strategy and is probably one of the strongest quality drivers you can get. Because when you have your name on the bottles, you want a quality product that reflects that. We’re mostly having discussions with family businesses. I hope to release the names shortly, but for now they all carry the names of their founders.”
Nick Gillett, managing director of Mangrove, adds: “The acquisitions are likely to be two-fold, they’re likely to be companies that don’t have the resources to go to the next stage. We’re in the significant purchase rounds and it’s likely to be something with a global footprint that’s ready to go to the next scale.”
Global aspirations
For Spiribam, being the category leader for agricole has its positives. Yet Gillett says the rhum producer is “having to grow the category on its own as there’s not a number of big players looking to invest and grow it, so it takes time”. He adds: “Outside of France there is a different flavour profile consumer-wise and as more cocktails come on board that use rhum agricole and people become used to it, we’ll see the growth.
“For example, in tequila all the big and small players have a tequila, so they all have a vested interest in growing the category and it becomes a case of them growing it and fighting for market share at the same time. In agricole, there’s only Spiribam and a couple of other producers that have global aspirations, but it’s very tiny and you’re fighting against the likes of tequila, molasses rum and everything else. It will continue to grow but it’s a slower process, it’s the nature of what we do.”
In terms of the overall acceleration, Gueden adds Europe is an important market for agricole but says: “At the same time there are 160 markets where you can sell so there’s still huge potential. It’s difficult to say where the priority is, the US is quite turbulent at the moment. We know that some of our majority markets have been affected by consumers being careful about what they spend. Eastern Europe is still a bit challenging but our priority would be to take care of our mature markets, and review in the next six months”.
With the rocky landscape of premium spirits combined with turbulent global politics, Gueden notes that in 2024, “which was a very difficult year, we have done a very small amount of gross profit with 1% when the market was down 5-7%”. Gueden attributes this to Spiribam controlling distribution in some key markets which allowed the company to invest and push in those spaces. “The family-owned business has its own agenda, we don’t have to report every quarter to the stock market. I believe that in the current market this business works well.”
For Spiribam and Mangrove, Gillett says it’s more important: “To look after the people who work in the distilleries and the brands than look after the shareholders. We have no ambition to be the biggest drinks company in the world, that’s not what we want to do. We want to be that mid-market global business that does things properly and the right way.”
