From liqueur to wine, expanding a family empire
When stocks are plunging and retirement plans are in shreds, is there solace in sipping an orange-flavoured liqueur with a 130-year history? That's the hope of Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle, an heir to the Grand Marnier liqueur empire, who directs her French family firm's sales in North America and has spearheaded a diversification push into Chilean wines. Ms. Marnier Lapostolle, 51, was in Canada to promote her drinks and talk about the joy of taking the long view in a global economy wracked with crisis.
What is your relationship to the company's founder?I am the great granddaughter of Alexandre Marnier, who in 1875 married into the Lapostolle family, owners of a French distillery.
When he got married, he started to work for his in-laws, who were producing different spirits with different flavours but no brand names. He started some trials and created Grand Marnier with essence of orange and cognac. It was innovative to blend the two and it has been a great success.
Have you been tempted to sell out to the big players?
My father, who is the chairman and CEO, always says small is beautiful. If we can manage by ourselves and are completely committed, it is better.
But you sell expensive drinks in a time of economic downturn. Is that a problem?We see that even with the crisis, the Grand Marnier product is very well-known and very resilient. People have a relationship with Grand Marnier that is quite emotional. Well, okay, we are not having huge growth. We have been flat this year, which is actually good. I think in times of crisis, people come back always to products they really know well.
As for Casa Lapostolle, our Chilean winery, it is a great opportunity because we offer fantastic quality and the price is not as high as maybe some European wines. People are looking for value. We see that already in the U.S.
How have you survived as a family business for 130 years?The product has to be good and you need long-term vision. You need to take decisions where you say, 'This is not for the short term. It's not going to be immediate in generating a good return on investment. But in the long term you know it will bring the right positioning, for example.'
And we never have a big credit. In the family, we say: 'We do what we can afford.' So in crises like these, we don't suffer as much as others because we don't have interest to pay or big debts.
In a family company, how do you deal with the risk of an idiot son or daughter getting a position of authority?There have not been a lot of people in the family and so that makes the problem easier. When you have 20 cousins, for example, there is always one who doesn't really want to be in the business.
Today, my father is CEO and I have a brother who is in charge of production and industrial sites. I have a cousin who is more into marketing and communications and my husband is controller - and then we have me.
Did you know from the beginning you would be in the business?Not at all. I live in Geneva because my husband's family has lived there for three generations - although I was born in Paris. I told my family I would like still to be involved even if I don't live in Paris and can't go every day to the head office.
This is what I suggested to them in 1993: 'Why don't we expand the wine side of Grand Marnier because our roots are in Sancerre [a French wine region] and we own Chateau Sancerre.' I thought it was good diversification to expand the wine side, and so this is how I started to visit different wine countries. I stopped in Chile.
So this expansion was your idea?I undertook a big research project on the evolution of New World wines. It was not all my idea. It was not a case of 'So if you want your own baby, let's go.' No, no, I had to demonstrate why.
What's it like to report to your father?It's easy and it's difficult. It's easy in the sense I know him well so I know how to present my ideas. It's difficult because you need to have even deeper arguments. You need to demonstrate why you are convinced of your ideas.
So he can't seem to be just doing a favour for his daughter?Exactly. It is important in terms of showing the management team. You need to work even harder than other team members, so they see you as not just the daughter but as completely committed.
How do you resolve family conflicts?We have discussions, yes, but at the end we finish with a consensus. And we spend holidays together.
We have a house at Cap Ferrat in the south of France between Nice and Monte Carlo. My great-grandfather bought it and we still go there. We spend a lot of time together, and it keeps the relationship very strong.
Will there be more Marnier Lapostolles in the company?I have two sons, 30 and 27. We told them they have to work in other companies: 'Go and make your own experience, and reach by yourself your own level of management. After that, if you are interested, we will be very happy to welcome you in the business.'
It is important to show the team that it is not because they are the sons that they are given responsibility. And we hope they will bring us ideas and new ways of thinking.
One son is working at IBM Consulting and the other is, in fact, at Casa Lapostolle in Chile, where he is doing IT development.
What's it like to work with your husband?You have to love each other a lot. But it is great because, for example, I travel a lot, and he can understand that. Sometimes, with other couples, you may travel a lot and when you come back home, your spouse is saying 'I am always alone.'
The other side is we are always talking about business, so sometimes we have to say 'Okay, let's have one weekend where we stop.' But we cannot help discussing it because it is really precious.
We went to Chile together but he is more about looking at numbers while I am more about production and commercialization.
What do you drink?I like to discover new wines and appellations. That is the beauty of wine - you never stop learning. We were in Sicily recently and discovered a white Grillo wine, which I didn't know. It was not of high quality but it was nice. Why not discover all the levels?How often are you away from home?I travel 22 weeks a year. I have to go Chile five times a year to oversee the project. I go to the U.S. four times and once to Canada and to Asia, as well as travelling around European countries.
It is important not to stay in Europe but to find out for yourself what is going on in markets. We have people working for us in Shanghai, Mexico and Toronto and it is very important they send you reports. But if you are not there to really feel it, you cannot feel you are making the right decision.
Who will be the next CEO after your 75-year-old father?We will see who will take the lead. He told us to go on with what we're doing and he would check on who can be the one. It's a big responsibility.
Would you like to do it?It would be a nice challenge but I want it to be a consensus of all the family. We are not at the stage.
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Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle
Title: President, North American operations, Marnier-Lapostolle Group, Paris
Chair of Casa Lapostolle, Santiago, Chile
Born: June, 1957, in Paris
Education:
Studied economics at University of Panthéon Assas in Paris
Career highlights:
Pre-1993: Put career on hold to raise her two sons.
1993: Family approved her worldwide quest for winery subsidiary.
1994: Along with husband, Cyril de Bournet, co-founded Casa Lapostolle, a Chilean winery.
2008: Appointed president of Marnier-Lapostolle North America