CubaPLUS Magazine

To say Havana Club, without a doubt, is to say total success, since during the 30 years of its founding company has achieved countless successes that go beyond awards, as it has consolidated an international prestige that places it as the leader of Premium and Super rums Premium worldwide.

At a press conference regarding the celebration of three decades of Havana Club International S. A., its General Director Christian Barré, referred extensively to the work carried out by the entity during these years, which have led it to occupying today a top place worldwide. Suffice it to note that in 2023 alone “we have received more than 50 medals and awards and, since the beginning of the joint venture in 1993, we already have a total of 457 awards and medals for the quality of our rums.

This is the result of the work that we do every day, that we try the products that are marketed have the best possible quality and, in the end, they are the consumers who evaluate the quality of brands sold worldwide and who give us those awards,” he said. In this regard, he highlighted that these achievements are due to the group of workers that the company that started with a small group of 7 people and today has 600 employees, whose work has made Havana Club an established, recognized entity and I would say, furthermore, it is part of the cultural and historical heritage of Cuba.

“It is a recognized brand in Cuba and despite the difficulties, every day the employee work and fight to strengthen the brand and make it stronger and more recognized every day and be a symbol of Cubanness,” he highlighted. “Everyone deserves recognition for this career, without forgetting, of course, the masters of Cuban rum, with their know-how and who have just been recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Heritage of Humanity,” he added.

The results have been palpable, since at first the sales of Havana Club in the international market were around 350 thousand to 400 thousand boxes annually. Currently that figure reaches about 4.3 million boxes every 12 months, which shows the success the brand has had throughout these years. Later he considered the Santa Cruz rum factory, in the province of Mayabeque, inaugurated in 2007
 “has been a decisive step for the brand growth, especially for dark rums. It's a mix for respect of the tradition of Cuban light rum and the highest technology to guarantee quality.”

In another part of his speech, Barré referred to the importance it represents for Havana Club to have the Rum Museum, where the press conference was held, since it is a house where people can learn and acquire a culture of Cuban light rum. They cannot only learn about the production process and its tradition, but also about its quality. He added that a reflection of its relevance is that since its opening in 2000 to date It has received 2.6 million visitors. But beyond its responsibility as producer and marketer of light rum, Havana Club has a commitment that for this executive has great meaning; and it is the social responsibility of the company.

In these years we have worked in favor of two main axes: on the one hand, everything that has to do with the responsible consumption of rum to raise awareness among people and, above all, young people, the risk that inappropriate consumption of the drink can represent and, on the other hand, create a strategy aimed at preserving the environment. In that sense he mentioned the reduction in the weight of rum bottles, which reduces the use of energy during the manufacturing process, and the installation of solar panels on the San José plant that currently between 25 and 30 percent of its energy needs is supplied with solar energy and hope that by March-April of next year to be self-sufficient in that sense.

He finally said that everything achieved by Havana Club in these years has been possible for having had a group of highly motivated professionals and always ready to help people. train our colleagues and hoped that these 30 years would be a first step of much more ambitious growth that we want for our company.

Havana Club International S.A. is a mixed company created in November 1993 by the Cuban corporation Cuba Ron S.A and the French group Pernod Ricard, with the objective of developing the Havana Club brand on a global scale, through the strong distribution international network of the French entity. It is the third rum brand in the world -outside the States United States- and exports its spirits to more than 120 countries.