Razvan Talpau, Julius Meinl North America: “Restaurants and hotels have a keen interest in top-quality coffee"

In early July, Julius Meinl, a distinguished premium coffee producer with 160 years of experience, revealed an exclusive collaboration with renowned pastry chef Antonio Bachour, well-established in the American market. Overseeing this partnership is Romanian Razvan Talpau, currently heading Julius Meinl operations in North America. In an interview with Business Review, Razvan discussed challenges, opportunities, and how the American dream can also materialize for brands, not just individuals.

Could you share your journey and evolution within Julius Meinl? How did you first join the company, and what positions have you held leading up to your current role as Managing Director at Julius Meinl North America?

I joined Julius Meinl Romania in the fall of 2014 as a National Sales Director, managing both HoReCa and Retail channels. I had very clear and specific goals from the very beginning: to define the sales strategy for the coming 5 years, to build a strong sales team, and become the market leader in the HoReCa channel. I took over this role in a critical moment for Julius Meinl – the company was not growing anymore, on the contrary, so I needed to act fast for the short term and build for the long term. I am very proud to say that with the support, passion, and full commitment of the sales and marketing team, we managed to build long-term strategic partnerships with a myriad of hotels and restaurants, which was a decisive step for the company’s expansion in Romania, turning Julius Meinl in one of the top coffee brands on the local market. The brand’s presence and visibility in the retail channel (modern trade) also increased exponentially, Julius Meinl becoming one of the top preferences for the Romanian consumers in terms of premium coffee.

I spent almost 5 years leading the commercial organization for Julius Meinl Romania and I am very proud of my team and our achievements, the most notable being that we doubled the turnover and built a solid foundation for future growth.

Then, I accepted a new challenge in 2019, taking the role of Managing Director for Julius Meinl North America and taking over a business that was in its beginnings – the company had entered the US market relatively late, in 2016. The key objective was to properly anchor the company in the US market, build the team, develop the sales and expansion strategy, define the company vision and transform Julius Meinl North America in one of the leading markets within the Julius Meinl group.

As you progressed through various roles within the company, how have your experiences shaped your understanding of the coffee industry and your approach to business?

I love coffee and I find the coffee industry very appealing. I have been working or interacting with it since 2004. I had the opportunity to work for both the distributor and producer and to develop businesses in multiple channels – vending, offices, retail, HoReCa, petrol stations and convenience stores.

I have seen all the facets of the coffee business progressing through different roles – area sales manager, key account manager, sales director, and spending a lot of time in the field with our customers made me understand the needs of each channel and customer type, and the strategy we needed to shape to meet those needs and implicitly satisfy the end consumers.

The consumption occasions and channels are different, so I learned to approach them with tailored strategies, to be flexible and fast in an industry where the consumer wants to drink the coffee “now”, to look at the consumer and market trends, adapt fast and adjust with agility, to focus on where our core expertise is, on what we do best.

You have relocated to the USA shortly before the pandemic. How did the unforeseen challenges presented by the pandemic affect your transition into your new role at Julius Meinl in North America? Specifically, how did you navigate the unique circumstances and adapt your strategies to ensure the continued success of Julius Meinl in the North American market?

Indeed, I relocated to the US in 2019. Coming from a totally different culture, my focus for the first year was to know and connect with my team and distributors, understand the market, build the organization and set up the ambitions for the short and medium term.

Then, in March 2020, the Covid outbreak changed the world we knew. And in an instant, our business priorities changed. Being present only in the hospitality channel, and with all OOH channels closed, I remember our sales were down by 90% for 2 months in a row. Together with the team, we had multiple meetings to identify different ways/solutions to sell coffee in a restricted OOH channel, since we were not present in retail.

The first strategic decision was to shift our focus towards locals, towards more residential neighborhoods outside the touristic areas or the usual hotspots that were empty. These locations were open for to-go orders or home deliveries (bakeries, QSR) and people were very supportive of their local businesses, so they were buying regularly.

Secondly, we decided to support our distributors and customers with equipment and more flexible payment terms. Our sales team visited the top clients and promoted the Julius Meinl offer. This initiative was highly praised by our customers and entailed new customer wins, as well as a significant contribution to our growth in 2021.

And more importantly, I wanted to keep the team intact, even under these very difficult circumstances, and the Group support was critical to keeping all our employees.

Having worked in both the Romanian market and now the USA market, could you highlight some of the most important similarities you have observed between these two markets, particularly in terms of the coffee industry or consumer preferences?

Even if HoReCa in US is still perceived as a filter coffee market, I see quite a few similarities between US and Romania: restaurants and hotels have a keen interest in top-quality coffee, premium & modern equipment (traditional and fully automatic), and excellent services from their coffee suppliers. Regarding consumer preferences, mixed beverages (regular & plant-based milk) represent an important share of consumer preferences.

In your experience working in the coffee industry, what is the most unusual or unexpected trend you have observed in the coffee market, either in the Romanian or USA market? How did you adapt to this trend and leverage it to benefit Julius Meinl’s brand and offerings?

I noticed the high demand for cold coffee beverages; this is not something new for Europe, but the consumption level and innovations in this category are at a different level in the US – younger generations have a thirst for flavours and signature creations, including Cold Brew and Nitro Brew, which we plan to include in the Julius Meinl offer soon.

Another trend is the huge demand and consumption of iced tea. In US – almost every HoReca location is serving iced tea. Our Global Tea Expert and our local team developed a complete range of premium iced tea products that cover all the needs of any type of HoReca customer.

What was the driving force behind the decision to partner with Antonio Bachour as the Global Brand Ambassador for Julius Meinl?

The journey with Antonio Bachour started a few years ago when he introduced the Julius Meinl coffee in his bakery in Miami. Working with him and getting to know him closer, I was impressed with his extraordinary passion for pastry, strive for perfection and remarkable creativity. These attributes are very much related to the Julius Meinl culture which embodies the employees’ passion for the brand, dedication to delivering exceptional products and outstanding services – in essence, we both aim at delivering moments of enjoyment to our customers. Therefore, taking our collaboration a step further, to a global partnership, came very naturally.

How do you envision Antonio Bachour’s expertise in the pastry industry enhancing the Julius Meinl coffee experience?

This association brings together a very authentic expression of flavours, creativity and finest ingredients that elevate the consumer experience for both coffee and pastries. Therefore, blending Antonio Bachour’s expertise with our capabilities is a perfect pairing, which we’ll explore and promote beyond the traditional coffee/bakery shop environment, aiming to reach more audiences and win more followers across the globe.

Can you share some details about the special projects and bespoke creations that will be developed as part of the collaboration with Antonio Bachour?

The collaboration will envisage developing social media content that will showcase this harmonious fusion between the Julius Meinl coffee and Antonio’s pastries and petit gateaux, inspirational videos and educational content, developing original creations using Julius Meinl coffee as a key ingredient, highlighting our exceptional synergies in events and tradeshows, and other initiatives that will be disclosed later on.

How do you plan to leverage Antonio Bachour’s influence and recognition as one of the best pastry chefs in the world to reach new audiences and expand the brand’s customer base?

Partnering with one of the world’s best pastry chefs opens up new opportunities for our brand. Communicating to a global audience that we were not reaching before and leveraging Antonio Bachour’s social media platforms, where he has a significant presence, will help drive brand desirability and increase awareness. Antonio’s endorsement is a very powerful statement for our brand and can attract and inspire consumers and chefs to try our products. His global recognition and creative influence in the culinary realm not only add another layer of credibility to our brand, but also imprints a modern touch to the brand’s 160-year legacy.

Can you share any upcoming initiatives or events where Julius Meinl and Antonio Bachour will be collaborating to showcase the exceptional synergies between coffee and pastries?

As part of this global partnership, Antonio will be attending HOST Milan tradeshow in October and the participants will be able to see his creative skills in a series of demos that will have coffee as main ingredient.

DMCA

PROTECTED