‘My uncle said it was now or never for me in the Pernod Ricard family firm’

“What I like is nice simple food,” says Alexandre Ricard. Sitting in the grandeur of the recently restored Paris restaurant Le Laurent, once a royal hunting lodge, the chairman and chief executive of Pernod Ricard is as good as his word, choosing a starter of Rabelais tomato petals before moving on to salmon with sorrel, wild asparagus and mushrooms.
The food may be relatively simple, but the restaurant building is spectacular, a magnificent mansion that has become a Parisian institution. Ricard, who says he spends most of his time travelling or out for business dinners, says he visits the Laurent “from time to time for special occasions”, but professes not to know how many Michelin stars it has (none is the answer).
Given his position as boss of the world’s second biggest drinks group, it is no surprise that he has a glass of red wine to accompany his meal, a drop of Touraine, although when we leave, it is not obvious that he drank very much or any at all.
The same cannot be said for me. This is my final big interview for The Times before I leave after 27 years, so to accompany my starter of poached langoustines with a light mayonnaise, I ordered a nicely chilled glass of Condrieu, which I polished off with my main course of veal sweetbreads with laurel leaf (the least successful of our dishes, I would say).
For Ricard, meals at home appear to be more about “convivialité” — a slogan of sorts for the company — than the food. That convivialité is mostly linked to aperitifs and it’s no surprise when he names Ricard pastis as his favourite tipple.
Does he cook? “It’s not my favourite hobby, but I do cook. I’m good at very simple dishes. When I do them, I like to do them well. I spent a couple of years in Italy a long time ago and learnt to cook good pasta, particularly the sauce.
“Having a meal with family and friends is something we do quite regularly, especially on Friday and Saturday evenings. Or even Sunday lunchtime. Those are important moments.”
Given how many business dinners he has, I ask how he stays so slim. “I have a disciplined approach to my life as well. I also do a lot of sports to stay in shape and I watch what I eat and drink, as well. I run three times a week and keep my back in good shape through pilates.”
For the Pernod boss, it’s all about getting the “right balance, nothing in excess”, and not just in food and drink. He opines that, if you can get the right balance between work, family, friends, hobbies, leisure and sport, that’s when you feel fulfilled.
The same could be said of recent corporate M&A moves at Pernod Ricard. By selling its wine business to Accolade Wines, of Australia, for an estimated A$500 million recently, it not only has offloaded brands such as Brancott Estate, Jacob’s Creek and Campo Viejo, but also has created what he reckons is probably the broadest spirits portfolio in the sector. “We cover every single material segment in the industry. Geographically, our coverage is one third Europe, one third America and one third Asia. We’re also pretty balanced between emerging markets and mature markets.”
Ricard says that for a long time the wine business served its purpose, but eventually Pernod had “reached a point where we had to make a decision. Our wine business no longer fits the premium profile of the rest of our portfolio. So we reached the conclusion it was better to offer our wine portfolio to companies with greater scale and a bigger platform.”
The 52-year-old father of three children aged 7, 5 and 3 (“and that’s it, by the way”), Ricard admits that he “got into kids a little bit later than all my friends”. Conversely, he had a penchant for the drinks industry from a young age, doing several internships within the business.
In an effort to get a different perspective on his ambitions, he did an MBA at Wharton, in Philadelphia, going on to work as an investment banker with, among other banks, Morgan Stanley. But running the family business was his dream, something he would remind his uncle of on a regular basis. “Every year I would tell my uncle ‘one day’. Another time I went back to see him and said ‘one day’, but my uncle said, ‘Not one day. You’ve reached a level where it’s now or never. You need to work your way up through Pernod Ricard, or else it’s over.’”
Ricard, who previously had been turned down by the family firm, sent in a fresh application and was interviewed by the same executive who had rejected him. “This time the interview went very well. I joined the company in 1993.”
Since he rose to the top job, there has been no shortage of mergers and acquisitions activity. Recent sales have included Clan Campbell, the most popular premium Scotch whisky in France, and Becherovka, a Czech herbal liqueur. The French drinks group also has made recent bolt-ons in tequila, bourbon and flavoured whiskies, including Skrewball, a peanut butter-flavoured whisky.
The marriage of Pernod and Ricard was consummated in 1975 and next year will be the 50th anniversary of the deal, which brought together Pernod’s anise aperitif and Ricard pastis. Both companies date back much further, with Henri-Louis Pernod, a Swiss distiller, opening his first absinthe distillery in 1797. Ricard was launched by Alexandre’s grandfather Paul in Marseilles in 1932 and since then it has built a business that includes leading brands such as Havana Club, Malibu, Kahlúa, Perrier-Jouët and Beefeater. Its top four brands are Jameson, Martell, Chivas and Absolut, not necessarily in that order.
• Battle of the bottles as Diageo and Pernod Ricard go head to head
One further aperitif brand worthy of note is Lillet, an aperitif rosé wine from Bordeaux dating back to 1872 that is not only refreshing and versatile but, with its chic image, has the capacity for significant growth. “We believe that Lillet, with the benefit of its partnership with Emily in Paris, can grow globally.”
Even though the Ricard family like to maintain a long-term view of the business, in keeping with the strong family shareholding, its members reckon that the listing keeps them “on their toes”. While holding 15 per cent of the share capital, the Ricard family have a stronger share position by virtue of their 22 per cent voting right.
Innovation remains a core function in the business and the recent deal to become a minority partner to Lewis Hamilton, the racing driver, appears likely to be the first of more agreements aimed at pushing further into the non-alcoholic drinks sector — in this case, creating an alternative to tequila.
The Ricard boss said: “I strongly believe in the non-alc spirit alternative for a very simple reason. Convivialité is by nature being inclusive and if you have a party there will always be two or three people who, for whatever reason, don’t want an alcoholic drink. Up until now, there was no exciting alternative for them, other than a Diet Coke, or a soda. It didn’t feel inclusive. But today they have a good alternative that is much more inclusive.”
After Diageo’s recent fall from grace, Pernod Ricard’s full-year results did not look so bad as it said it was aiming for “the upper end of 4 per cent to 7 per cent organic net sales growth” and a margin improvement.
There has been mounting pressure on Debra Crew, 53, the newish Diageo chief executive, but Ricard played down her role in the profit warning. “I think we — she and all the other CEOs in the spirits industries — are facing this environment at the same time. I do believe this is a cycle and in every cycle there’s an end to it, and that will be the case again.”
In the meantime, a waiter wheels over the trolley of house desserts and we both choose a meringue-type confection with strawberries piled on top. “I think the strawberry one is the perfect balance between some nice sweetness but also some lightness,” says the Ricard boss. As ever, he is seeking the right balance, nothing in excess, in food as in life.
Age: 52
Education: Graduated from ESCP Business School; MBA from Wharton School of Business, Philadelphia; MA, University of Pennsylvania.
Career: 1996-1999 Strategy consultant, Accenture; 2001-2003 M&A consultant, Morgan Stanley; 2004 Joins Pernod Ricard, where jobs include director of finance and administration, Irish Distillers, and managing director, distribution network, rising to chairman and chief executive in 2015
Other: board of directors, LOréal, 2021 to date
Family: married with three young children
1 x glass of Touraine €16 1 x glass of Condrieu €35 1 x Langoustines pochées €351 x Pétales de tomates €35 1 x Saumon à l’Oseille €361 x Ris de Veau €652 x Dessert Maison €50 1 x Orezza €102 x café €1610% service charge €29.80Total €327.80