{"id":38535,"date":"2020-12-14T10:59:48","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T09:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/?p=38535"},"modified":"2020-12-14T10:59:48","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T09:59:48","slug":"one-mans-mission-regis-broersma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/one-mans-mission-regis-broersma\/","title":{"rendered":"ONE MAN\u2019S MISSION \u2013 R\u00c9GIS BROERSMA"},"content":{"rendered":"

A GLOBAL DECISION MAKER FOR SCANDINAVIAN TOBACCO GROUP\u00a0<\/span>TAKES TIME \u2013 AND YET ANOTHER ONLINE MEETING \u2013\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>TO DISCUSS THE WAY AHEAD \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is quite tricky to cover the whole world all in one day \u2013 not that I have ever tried. But R\u00e9gis Broersma has. It is a regular day at the office for him.<\/p>\n

To give his full title, Broersma was recently appointed senior vice president of Scandinavian Tobacco Group\u2019s (STG) new Division North American Branded & Rest of World. Oh, and he is also president of General Cigar Company in the United States. No pressure, then.<\/p>\n

What this means in practical terms is that he is responsible for the handmade cigar division of the giant company that covers great swathes of the world in its scope, development, and output, in addition to overseeing the mass market commercial activities outside the key countries in Europe.<\/p>\n

And where once R\u00e9gis might have been flight-hopping from city to city, he is now homebound in Eindhoven, Holland \u2013 not all bad for the PSV football club supporter. But it raises daily challenges in keeping in touch with such a disparate and far-flung team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been interesting, to say the least!\u201d He smiles during our online chat. He is getting used to those. \u201cI spent 17 hours on a teams meeting a while back,\u201d he groans. \u201cFrom early in the morning until 2pm I am available for Australia, New Zealand, the Far East. And I draw the line at 2pm!\u201d He says with mock seriousness. \u201cThen we move on to Europe and the US, which normally runs into the evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his early forties and a keen runner, Broersma knows he is in a unique position. STG is by far the biggest retailer of hand-rolled cigars in the US, both online and in superstores that are complete with bars, vast humidors, pool tables, and dining facilities, not to mention the Club Macanudo cigar bar in New York. And he knows how important it is to the brand as a whole to keep innovating.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom our perspective, it\u2019s about making sure people have more opportunities to enjoy their cigars. In today\u2019s world, there are fewer and fewer situations where you can light up your cigar; in days gone by, there were multiple opportunities every day that were suitable for cigar smoking. So we now strive to make it a special moment. My colleagues at Cigars International are focused on creating superstores in Texas and Florida; for example, to provide a destination venue, somewhere customers can go to spend quality free time.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These venues work boomingly well in established \u201ccigar country\u201d like Texas and Pennsylvania. But Broersma knows that a different approach is necessary in other parts of the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor one thing, we could never have such huge places in the likes of Europe \u2013 the humidors in our superstores are massive and that\u2019s based on turning over that huge inventory. There just isn\u2019t the demand in such strong terms in other places. That doesn\u2019t mean that there isn\u2019t a small but profitable cigar market in other countries, though,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

STG, as you would imagine, holds vast inventory of unrolled tobacco for its handmade cigars \u2013 in excess of 100 million US dollars\u2019 worth of leaf \u2013 which is strategically warehoused around the globe to manage risk of fire, flood, and other damage. And early indications from the impact of COVID-19 suggest the parent company is going to need its reserves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSales during this coronavirus period have gone through the roof,\u201d says Broersma. \u201cWe are experiencing double-digit growth. Our factories are at 140% capaci of the fact they can sit in their garden and work and have a cigar at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

RESTING ON ONE\u2019S LAURELS\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>IS NOT AN OPTION<\/h3>\n

\u201cWe have a vast inventory of what we call our heirloom seeds \u2013 forgotten strains, hybrids, old styles, interesting variations \u2013 and we\u2019re testing them in small plots all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is reluctant to go into exact details for obvious reasons, but Broersma indicates that trials with new and old tobaccos \u2013 and sometimes blends of both \u2013 are ongoing as part of STG\u2019s commitment to continued growth and excellence. And it is not an easy process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a quick equation,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about a process that takes years to come to fruition. And then,\u201d he laughs, \u201csometimes it\u2019s rubbish, and other times it turns to gold! Either way, we learn something from every experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cForecasting is a particularly tricky part of the job and we spend a long time doing it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sounds like another interminable teams meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are trying to predict and plan for what will be happening in the global market in four, five, six years or more \u2013 that means planting tobacco now so that we keep those inventories at levels we are comfortable with. We have more tobacco from more places in the world than any other cigar business, I would suggest.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that is what a vast remit looks like in the modern world: a conjuring act of current best-practice and bold innovation; investment in new technologies and cigar superstores, along with listening to the farmers, the ones who can tell you what will grow well where and when.<\/p>\n

And being ready, willing and able to use the information and inventories at your disposal when the time comes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A GLOBAL DECISION MAKER FOR SCANDINAVIAN TOBACCO GROUP\u00a0TAKES TIME \u2013 AND YET ANOTHER ONLINE MEETING \u2013\u00a0\u00a0TO DISCUSS THE WAY AHEAD \u2026 It is quite tricky to cover the whole world all in one day \u2013 not that I have ever tried. But R\u00e9gis Broersma has. It is a regular day at the office for him.…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":38538,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38535"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}