Interview: Disaronno International USA CEO Robert Cullins

Disaronno International USA, the stateside subsidiary of Italy’s Illva Saronno, is known for its namesake liqueur brand, which depleted an estimated 375,000 cases in the U.S. last year, according to Impact Databank. While introducing newer generations to its flagship label, the importer entered American whiskey via its 2023 acquisition of Maryland-based Sagamore Spirit and is making inroads in other categories with brands like Tia Maria coffee liqueur, Engine Gin, Rabarbaro Zucca, and The Busker Irish Whiskey. SND executive editor Daniel Marsteller spoke with Disaronno International USA chief executive Robert Cullins to hear about the company’s outlook on 2025.

SND: How are you finding business conditions overall in the on- and off-premise markets?

Cullins: There is cautious optimism that things are going to normalize. You’re starting to see that in high-end, on-premise foot traffic. You’re starting to see buying patterns at major retailers and grocers come back to—I wouldn’t say normal levels—but better than last year. On the other hand, everybody’s on pins and needles about the tariff situation. Is it going to happen? When’s it going to happen? How’s it going to happen?

The overall sentiment is that there will be a few more potholes this first half of the year, but by H2 we’re going to get back to more of an upward slope, especially on the spirits side. It’s important to reset the baseline, which is really 2019, before the Covid years, the surge in consumption, and then last year’s crater.

SND: What’s the latest on the Disaronno brand?

Cullins: Disaronno was one of the beneficiaries of the Covid stay-at-home period. It’s a well-known brand that does extremely well with retail penetration and the off-premise. Like much of the market, there was a little bit of that euphoria and then last year’s hangover. But it allowed us to go back and look at who is our target consumer, what is our offering, and what do we want to be to this next generation of consumers?

We’ve decided that it’s really about going back to the heritage. Disaronno turns 500 years old this year, and it still has relevancy. So it’s about engaging those new consumers that have a lot of different choices in front of them. It’s lower-alcohol and can appeal to multicultural consumers, and we have an opportunity to start speaking to this newer generation. We’re developing a new creative campaign to do that going forward, and we’re looking at innovation as well.

SND: A year and a half past the Sagamore acquisition, what’s the vision for expanding in American whiskey?

Cullins: Last year was the transition, aligning Sagamore with our route to market. We also felt that to be the ultimate expression of Maryland rye, we needed to go back and demonstrate that in terms of our offering and our packaging. We looked at the portfolio and the limited time offers and RTDs and movement into other categories that were complementary but not core, and we’re now going to focus on what we know we do well.

We launched a 7-year-old Bottled in Bond ($60) last fall, which is a hundred percent Maryland-made. We’re very excited to now transition into our own-made whiskey. We’ll be building on the presence created the last seven, eight years in the Maryland, DC, and Virginia area to bring the brand to a larger audience in North America as well as internationally.

SND: What does the Disaronno International USA distributor profile look like?

Cullins: We’re primarily with RNDC in the West and Breakthru in the Midwest and the South. And with Southern Glazer’s buying Horizon we’re now with them in some northeastern markets as well as the Caribbean.

SND: Which other offerings in the Disaronno spirits portfolio are poised for growth?

Cullins: From a smaller scale, we’re very bullish on Tia Maria. It’s one of the original coffee liqueurs and well positioned for the Espresso Martini craze. There’s big upside for us to take advantage of that. We also have Zucca, an Italian amaro that’s playing well in that rising space.

On The Busker Irish whiskey, it was a bit of a perfect storm. We launched the brand in April of 2020 with a big above the line campaign, and the team did a great job getting distribution, but consumers didn’t understand it and weren’t aware of it due to the circumstances. So we’re now doing a bit of a rethink.

SND: Are you on the lookout for more potential additions to the range?

Cullins: Ten years ago we were basically a cordial company. We had Disaronno and Tia Maria. Now we have an Irish whiskey in The Busker. We bought Engine Gin, which is an organic Italian gin, and also purchased Sagamore Spirit. We’re looking at categories that we think the next generation will be interested in. Clearly one of those categories is agave. We also have a relatively large whiskey footprint globally, including joint ventures in Italy and India, so if more opportunities in whiskey arise we’ll take the call.

Tagged : Disaronno, Sagamore Spirit, the Busker, Tia Maria

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