Garçon Wines CEO: Sustainability policy must focus on macro and allow industry to focus on micro to achieve success

26 Jun 2019 --- In Part 2 of the exclusive PackagingInsights interview with Santiago Navarro, CEO and Co-Founder of Garçon Wines, he discusses the need for macro-level legislation that will allow companies to adapt to the demands for increased sustainability without going out of business. He warns against the use of the generic term “plastic” to define a diverse range of complex polymers and offers insights into the untapped potential of customization in e-commerce packaging. Navarro also shines the light on Garçon Wines Dutch expansion, its ventures into the personalization space and the start-up’s pipeline projects.

PackagingInsights: What action would you like to see from policymakers to drive sustainability in packaging?
Navarro: Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the UK Houses of Parliament to meet with members of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee, to listen to their plans for plastic packaging and share my views on packaging, primarily plastics, but also the wider implications of packaging on the health of our planet.

The packaging industry is a complex one and to define what actions I would like to see policymakers take to drive the increase in sustainability is such a detailed topic. My view is that policymakers should focus on the macro and allow industry to focus on the micro. Legislating at a micro level risks putting too many companies out of business in a short space of time without giving them the fair chance to adapt. That is not sustainable for an economy or for communities.

Existing initiatives to cut UK greenhouse gas emissions to “net zero” and to tax plastic packaging that does not contain recycled plastic content are both great initiatives. However, there are also objective, scientific arguments that support us going “net zero” on emissions way before the proposed 2050 date or ensuring that plastic packaging contains more than the proposed 30 percent recycled content. If it is too easy for industry to implement, then it is likely not to be enough. Our planet is suffering and anyone who thinks they will not suffer too in their professional lives to put this right is most likely fooling themselves. Once again, this should ideally be discussed in considerably greater detail.

Garçon Wines and Green & BlacksOne fundamental point is that we must stop using the generic term “plastic” to define a diverse range of complex polymers. This simplistic term is not helping the situation, in fact, I believe it contributes significantly to the problems we have. Consumers have no way of identifying what is right from wrong, what is virgin from recycled, what is easily recyclable post-use or is not. We need to come up with distinctive, memorable names for the different polymers, names which are taught in schools, shared in marketing campaigns and which allow everyone – industry executives or not – to identify the type of plastic and know whether it is the right plastic to use or not.

PackagingInsights: You recently expanded your operations into the Netherlands. How do you evaluate which international markets are most suitable for your sustainable wines and can we expect further expansions in the near future?
Navarro: We are excited and motivated by our international expansion to the Netherlands and, moreover, to launch with the well-known and prestigious De Bijenkorf – outstanding supporters of innovative products. We are honored that they are offering two of our wines – Flaca Chilean Merlot 2017 and Chilean Sauvignon Blanc 2018 – both online and in all their seven stores across the country.

We have advanced plans afoot to launch a product in Spain and also in multiple Nordic countries over the coming few months. We will continue to explore pan-European expansion across multiple countries which we can sustainably service from our present production bases. At a wider scale, we are actively planning our entrance into both the US and Australian markets. We will be setting up production bases in both of these wine producing and consuming giants. We hope this will be actioned this year with a view to start shipping the product in early 2020.

In terms of our evaluation of which markets to enter, then this is done based on which markets we can create the most immediate and significant impact. As an example, the Nordic alcohol monopolies – Systembolaget of Sweden, Vinmonopolet of Norway, and Alko of Finland – are run by forward-thinking, eco-conscious professionals who are in a position to do what is right for their country. They have been very welcoming of our sustainable wine packaging solutions. Entering these countries in a way that we could support as many local suppliers of wines was always a no-brainer for us. Similar logic applies to us entering countries like the Netherlands where people care for our planet.

PackagingInsights: What can you tell our readers about Garçon Wines’s new ventures into the personalized gifting space? Do you think that personalization in e-commerce packaging is still niche, or has it now mainstreamed?
Navarro: We recently launched a collaboration with Mondelēz International’s brand Green & Black’s through their partnership with Emagination Store. This is a personalized bottle of Garçon Wines’ Spanish Brisa Tempranillo 2018 paired with a trio of Green & Black’s luxury, ethical chocolate bars. This is a lovely indulgence gift and one which we see offers many possibilities beyond online gifting. Collaborating with Mondelēz brands offers multi-channel, multinational opportunity.

With regards to personalization in e-commerce packaging, my view is that there is a massive untapped opportunity for the customization of products sold through digital channels. This customization would far exceed packaging personalization to have the entire product and packaging adapted to an individual’s, or group of individuals’, personal preferences.

Garçon Wines' Chilean Flaca Merlot letterbox-friendly wineMost companies at present are just scratching the surface, in many instances also in a disjointed way, and the areas for advancement are many. Amazon is already ahead of many in this and they are likely to be one of the leaders in this space as they acquire companies across the whole supply chain. Using technology smartly will allow them to advance customer experience to a level which many today could not fathom.

At Garçon Wines, we will do our part to advance our solutions to offer customization, way beyond front label personalization, to support the advancement of the wine industry into a sustainable 21st century. As an example, take letterbox delivery which we are well-known for. We ship a one size bottle and box to all UK consumers. This is good as a starting solution, but it is just the best base from where to start. The higher level to develop towards will be packaging adapted specifically for the individual home it is being delivered to.

PackagingInsights: What other exciting Garçon Wines developments can you share with us?
Navarro: We are busy working on some game-changing partnerships with leading companies across the whole wine supply chain. The details of these will be announced when the collaborations are ready to go live. As I also mentioned previously, we are busy working on a multinational expansion strategy and this will be happening over the next months. Finally, we have some really exciting products in the pipeline, including a flat Burgundy bottle which looks really beautiful and offers all the sustainable packaging benefits of our present flat Bordeaux bottle. We are looking forward to introducing the world to this new bottle.

By Joshua Poole

In Part 1 of this interview, Navarro discusses the key takeaways of his Global Packaged Summit 2019 keynote speech, the long-term cost-effectiveness of rPET and issues related to rising anti-plastic sentiment.