The big interview: Emilie Giffard
Since its inception in 1885, French liqueurs and syrups company Giffard has been a family affair. Now, the latest generation is taking the firm into the future, as co-managing director Emilie Giffard explains.
*This feature was originally published in the April 2025 issue of The Spirits Business magazine.
Working in a family business can be a rewarding experience, and while TV shows like Succession have shone the spotlight on the difficulties of leadership transitions, this doesn’t seem to be a challenge the Giffard family has faced.
Since its founding in 1885, the eponymous French liqueur and syrups maker has been successfully run by five generations of Giffards. In the past decade, the company has gone from strength to strength, with double-digit growth in 2024 and a new production site on the horizon. There are few companies in the spirits world with long-standing family ties like Giffard.
The French firm was founded in Angers by Emile Giffard, a pharmacist who created the company’s flagship liqueur, the mint-flavoured Menthe-Pastille.
Today the business exports its liqueurs and syrups to 90 countries, and is run by fifth-generation family members Emilie and Pierre Giffard.
But working in the family business was not what Emilie had envisioned after high school. “I wanted to maybe be a sports teacher because I like sports and it’s easy,” she laughs over Zoom.
Emilie first had a taste of working for her family’s company in a marketing position for several months, before moving into roles at consumer goods firms such as Colgate, Danone, and Newell Brands.
She returned to Giffard in 2020 as regional sales and marketing manager – UK and North Europe, then became the company’s brand strategy and innovation director before becoming co-managing director, with her cousin, Pierre, in January 2024.
An amazing year
With a year under her belt in the new role, I ask her how the transition has been. She is quick to point to the company’s sales success: “We had an amazing year in terms of sales – the company grew by 18% last year. We had good growth across all areas of the world, in France, in Europe, in Asia, everywhere. So a good year for us.”
The previous managing directors of the company were Emilie’s father, Bruno Giffard, and Pierre’s mother, Edith Giffard. “They are both still involved but not in the day to day,” Emilie says. “They guide us and give us tips.”
Giffard has been steadily expanding the business since 2017. By the end of 2023, revenue had risen from €20 million (US$21.6m) to €47m; production had increased from five to 11 million bottles; and the workforce had doubled to 140 employees. In 2017, Giffard opened a manufacturing site for its syrups in Angers’ St Léger des Bois industrial park, where it also established a logistics platform.
It’s evident that the strong Giffard brand name is gaining traction worldwide – exports now represent almost 70% of the business. The brand has expanded beyond its core French clientele, upping its presence in markets such as the UK and the US, Emilie says. However, France remains the key market, with the US, the UK and Germany among the next biggest markets for Giffard.
Emilie has her eye on Japan as a market to watch, as well as countries in Africa and South America. “Anywhere that is a big cocktail market,” she says.
Giffard is building a €27m production site for its liqueurs in St Léger, which is due to open in the middle of this year. The facility will complement the existing site in Avrillé on the outskirts of Angers, which is currently at its maximum production capacity. “It was built by my grandfather in 1972,” she says of the current site, noting its close proximity to the city centre. “We couldn’t expand anymore, this is why eight years ago we brought a space 10km away from the syrup factory,” she explains.
The new liqueurs site will be connected to the syrups facility. Before the opening of the 2017 facility, all liqueurs and syrups were made at the Avrillé site, and have since been divided. The company also operates a visitor centre for its Menthe-Pastille liqueur, and there are plans to expand and redesign it. “The idea is to have more space for on-trade and consumer clients,” says Emilie, who adds the company is aiming to start the project in 2026/27.
Focus on sustainability
Sustainability has become a key focus for the firm too, with several projects in the works. Giffard has committed to reducing water consumption, and reusing heat. Solar panels produce about 15% to 20% of the needs of the existing site. At the new site, a geothermal system will be installed as a means of energy production for heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.
For 10 years, Giffard has also been working to reduce the weight of its glass bottles to combat carbon dioxide production, with all bottles containing 70% recycled glass. Cardboard packaging has been lightened, and dividers have been eliminated where possible. There has also been a bag-in-box format developed for bars. With aims to be carbon neutral in the future, Giffard is hoping to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% before 2030. “Sustainability has always been part of the business model. As a family business, we look at the long term, how to be there in 100 years,” she says. The company is working on its first sustainability report, and is looking at how to collect water, working with reuse company Eco In Pack, which is setting up a system for collecting and washing bottles.
The Giffard family has extended their liqueurs range from the first Menthe-Pastille in 1885 to nearly 60 products. Meanwhile, the syrups line includes an orgeat syrup alongside 90 separate flavours such as coconut, pistachio, and jasmine, with all the syrups made from sugar beet grown in northern France.
As for new product development, the firm is looking to new syrups created for the Asian market, and flavours that can be used in coffee shops, Emilie explains.
In 2023, 74% of Giffard’s fruits and plants came from French producers, 50% of which are from Anjou. The company has long-term relationships that allow it to ensure a supply of high-quality fruits harvested at peak ripeness. Emilie says climate change is a challenge for the company because it can affect fruit harvests. Whenever possible, to avoid harvest uncertainties that may arise due to unfavourable weather conditions, Giffard prefers to buy the entire harvest from its producers, even if it exceeds its annual needs. “So when we buy the fruits after the harvest, we freeze them, then we keep them in storage,” she explains.
Alcohol-free liqueurs
As a company that predominantly produces liqueurs and syrups, Giffard has not been resting on its laurels, and after four years
in development, in 2023 the company unveiled its debut alcohol-free liqueur range in four flavours: grapefruit, ginger, pineapple, and elderflower.
Inspired by its classic range of liqueurs, Giffard created a range in which fruits and plants are macerated in wine vinegar. The result is an alcohol-free range with “great aromatic richness” and a reduced level of sugar. “It was a range I’m really proud of because making a non-alcoholic product is the same process as making a liqueur.”
There are our two techniques required for the creation of the non-alcoholic range. Maceration, which is carried out at Giffard’s Avrillé site, and pasteurisation, which takes place at St Léger. The new production facility in St Léger will let Giffard carry out the entire manufacturing process on the same site.
The non-alcoholic range has expanded since then with a Spritz, and there are also plans to launch an alcohol-free ‘whisky’ base, Emilie adds.
Emilie believes the big challenge for the firm is “to continue to grow and to absorb this growth and to plan for the future. We have a plan for 2030. The plan is to continue the same growth in sales of the past seven years and really focus on our craft, to enrich it, and to always look to improve its quality and efficiency.”
Following in the footsteps of their successful predecessors can be a tough act for descendants to follow, but with the latest generation of the family showing unwavering commitment to their craft, and a long-term strategy, Giffard is a company set up to thrive for generations to come.
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