S14 E06: Adam Banfield, President and CEO of Baccarat North America

[Music] You're listening to the luxury item, the podcast on the business of luxury and the people and companies that are shaping the future of the luxury industry. Here's your host, Scott Kerr. Bacara was established in 1764 during the reign of King Louis XV of France. It's one of Europe's oldest purveyors of exclusive crystal creations. Over the last 260 years, Bacara artisans have been crafting glassware, decorative objects and lighting fixtures purchased by many of the world's most discriminating connoisseurs. Bacara chandeliers and decorative objects adorn many appalace, and Bacara crystal stemware graces the tables of royalty and heads of state. The brand has also expanded its offerings to luxury hotels, residences, fragrances and porcelain. My guest on the luxury item is Adam Banfield, president and CEO of Bacara North America. Adam has been a global leader in the luxury market for 20 years, with experience in sales, operations and marketing across retail, wholesale and e-commerce channels. Adam comes to Bacara from his role as president and general manager of Puge, where he was instrumental in the development of the strategic vision and successful acquisition of Byredo in 2022. Adam spent six years at Natura ASAP, where he expanded the business by opening new store locations and entering the Canadian market. He has also worked at Lee Wrangler, Nobody Denim and G-Star Raw. Welcome to the luxury item, Adam. Thanks for having me Scott. Thank you so much for joining me. You know, Bacara is celebrating its 260th anniversary, a really rare milestone in business. The house has a remarkable legacy, more than two and a half centuries ago. Bacara was a producer of glass and mirrors in a tiny town of Bacara 200 miles from Paris. And today it's a global luxury brand, producing luxury crystalware, lighting, jewelry, fragrances, hospitality and beyond, and collaborated with artists, celebrities and other brands to create these unique collections. So how has Bacara brought new modernity to a brand that people may perceive as an old-fashioned crystalware company? Yeah, when you're in a round for 260 years, I can understand how people might have that perception. I think one of the ways I give kind of context and perspective to many people is just to remind them that Bacara is actually older than the United States of America. But with that being said, I think that length of time of being around adds a certain sense of certain strength in heritage. But for us, constantly looking at ways to push the boundaries is natural for us. The brand was founded on a very bold and daring spirit. I mean, our craftsmen, early on, were creating pieces that had never been done before and probably displaying them across the world at various world fairs. Looking for new ways to obviously push the brand into new areas and worlds is natural for us. We recently partnered obviously with Emily in Paris, which was a fantastic branding opportunity for us to communicate the various facets that we hold dear. We embarking on a very bold and exciting retail development strategy where we're relocating stores from storied locations in New York, like Madison Avenue to the meatpacking district and introducing a bold new retail design concept with the French design firm Boyd out of the tie. And then we're also looking at expanding past crystal. I mean, many luxury brands that many of you listeners will know have come from a genesis that may not necessarily be what they do today, whether it's Louis Vuitton with their travel cases and trunks or M.A.s with the settles. We like to sit here and think that, you know, who knows, maybe one day crystal to Baccarot could be like that. I don't know if I'll be around then to see that, but it definitely makes it exciting for us to think that, you know, as one of the few I believe true luxury lifestyle brands. We've got incredible license to push ourselves into area that just feel natural. And you joined Baccarot as it's North America president and CEO in 2023. You came from a luxury beauty background working with brands like ASAP and Byredo. We're here. Have you been putting your energy since joining? Yeah, I've definitely been very blessed to work with some incredible brands. It was 10 years in beauty with both ASAP and Byredo prior to that, it was 15 years working in fashion, particularly in premium, denim and street wear brand. So strength of brand vision of brand reason for being has always been very important to me. And that's that's why when the opportunity at Baccarot came along, I just jumped at it. But I think, you know, if I look at my experiences and how I'm bringing that to Baccarot, if I talk more recently in beauty, but one of the strengths of ESAP as a brand was just how important, genuine and meaningful connections are with the end story experience. We definitely are looking to bring that to toward Baccarot as we roll out our new retail concept and strategy, like I said before. And then by redo, it was very focused on on building emotional connections with people, the power of storytelling. And again, Baccarot has has a wealth of opportunity as far as the 260 years that we just spoke about to bring those to the end story experience. So we're definitely moving toward that. And as far as this front end element is concerned, we touched on before about the decision to move to meet packing, which I think for us as a brand touches on many of the things that we celebrate as we talk about the Shua De Veeve, which in French is essentially the celebration of life, the joy of life. And there's many elements that we can touch on that in me packing with go and have brunch at past East in the morning and then come shopping at Baccarot in the afternoon and spend an afternoon at the Whitney and if the weather is nice, take a walk along the high line. So there's many elements there that resonate strongly with us that we're going to embrace. But I think also in my position, we very much need to make sure that while the front end is important, I think unfortunately a lot of companies fall into the risk of prioritizing too much of the front end of the expense of the back end. And so for us and for me, especially, there was a lot of work that we needed to bring towards strengthening the foundation that that we have for this ambitious future growth. So in my time that I've been here, there's been a lot of work done with warehouse relocations and office relocations, team consolidations and reorganizations, a brand new office that we've now moved into last summer on the corner of 55th of Madison here, which is a co branded Baccarot commercial space, which is a lot of work done with. And so there's been a lot of work, but it's been important to ensure that we do put ourselves poised in a strong position to achieve the ambitious growth plan that we've got over the next three to five years. Yeah, and you were talking about improving the in store experience, you know, we're seeing the market for personal luxury goods experiencing its first contraction in 15 years, excluding the COVID period. We're seeing the recovery consumers of grappling with macroeconomic uncertainty and continued price elevation of brands, cutting backs like the undisgressionary items. We saw the fine wine and spirits market contract due to cautious consumer spending. However, luxury consumers are investing their money and experiences. How has this shift in luxury spending impacted your crystal dining and bar wear business and it retail too. No, it has the luxury industry is very well documented and we all know when to an incredible period of growth. I think it was the the banan co report that showed for the 20 odd years from the arts until the pandemic. And if you exclude obviously the period of the GFC in 2008, luxury was growing at an average annual compound cliff is about 5%, which is sustainable. As we went through COVID, I think if my math is correct, I mean that exploded to 18%. We just is is going to go through a period of correction. And I think that's what we've seen particularly through 23 into into 24. That's starting to stabilize now, but one thing that we've all become very aware of is like you say how much we're just prioritizing experience now. And so for us again, like I said before as a as a true lifestyle house, there was a lot of natural and organic ways that we we've already expressed ourselves to harness that and continue to so. Part of ships are a big way that we are able to celebrate the house and work with other incredible artists and brands in the world. So we just recently opened a brand new restaurant in our head office in the 16th of Paris with the world renowned chef Alan DeCasse. If I'm not mistaken, has Andy McLean? cell phone, the 21 stars in his career. So an incredible opportunity to partner and showcase who we are with with with an artist like that more locally here in New York, we've just opened up a partnership with Daniel Ballood's Maison Barnes. Jackson Bond is another top-barring in New York that we're partnering with, Barbastien. We've been with Bureau Bond, the private membership club here for many years. So a lot of ways that we can partner with incredible spaces and give more and more people the opportunity to sometimes pick up their first bar glass, their first wine glass, their first cocktail glass with Bucarod and again going back to my time with ESOP, it was all about getting the product in people's hand. And so when you're in an environment like this and you you are celebrating that moment with a friend or a colleague or a loved one and you have that first moment where you cheers your Bucarod wine glass, it's a memorable moment and we love sharing, I love the fact that with people. Bucarod opened its first branded hotel in New York in 2015, it marked a new chapter for Bucarod as it reimagined the French crystal maker into a luxury lifestyle hospitality brand. So how did it position itself in New York City's very competitive luxury hotel landscape where there's no shortage of world class properties? And we have a lot to owe to that to Starwood and Barry, he was the owner of the brand at the time and hospitality and hotel are obviously very near and dear to him and they still today Starwood and SH are our operating partners with the hotel. Then as a luxury house we can move into that space very comfortably and it's still like I said before with some of the bar partnerships we have oftentimes people's first experience with us and so that strong sense of identity and commitment to our out of St. Louis as a French house working with partners like that is an opportunity to push that lifestyle positioning obviously and then we have the residences as well. So I think what many people may not know is next to the hotel we have a list of Bucarod branded residences which that concept is pushing forward. We've got another exciting project happening with Bucarod residences here in the US in Brickle in Miami which will be opening in 2028 and so just continuing to move into that space is very much part of our brand strategy. Bucarod is a new player in a real estate branding game dominated by Ritz Carlton and St. Regis and other premium hotel brands. Like you said Bucarod residences on Miami's waterfront and is expected to be completed I think by 2028 such luxury hotel residents have exploded in the last five years buyers are attracted to such products by the prestige associated with elite brands. South Florida Skyline is pretty crowded with luxury branded residences right now. How is the Bucarod residences Miami positioning itself knowing that? Yeah it's definitely a bitty space for branded hospitality and residences and as a premier luxury brand like I said it was a natural extension for us. I think location is key as well. In Brickle you really can't ask for a more centrally located space. You've got south beach of course just across the water. You've got design district just to the north. You've got coral gabled just to the south so it's where you know like most big cities in the US traffic can be a challenge sometimes but the location is obviously paramount to us and through our offering of various lifestyle extensions through lighting, through bile wear, through decoration, through the fragrance that we have of course we're able to imbue a lot of those touch points through the development. Then at the end of the day most people are looking for an experience where they feel esteemed and we're able to very much deliver that and it's working like you say it's looking to open in 2028 but of the 360 odd units that we have we've already sold through about 95% so we feel that what we're offering is definitely resonating which is fantastic. Obviously the catering lifestyle that we're able to express through many of the experience in the hotels is something that they want to have full time so we'll obviously be able to offer that through that space. We're also working on programs where they have the full choice of selection of lighting in their apartments that we can obviously work to include so that there's that expression throughout the space. We've even got the fragrances that people know very much strongly for our collaboration with Maison Francis Cajon is also going to be expressed through that space as well so many of the touch points that people have connected with and choose to express who they are as an individual through Bacarit is going to be expressed through these spaces as well. And you said you had some other branded residences in development can you share where they're going to be? Sure yeah we've got a busy program over the next few years so join Bacarit hotel and residences are in development in Dubai, the Maldives and in Saudi Arabia and then hotels specifically we've got two projects in Italy in Florence and Rome that are planned over the next few years. Perfumer Francis Cajon was approached by Bacarit to design a perfume you know an honor of its 250th anniversary the result was the launch of Bacarit Rouge 540 it was intended to be a limited edition I think there were like 250 numbered crystal bottles and 10 years later the fragrance has arguably become one of the most popular in the world thanks in large part to a newfound tic-tac virality and celebrities such as Rian and Olivia Rodrigo and others endorsing it so seeing Bacarit Rouge 540 enormous success on tic-tac how does Bacarit capitalize on this lightning in a bottle if you will and create a deeper impact among younger audiences? yeah it really is remarkable within the niche fragrance world it is definitely in the top three as far as strengths of market positioning is concerned I think the beauty of the fragrance not only full credit to Francis Cajon of course and what he created but again we touched on storytelling a little bit before and the power and the importance of that like you said the initial brief and initial idea was just to release 250 bottles to celebrate our 250th anniversary presented in Bacarit crystal and the genesis and thought behind that was because we realized obviously everything is very sensorial and with Bacarit there is of course sight with the clarity and the perfection of the product that we create the sound of course like I said before when you when you tap glasses together in that beautiful resounding sound filled the room taste of course with what we produce is a very specific and clear intended design to enhance whether it's wine or liquor or whatever you're drinking to lift that experience but smell was something that was missing from us and so that was the brief and to create something that evoked the spirit of the house with fire and furnace and crystal created this very warm strength that people know behind the Rooch 540 fragrance and so for us yeah the strength that it had is undoubtedly being a huge strength for us to get the brand in front of a younger demographic and to also get Bacarit in communication channels which obviously like you say it have given us viral moments and strength to introduce Bacarit to many and we're also very conscious of knowing that too too many consumers Bacarit is the fragrance and part of our job and journey now is to help bring them through to the rest of of what not makes Bacarit unique through like I said before the hotels our lighting our chandeliers and the various other touchpoints that we hold dear. Bacarit jumped on the Emily and Paris luxury French brand product placement train this past season with a limited edition crystal piece dubbed heartbreak that retails for about five hundred dollars. It's a heavy silver heart with a red line cutting down the middle I don't watch Emily and Paris but I understand it plays a prominent role in the show itself how did that whole collaboration come about? Yeah that again is another I think testament to the strength of the house and the power of storytelling and organic and meaningful partnerships and connections. When the first I mean all this came about through a cast member of Emily and Paris introducing us to the show's producer Daren Star and you know like many of these these moments that the conversation started first with you know some product placement opportunities obviously Emily and Paris of naturally had some ties towards Bacarit and our French heritage but as we started to walk them through our head office particularly in Paris in the 16th we're talking about the history of the space and it's It's original own, a Mary Lord in the way who you to hold these amazing masquerade balls in the ballroom of the house, which to many you might feel like you're out in Versailles, it's so beautiful. And as they heard about this, they started to think about how that could be weaved into the story. So for those that have seen the episodes, there is a heartbreak ball filmed inside the ballroom of our head office, which all naturally stemmed from, the team learning about our history and what's helped bring us to be where we are today. So it was a wonderful opportunity again to work with a product that we knew had a lot of resonance and understanding and awareness in the market with fragrance. And that's where the product came through the storyline. But then again, like I said before, to start to introduce people to our crystal and who we are outside of the fragrance was another opportunity through that show. So it was a very, very problem for us. Yeah, and it seems like a nice bridge from the perfumes TikTok success to broaden your younger customer base. So did it have the impact that you were hoping for and did you see it in sales? Absolutely. We had quite modest expectations for the self-through of the product that we were very pleased to see that the self-through performance vastly exceeded what we were anticipating. But more so, it was just the opportunity from a branding perspective. It's obviously Netflix's number one show. And for us, we got over a billion pressing pressures from a number of high profile publications. So to get the brand even further on the radar of a younger demographic, for example, was very, very well achieved. So do you have the entertainment bug now? Do you see more integrations in the future? I will never say no. But again, I think it's how natural and meaningful the opportunity is. I don't like to feel like we're jamming around paying to a square hole. So because of how natural the story progressed with Emily and Paris, if there are other opportunities like that, then absolutely. Late last year, Baccaro expanded beyond the Crystal Arena and introduced products made of porcelain like plates and coffee cups, flatware, a range of lacquer and leather trays, as well as wax candles, all at obviously more accessible price points. Are you hoping these products will be the gateway for younger audiences into the Baccaro brand? Yes, I mean, there's obviously an intention there that when we're expanding product categories, it's to get ourselves into the purview and the screen of different audiences. We didn't necessarily build this product to reach a certain price point. As we're moving into these new categories that you mentioned into wax, into lacquer, into leather, it naturally afford this opportunity to move into different price brackets. But every partner that we've worked with in production of these pieces are a befitting of market leaders. So just as we are still produced in the same factory that produced Baccaro 260 years ago to retain all of that knowledge that I pay, that generational knowledge, which is near and dear to us, we've partnered with other manufacturers of a similar caliber to ensure that we retain that positioning and that quality in these new products that we're moving into. What have been the reactions so far with the consumers? Very encouraging. It's always a little bit of a scary step to move out into the unknown, of course. But again, like I said before, this is natural to us through that bold and daring spirit that we hold dear. So sales have been wonderfully encouraged. We sold it through our own stores and need come first and we've sold out through quite a few products already. There are some people that we've peaked their curiosity in their entry and look, I'm sure there's some diehard crystal fans out there that think it's probably an abomination. I don't know. But it's something that we've been very encouraged with the initial response to and we will continue to push further into the space. So it's wonderful. And Baccaro has its hands in many different categories from crystal to luxury hotels and residences to fragrances. It looks like the blueprint of a lifestyle brand. So where are you hoping it fits into people's lives? We very much want people to feel like Baccaro is part of their daily lives. They're everyday lives. I mean, you were talking before, Scott, about how they might be a perception to some that it's an old world brand that's kept up on the top shelf and only brought down for the very special occasions. And we love the fact that the product and our brand has that level of a sting for people. But I think we are a brand through the lifestyle position that we are that there is a daily reference. So whether it is you're wearing your fragrance every day or you're drinking your coffee out of our taliran espresso cup or you're having your juice out of your tongue, colond glass, if you will. This is part of the day today interaction and then you might be meeting friends for drinks in the hotel bar at night. It's very much getting that kind of mindset to be part of everyone's daily lives, not just for those special occasions. You touched upon this earlier in another move to engage new audiences. You've moved your Manhattan flagship store on Madison Avenue to the meatpacking district, which is much hipper rubbing shoulders with high-end retailers like Gucci and Rolex, private membership clubs like Soho House and lots of art galleries and trendy restaurants. How will you fill this blank retail canvas to express Baccaro's new chapter for the brand? I touched on it before but in detail for us meatpacking just ticked so many boxes. Like you say, it's very much a contemporary space as far as retail position is concerned in Manhattan. I mean, Madison Avenue upper east side. Soho their blue chip markets for retail and for luxury brands. The meatpacking affords an environment where I think is a lot more conducive to many of the things that we hold dear just from a pace and an environment there. It's far more conducive, I think, to a relaxed shopping experience as much as there is incredible retail, of course, in Madison. In particular, it's still busy. It's a major street. There's buses running up and down. So you might need to buy one or two things. You go there, you buy it, and then there I say you probably need to go somewhere else. Whereas you go to meatpacking, you'll spend the whole day there. If you had a great selection of food, of retail, of art and gallery spaces, the membership club that you're talking about. And despite its strength of positioning, there's still a lot that's happening as far as new brands and new developments coming into the area. So it's a really exciting space. And just the width of the sidewalks and the pace of the streets, it gives us a lot of opportunity and a lot of brands do. Utilize the space for large-scale activations and events to really showcase so much of what can be offered. And we very much plan to do that when we open the store later into this year. And are you also going to be revamping all the other Baka Rabu teaks across North America? Working with mine item Batay now has really given us an opportunity to hone in on what we want people to experience in our stores from a design aesthetic standpoint. I think what we think guilty of not only just in the US, but globally is a lack of consistency in approach to design of our retail environment. So with mine item Batay who have got an incredible positioning globally, not only in retail, but in hospitality and residential. What we wanted to do is invoke this feeling of what it's like to be in our factory. We see time and time again when we bring people to the factory and they see the furnaces and the craftsmen blowing the glass and creating these beautiful pieces which they've come to know. No one leaves, not feeling inspired and excited. Now, unfortunately, we can't bring everybody to the factory. So we'd like to bring a bit of the factory to our stores. So you'll see architectural sculptural design that reflect the design of the factory. You'll see that the burnt and the charred wood, which is a reference, tell you obviously the furnaces were first fueled. You know, when the factory is first founded 260 years ago, the the parkatory floor is a nodded reference to many of the floors and spaces throughout the factory. So to invoke that, that or in that wonder is part of that design. And also to create intrigue and various designated spaces within the retail concept, what I hate, much that I hate more than when you walk into a store and you've taken it all in within 10 to 20 seconds. Yeah. You want to feel intrigued, you want to walk in and you want something to capture attention and explore that, then something else to capture attention or explore that. And it's through that storytelling that you open up opportunities for client engagement and experience just to grow. So it was a very conscious way that we approached the design for this space that we first morphed in South Coast, rather than customers at Southern will next be with more and out of the tie space in meat packing and then we will expand that's where are the locations across the US and the world over the next few years. So as part of improving the experience at the boutiques are you also retraining sales people to engage with customers differently? Absolutely. Again, I will reference ESOP here ESOP had a very dedicated training program because again to deliver that high end genuine authentic client experience in store takes a lot of work. And so we're bringing that to Bacarot as well and and in my mind when the team and I talk about benchmarks within retail experience, we don't necessarily talk about other retail brands. For us, the benchmark is five star hospitality and hotels when you walk into any five star hotel, you're made to feel like you're the only person that exists and that's that's very important for the client told that we're catering to that that feeling of the steam is something that we want to review through our own spaces as well. So it's a very conscious effort that we're bringing into into Bacarot and you'll see that grow over time. Bacarot has brought their illustrious touch to many big name collaborations over the years. These endeavors with luxury brands such as Chanel, San Mara, Virgil Ablo to brands with massive cult followings like Pokemon and Bear Bricks have resulted in these one of a kind creations. I understand these collaborations take Bacarot into new categories and amplify the brand's cultural resonance when Bacarot embarks on a collaboration what shared values and objectives do you look for? Similar to what I was talking about before with our partners that are producing the what we call the new chapter with our lacker and our leather and wax categories it's similar with with other artists we work with and oftentimes it comes to a shared commitment of artistry, innovation, craftsmanship, but also cultural relevance. So we do have the very fortunate position to have like you said work with some incredible brands and artists and another one that I'll be remiss of me not to mention here with the 20 year relationship that we've had with the US based company chrome hearts. Alright incredible brand that for the market that it sits in the product it produces as a similar resonance and reverence amongst its clients so for 20 years we've been working a partnership with them producing a product for for chrome hearts that we're very proud of and will continue to grow over the next few years. Let's take a look at the luxury market right now I know it's having its challenges so which long term trend are you most bullish about for the luxury market and which one makes you a little bit more worried. I can open my Instagram handle now or look at a trade publication that's not talking about how or every luxury brand it seems is moving more and more into into the hospitality space and some I think feel a little bit more genuine than others some I think let's just be honest it's it's it's a bit of fun and hey if you've got the budget I do the same thing. Like I said before we're definitely looking to expand upon that I think it's very well known that the younger demographic is is more and more about experience and and those moments and we can very much cater to that and do so through hotels and bars that will will expand further. So I think for us you know it's it's exciting we feel like you know in as much as that we've achieved in the 260 years and more specifically here in the US as one of the top markets globally there is a sentiment of you know we're just getting started. It's a lot of work but you know it's definitely a brand that we feel like we need to honor that that history and let and legacy that we speak of but the we're just getting started that the road ahead is very promising and we're looking forward to stepping down. So Adam my final question is the luxury item question which I ask all my guests so if you were stranded on a deserted island and you could only have one single luxury item with you what would that luxury item be it can't be any form of air or water transportation to get you off that island or anything that requires mobile service you can call somebody to get you off that island it's just you on this lonely island all by yourself nobody around anywhere what would that one single luxury item you would like to have. I think maybe the luxury in and of itself is just not to have any cell phone connection. But anticipating that this question might come Scott I did I did give it some thought and I think particularly. For myself and also my position and what we're doing here with Barker Rader I don't tend to get a lot of time to myself and to be alone with with my thoughts I find myself on the train ride into the city and the train ride home. The time where I'm staring at the window and collecting my thoughts but if I'm on a deserted island and I'm guessing I've got a bit more time on my hand I'd love to bring with me something that was gifted to me for my 40th birthday was the JFK addition. Mont Blanc pen so provider I've got a note pad with me as well I think with that time I'd love to journal my thoughts and a bit more time and opportunity to reflect so that would be what I what I would hope to have with me on that island. And it sounds me you don't want to get off that island it sounds you actually want to stay there and for the peace and quiet. It's a luxury yes. And Banfield President and CEO of Barker on North America thank you so much for joining me on the luxury item appreciate the time Scott thank you so much. Thank you so much for listening if you found this useful and entertaining I would be really grateful if you can share it with a friend or colleague. I would love it if you subscribe so you never miss an episode and while you're there be sure to rate and review us on Apple podcasts. It really helps other listeners find us the luxury item podcast is a production of silver tone consulting on your host Scott Kerr until next time. [Music]