Kansas City Mi Rancho Tequila expands internationallyBy Joe Arce
Casa Tequilera Dean Lozoya S.A. de CV, producer of Mi Rancho 100% Agave Tequila, on Nov. 30, announced the signing of a multi-year, worldwide production and distribution agreement with Hermitage Spirit Corp. Casa Tequilera Dean Lozoya and Hermitage will work exclusively together to bring the award-winning Mi Rancho to markets in Europe and Asia.
The tequila is the brainchild of owner and company founder Michael Dean, who operates the business with his wife Guadalupe in Kansas City, Kan. The two founded the brand in October 2016, and both the company and its flagship product have racked up accolades both at home and abroad in the time since. According to a January 2017 article published in KC Hispanic News, Dean stated that he wanted to grow the company by 20 to 25 percent in the coming year. Since then, Mi Rancho has racked up three international awards on three different continents – in China, the fifth largest tequila-consuming market in the world, it was the only tequila to take home a medal.
“(The family’s) vision for the company is so huge. This is one that has no ceiling,” Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Carlos Gomez said in opening remarks at the press conference, which took place at the Mexican Consul in downtown Kansas City. “This serves as a role model that small businesses can do international business. The world is actually smaller than what people think.”
Dean’s family will be working in concert with the founders of Hermitage, sisters Claudia Schumann and Bergita Reiss, as they work to expand the brand of the company and its increasingly popular tequila. The sisters, one of whom lives in France and the other in Panama, have spent their entire lives fascinated by the development of fine products.
“Our lives were always filled with excellent wine. We were always surrounded by beautiful products,” Schumann said. “I think taste always develops when you grow up.”
Their lifetime of experience, Dean said, means he is confident in the sisters’ ability to exclusively market Mi Rancho to distributors around the globe.
“These two women come from a wine background,” he said. “They feel so confident in this product that they created Hermitage Spirit Corp., for the sole purpose of distribution and commercialization of Mi Rancho Tequila worldwide.”
Tequila, Dean explained, can generally be placed into one of three categories – premium, ultra premium, and super premium. Dean said it is the goal of his company to produce a high-quality tequila that anyone can easily afford. But he said his product also will look quite attractive to those higher-end clients who are willing to pay a higher price.
“The price point has been discussed, and it will be between $800 and $1,200 per bottle for our super premium tequila,” Dean said, adding that the super premium version will come in a reusable crystal decanter personally signed by him. “There is a window for an excellent product at an excellent price, and a luxury product at a luxury price.”
The first 10,000 units of Mi Rancho to be shipped outside of the United States will soon be going to Portugal. In the United States, consumers can expect the tequila to be available either by the end of the fourth quarter in 2019 or the first quarter of 2020. Dean said that Hermitage is in talks with distributors in Chicago and New York, two of the most difficult U.S. markets in which a new product can establish a presence. So what does this mean for the Kansas City metro area, exactly?
KC Hispanic News asked Dean if the expansion of his business and Mi Rancho will translate into added jobs for Kansas City workers. Dean responded by saying he does plan to add more positions to his company in the coming calendar year. Local marketing and facilities growth will amount to roughly $15 million for the company in 2019, and the company’s national distribution chain will open within the second quarter of next year. The North American headquarters for the company will reside in Kansas City, Kansas, where a distribution center already exists close to Kansas City International Airport.
“And the impact on Mexico will be 285 million pesos over the life of the contract,” Dean added.
Dean’s company and Hermitage have both received praise from dignitaries from the local city officials all the way to Capitol Hill. Manny Abarca representative from the office of U.S. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver read a statement sent by the congressman to those in attendance at the press conference.
“It is my hope that this partnership will add to your corporation’s swift expansion all over the world,” Cleaver’s statement read in part.
As long as Mi Rancho proves its quality and worth in the ever-growing arena of high-end liquors, it will find its international audience – an audience whose members crave good taste, distinction, and the finer things in life.
“Every day I compete with multi-billion dollar companies (like Bacardi) on the same stage. I’m not afraid to enter the tequila into any open competition,” Dean said.“That’s how much I believe in it. … (This) dream has converted into a reality.”
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