How we helped establish Agrumaria Reggina's US presence

Overview:

Agrumaria Reggina is a 3rd generation family owned, Italian company specializing in the production and supply of citrus-based ingredients. Founded in 1971 and based in the Calabria region of southern Italy, Agrumaria Reggina focuses on processing citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, and grapefruits into high-quality essential oils, juices, concentrates, and other citrus-derived products.

In recent years the business has grown rapidly and with their new CEO, Felice Chirico leading the business, they have ambitious plans to continue.

One phase of that growth is to establish and grow the business unit in North America, where currently 15-20% of their global revenue is already generated with a customer base that consists of Global leading F&F houses and beverage manufacturers.

With this in mind, the business was looking to secure their first US based employee, ideally a senior commercial professional, business leader from within the citrus market and with a strong network in the largest global accounts.

 

Specific requirements for the search:

• Proven sales track record withing the B2B flavour and ingredient industry.
• Strong knowledge and experience working with the leading F&F houses AND/OR large multinational beverage manufactures.
• Preferably experience working with citrus ingredients, essential oils, natural extracts, botanicals, flavours, etc.
• Strong Account Management and Business Development experience.
• Culture fit to the business.

 

Additional challenge:

With this role being Agrumaria Reggina’s first hire in the US, there were key challenges that we helped the business to mitigate successfully.

• Salary: Using market data, we were able to help the business successfully salary benchmark the role across multiple States.
• Additional benefits: Again using market data and local knowledge, we were able to guide the business through the expectations around employee benefits such as healthcare plans and medical cover, 401k etc.

 

How we helped:

• Backstory: We had been in contact with the business for several months prior to the engagement after an initial introduction at FiE 2023.
• Brief: Met with the CEO of the business to take a detailed understanding of the brief and expectations.
• Salary query: As this was to be their first US based employee there was uncertainty around salary, with the initial outlined budget slightly low. Rather than making any quick changes, we agreed that as part of the search we would generate a detailed salary benchmark survey to allow the business the opportunity to position the salary at a level to attract the best person for the role, once they had the required data to do so.
• Market mapping: Created a long list, mapping 78 professionals from various competitor organizations and with possible experience in the citrus market.
• Approach: Actively approached just over 40 professionals from the market who looked most closely suited to our client’s requirements.
• Interview and present: We went through various stages of interview and conversations to reduce a final shortlist down to 6 high level professionals.
• Interviews: Our client interviewed all 6, the feedback following was good for all but with a couple of clear frontrunners the process was quickly narrowed down at each stage until a final decision and offer was extended.
• Negotiations: Handled all aspects of the offer and negotiation phase, aligning expectations of both internal stakeholders and candidates. Additionally helped in discussions with the EOR and with guidance around various medical plan options.
• Results: Joel Longbons joined the business to take on the role of GM North America. Joel brings a wealth of experience, coming from a Business Unit Leadership role where he had been supplying citrus ingredients into the F&F market.

Candidate Testimonials:

"Jamie is a genuine character. I sincerely appreciated working together. He is timely and transparent. I will be reaching out to request his help in the future."

Joel Longbons – General Manager North America

 

If you’re looking to secure a Senior Commercial Leader like Agrumaria Reggina, please contact us today to find out how we can help you achieve similar results.