When a 175-year-old Italian heritage brand decides to double down on the American market, the playbook isn’t always obvious. But Christopher Watt, CEO of Branca USA, has cracked the code, delivering a 5% volume increase for Fernet-Branca, an explosive 91% growth for Borghetti coffee liqueur, and helping Carpano Antica Formula become the number-one sweet vermouth by value in U.S. retail. In an industry where heritage brands often struggle to stay relevant, Watt has proven that legacy and innovation aren’t mutually exclusive; they’re the foundation for breakthrough growth.
In this episode, Watt reveals the strategic moves behind Branca USA’s remarkable performance: from democratizing Fernet-Branca beyond high-end mixology into college towns and neighborhood bars, to riding the espresso martini wave with Borghetti, to capitalizing on the vermouth renaissance with Carpano Antica. Join us as we unpack his “pilot fish” distribution strategy, the data-driven approach that guided a lean team to outsized results, and why partnering with Reyes Beverage Group was the right strategic move for the portfolio.
Featured Guest:
Christopher Watt, CEO, Branca USA
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Podcast Transcript
Featuring Chris Watt, CEO of Branca USA
Emmett Strack (00:04)
All right, Chris Watt, thank you so much for joining us on the Park Street Insider Podcast today.
Chris Watt (00:10)
Emmett, good to be with you. Thank you for having me.
Emmett Strack (00:15)
This is the first big interview of the year for us on the show. I’m really glad to be speaking with you at the top of the year — when goals are set, priorities are refreshed — and we can get into what 2026 looks like for Branca USA. But before we dive in, I’m curious to hear about your personal background: how you got into the industry and landed this role stewarding a company with 175 years of history as Fratelli Branca’s U.S. subsidiary.
Chris Watt (00:47)
I was very lucky. I joined the industry straight out of university, originally at the Scotch whisky company Whyte & Mackay, which is the brand owner of the Dalmore Single Malt, Jura, Fettercairn, and John Barr. I was with that business for 13 years, starting as an assistant brand manager in Glasgow in 2009 and leaving as President of Whyte & Mackay Americas in 2022.
Whyte & Mackay is a great company. I was very fortunate to have a CEO and COO who really invested their time in me from an early stage in my career. It was around the fall of 2021 when I was introduced to the Branca family, and those discussions eventually led to me joining Branca USA as CEO in the summer of 2022.
Emmett Strack (01:44)
That’s really fascinating. It seems like you’ve worn a lot of different hats, and it speaks to the importance of mentorship in building a career and getting to where you are. It sounds like you had a particular background in marketing — is that right?
Chris Watt (02:02)
I did, yeah. That’s where I cut my teeth. CEOs tend to come from either a financial background or a brand background, and mine was very much on the marketing side. That’s become an incredibly useful skill set to have at Branca USA as we steward these brands into their next phase of growth.
Emmett Strack (02:24)
I’m really interested to get into how that background has translated into some of the strategic decisions you’ve made around Branca USA and the brands in the portfolio. Building individual brands from the ground up can be very different from leading a whole collection or portfolio of brands. For the listeners who have their eye on leading a group of brands — or already do — what do you think are the primary differences between building something new from scratch and leading a collection of brands with such a rich, 175-year heritage like the Fratelli Branca family?
Chris Watt (03:10)
Let me start with the similarities, because I think you’ll find there are quite a lot of them. The ingredients that make a brand successful don’t change much whether the brand has been around for 180 years or is starting from the ground up.
The principles of stewarding a legacy drinks business like Branca and building a brand-new innovation brand are really the same in my mind. It starts with: Who is the consumer? How are they consuming your product? Where are they consuming your product? And why are they consuming your product — what is the emotional connection that drives that consumer to choose your brand over another?
Once you have a firm grasp on the answers to those basic questions, your chances of success increase exponentially. I’ll give you a perfect example with Fernet-Branca.
When I came to Branca USA in 2022, the strategy for that brand was to break into high-end cocktail bars as a cocktail ingredient, in an effort to expand the brand’s reach to a wider consumer base. That’s a perfectly acceptable marketing strategy. The issue I had with it was that when I looked at the data, the velocity Fernet was generating from those types of accounts was minuscule compared to the velocity per account in neighborhood bars and sports bars. In those outlets, the brand was organically being consumed as a shot and beer.
That immediately told me that Fernet’s organic consumer is younger, probably less affluent, and much more mainstream than the consumer we were designing our marketing for. We then took it a step further and overlaid U.S. Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics data at a zip code level to assess the key opportunity zones for the brand.
Chris Watt (05:19)
What we found was that it wasn’t Manhattan or Beverly Hills that showed up — it was Pittsburgh, Gainesville, Raleigh-Durham, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia. Areas that were college towns and, in some cases, more blue collar than the major metros where drinks companies typically spend their dollars. Based on that exercise, we now knew who our consumer was, how they were consuming the brand, the account base where we needed to expand distribution, and importantly, the markets to focus on first.
Since that exercise, Fernet has grown its depletions in the United States by 32% over the last three years. The clarity of strategy behind the brand in the U.S. is one of the primary reasons for that growth. It’s a good case study in really understanding the answers to those questions around the consumer, around consumption, and around where the brand is consumed. Once you have a handle on that, you can develop a strategy — both from a marketing perspective and a commercial roadmap perspective — that ensures there is real clarity of thought when you take your brand to a distributor. That clarity drives execution, and execution drives velocity in the right account universe.
Emmett Strack (06:47)
It’s really valuable to hear your thought process on this, because it’s so important that brands understand their core use occasion. It sounds like you did exactly that with Fernet — identifying that shot-and-beer value proposition and shifting the strategy accordingly — and the growth you guys have seen clearly reflects that. It’s also really interesting to hear that the criteria for building brands remains somewhat consistent at every level. You still need to understand the consumer in minute detail and build that emotional connection with them, which it seems like you’ve done really successfully.
I want to talk about Fernet-Branca itself and its origin story, because it offers a fascinating case study in its own right. The brand has been around in the United States for a really long time, and I struggle to think of another brand that commands the same level of insider status on the on-premise side of the industry among bartenders. How has a brand created in Italy in 1845 for medicinal purposes become known as the “bartender’s handshake” and this badge of honor in the cocktail community?
Chris Watt (08:00)
We were very lucky with Fernet-Branca — the brand was really adopted by the bartending community as a rite of passage. Part of that has to do with the taste profile. You’re never going to forget your first shot of Fernet-Branca, that’s for sure. I remember when I joined the business and attended Bar Convent Brooklyn in 2022, I gave away my first Fernet coin to a bartender who had traveled all the way from Seattle. It was as if I was bestowing a knighthood on this person — they were so excited.
That emotional connection is very difficult to establish with the trade. We’ve been very careful not to break that trust with the bartending community who really put Fernet-Branca on their backs in the United States. And there’s an interesting point I’d make here: a lot of brands today are built on social media, and as a result, they see big spikes in the retail channel. But I think the brands that last are those built first and foremost in the on-premise.
I would encourage entrepreneurs who are listening to this podcast to think about that as they build out their next idea, because on-premise is not going away. The trade is really the gatekeeper to introducing new brands to consumers — whether in a cocktail or otherwise.
That’s incredibly important for our industry, and incredibly important for us as a business, given that Fernet’s growth is largely driven by the fact that, all those years ago, bartenders supported this very esoteric amaro from Italy and allowed it to become what it is today.
Emmett Strack (10:20)
And going back to what we were saying about that emotional element — your social media strategy might drive awareness in a really effective way, but ultimately, these things are built by generating those “liquid to lips” moments and allowing people to create real resonance with the product in person. Am I correct that the bartenders who initially adopted Fernet-Branca did so in a community in San Francisco back in the ’90s?
Chris Watt (10:54)
That’s exactly right. San Francisco is really the mecca for Fernet-Branca. The velocity in an average neighborhood bar there is infinitely higher than in most accounts across the country. It has become a local spirit in a very real way, despite still being produced and distilled in Italy. The San Francisco bartending community embraced Fernet as their own. If you go to The Bus Stop or any of those iconic neighborhood bars in the San Francisco area, you’ll see folks of all ages drinking Fernet-Branca. It’s quite an incredible sight.
Emmett Strack (11:47)
It’s a really interesting case study in how trends take hold, but also in what brands can do to help facilitate those trends. I’ve heard stories of local Fernet reps at the time really grabbing hold of this momentum — tripling city volume within a few years through road trips, events, and bar-to-bar outreach that framed Fernet as this badge of trade identity. And the fact that it…
Chris Watt (12:13)
That’s exactly right. One of the key learnings I took from speaking with the team and with on-premise operators — including those bartenders with the Fernet tattoos — was that we really needed to lean into this in a major way. When you have an organic wave of consumption, brand loyalty, and brand identity like that, it would be crazy to do anything different. They’ve built your brand world for you. Now what you have to do is fill in the blanks and make it more accessible to a wider audience.
Emmett Strack (12:56)
Yeah, and coming in with such a deep understanding of that culture has clearly helped propel the brand’s growth. It’s amazing that the velocity coming out of San Francisco, even today decades later, is still so high. This reminds me of the approach PBR took in Brooklyn in the early 2000s, where their reps were able to essentially embed the brand within the counterculture — the urban hipsters of the time — and it grew organically. Similar to Fernet-Branca, they leveraged that organic growth really effectively.
So Fernet-Branca clearly had significant U.S. gravitas for some time. Why did Fratelli Branca decide in 2019 that it was time to found Branca USA as a subsidiary and really double down on the market?
Chris Watt (14:00)
The U.S. is a very attractive market for any business based in Europe or Asia. And functionally, with the three-tier system, if you’re going to really break through in an individual market, you need to ensure that you’re in charge of the import and marketing of your brands and engaging directly with wholesalers. Fratelli Branca has an incredible track record of opening subsidiaries.
You can look at the business in Argentina, which opened in the early 1900s. If San Francisco is a hotspot for Fernet, take a trip down to Argentina and look at the consumption there — it’s a six-million nine-liter case brand in Argentina, the largest spirit consumed in the country.
The family obviously wanted to replicate some of that success in the United States. They opened the subsidiary in 2019, but ran directly into COVID, which was a significant challenge for an on-premise-focused business. I came in in 2022 just as they were emerging from that period, which was actually a really interesting time to join. We had some organic momentum, the on-premise was getting back to normal, and it allowed us to focus on identifying the priorities within the portfolio and figuring out where we could truly play to win. That’s effectively what we’ve done successfully over the last three years and what we’ll continue to do going forward.
Emmett Strack (15:49)
Let’s shift into some of the growth numbers for Branca USA, because it’s been really phenomenal. In 2025, Branca saw a 5% volume increase on Fernet, Borghetti exploded with 91% growth, and Carpano Antica Formula became the number one sweet vermouth by value in the retail channel.
I want to unpack some of the strategies you’ve implemented since coming into the role. You already mentioned one — understanding who the Fernet-Branca consumer was and transitioning the on-premise outlets you were targeting. What are some of the other key strategies you’ve implemented?
Chris Watt (16:32)
If I were to distill it down to three points, I’d say the first is that we landed very consistent drink and target account strategies across every single one of our focus brands. Consistency is so important when you’re dealing with distributors. If you go back every year and change your drink strategy, your account strategy, or your consumer strategy, you will create interference that undermines how effective that year is going to be in delivering your brand objectives.
The second was what we call our “pilot fish strategy.” We have a vermouth portfolio and a coffee liqueur called Borghetti — and these are conduits to the Perfect Manhattan and the Espresso Martini. We recognized an opportunity to partner with more traditional spirits brands within our distributor houses to develop programs for both retail and on-premise that deliver a total cocktail solution for the consumer and for the retailer. We’ve been very successful with that — partnering Antica Formula with Woodford Reserve, owned by Brown-Forman, or Four Roses, owned by Kirin, and similarly pairing Borghetti with brands like Tito’s and Deep Eddy for the Espresso Martini.
The third piece is creative solutions at the last three feet. You hear a lot of companies talk about above-the-line marketing — the Super Bowl ad — and that is incredibly important for big brands. But for a portfolio of our size, the majority of consumers are likely to engage at the point of purchase, whether that’s at the bar, on the menu, or in a retail environment. We’ve put a lot of thought into how we engage consumers in interesting, compelling ways to get them to take a chance on one of our brands — particularly for those conduit brands like Borghetti, Antica Formula, and Carpano Vermouth. Those three points really define the strategy for the brands we’re focused on building in the United States.
Emmett Strack (19:21)
That’s going to be really useful for anyone building brands. And when we talk about the pilot fish strategy in particular, it’s just so important for brands to create value within their distributor networks. That seems like a really creative, smart way to get that done. I can see how some brands might have ambivalence about partnering with the competition, but it’s ultimately about being creative within your distributor network to help generate attention and momentum. Where do you see the channel strategy for Borghetti and Carpano specifically? Did those brands, similar to Fernet, require a shift of emphasis when you came in?
Chris Watt (20:24)
Certainly from an on-premise standpoint, we applied the same exercises we did with Fernet-Branca to understand where the organic consumption was taking place. It was a bit more obvious just based on the fact that Manhattans and Espresso Martinis are consumed disproportionately in polished casual, fine dining, and luxury lodging versus the traditional sports bar environment.
So we looked to concentrate and break through with account targeting in the same way we did with Fernet, just within a different universe. When I came into the business, it was fundamentally an on-premise-focused company. My previous experience, however, was predominantly retail-focused, so I saw a real opportunity to diversify our channel mix — particularly with Antica Formula and Borghetti.
That pilot fish idea, partnering with traditional spirits brands to create total cocktail solutions, was really a catalyst for our explosive retail growth and the Nielsen numbers you spoke to. In particular, in the liquor chain channel, the floor space to execute a large Perfect Manhattan display featuring Antica Formula with Woodford, or a 30-second Espresso Martini display with Borghetti and Deep Eddy, was available to us. And the one thing that’s true about Branca’s portfolio is that the liquid quality is excellent. If you’ve had a Negroni or Manhattan made with Antica Formula, or an Espresso Martini made with Borghetti, you’re going to remember it. My task is to introduce these brands to consumers in a way that lets them evaluate the quality of the proposition, and I have a high degree of confidence that we have a lot of repeat purchasers, simply based on how good the liquid is.
Emmett Strack (22:37)
It must make your job so much easier. And Carpano is one of my favorite vermouths, for good reason. Let’s zoom in on Carpano just a bit, because the brand is sitting right at the heart of what many are calling a Vermouth Renaissance in the U.S. right now. We’re talking about a market that grew to 193 million cases in 2024, with steady growth projected at about 1% annually through 2035. What factors do you see propelling the category’s resurgence?
Chris Watt (23:11)
I think the first piece is that consumers have become much more comfortable and confident making cocktails at home, and there are a lot of classic cocktails that call for vermouth. And then on the on-premise side, what we’re seeing with Antica Formula — which is a $45 vermouth proposition — is that we are very widely available across the United States in retail. But what’s really interesting is that we’re seeing on-premise growth in markets like Atlanta, Charlotte, Phoenix, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh, where the craft cocktail scene is still expanding and Antica Formula is becoming the sweet vermouth of choice in the well at those types of outlets.
The cocktail scene is constantly evolving in the United States, but classic cocktails are very much in vogue. And again, because of the liquid quality, our history, and the fact that the bartending community is supporting the Branca portfolio — not just Fernet-Branca but also Antica Formula — we benefit as these new markets continue to expand their cocktail culture in the on-premise.
Emmett Strack (24:37)
Before we get further into Borghetti, I want to zoom in on your approach to data, because you’ve mentioned it a couple of times now — first in how you understood the Fernet-Branca consumer, and again with Carpano in profiling different markets. Can you speak to the importance of data in your approach and how brands can and should leverage it?
Chris Watt (25:07)
One thing that’s true about the U.S. is that data is available. If you’re a brand working with a distributor, you will be able to access account-level data in a very clean, uniform way — and that isn’t necessarily the case in every market I’ve worked in. There are certain European markets where data is much harder to come by. So my philosophy has always been: let’s see what we’ve got and make use of it.
If you really empower an analytics function to help shape both the marketing strategy and the commercial go-to-market strategy, what you end up with is a more effective distributor relationship and an account expansion where velocity starts to outpace distribution. That’s the kind of combination that really creates brand growth. For any entrepreneur, whether you’re launching in one individual market or one neighborhood, really look at the account-level data and pull the insights you need to understand what to change, what to lean into more, or which cluster of outlets might suggest the next market to expand into — so you can take the learnings from your launch market into your expansion markets. It’s incredibly powerful.
Emmett Strack (26:57)
Such a valuable insight. And we always preach on this show: win your home market first, then use those learnings as a framework for understanding the new markets you expand into. Let’s shift and talk about Borghetti, because that brand has had explosive growth, as we’ve alluded to. It sits within a coffee liqueur market that’s projected to grow about 4.6% annually, driven in large part by the success of the espresso martini — Google searches for which were up 34% year over year in 2024. What’s contributed to Borghetti’s ability to capture that tailwind?
Chris Watt (27:52)
I think Borghetti is working because it has a very differentiated proposition: it’s made in Italy with real espresso. That’s something we’ve really leaned into in a major way. Because of the liquid quality and the fact that it is distilled with real espresso, a consumer can make an Espresso Martini in 30 to 60 seconds with just two ingredients — vodka and Borghetti.
The Espresso Martini is one of the most popular cocktails in the country, but it’s also probably one of the cocktails consumers are most intimidated to make at home, because it requires brewing coffee or juggling multiple ingredients. Borghetti’s proposition is to simplify that process, and it has been a tremendously successful message for consumers in retail.
It’s also been tremendously successful for building volume within national on-premise accounts. You can only imagine the volume of espresso martinis being pushed out of some of the larger chains — a Cheesecake Factory, a Hard Rock Cafe. You need to be able to make a lot of them, quickly and consistently. Borghetti allows for a consistently excellent espresso martini every single time without the need for additional ingredients. Our on-premise partners have really supported the brand on that basis, and it’s been a tremendous lift to our on-premise volume.
Emmett Strack (29:58)
I’m sure bartenders are also grateful for that easy use case. There’s a running joke in the trade about receiving a ticket full of espresso martinis — they’re notoriously fiddly to make. So the value proposition of simplifying that is clearly a major factor.
We’ve talked about how your brand development has been driven by an organic, on-premise-first approach, but it’s 2026 and social media strategy is an important element of visibility and growth as well. Is there anything you’ve done in that arena that has helped facilitate the growth we’ve seen across the three main brands?
Chris Watt (30:48)
Certainly for Fernet, we use social media as a way to continue to build the community and allow that community to engage with the brand. Our engagement on Instagram for Fernet is off the charts compared to the industry average for drinks brands — and it’s driven by the fact that there is such a passionate fan base. Those fans want to engage with the content and with each other.
For Borghetti, the brand has less of an organic consumer base because, while it’s been around for 100 years, we’ve only really been building it in the U.S. over the last 24 months. So we partnered with a couple of influencers who have a significant audience on TikTok and Instagram — a couple called Carlo and Sarah. My view on influencers is that it only works if it’s a natural fit and feels organic. The reason it worked with them is that Carlo is Italian, knew Borghetti from home, and was already a fan of the brand. His wife loves espresso martinis. It was a completely natural fit, and it allowed us to create fun content that reached a wider audience and communicated that ease of use for people who wanted to make espresso martinis at home.
Social media is critically important for building any brand. The key is ensuring that your content makes organic sense, and that if you’re using influencers, it doesn’t feel forced or fake. That’s our guiding principle for any of the work we do with agencies in that channel.
Emmett Strack (33:04)
A common thread throughout this interview has been a real willingness to engage with partnerships — whether it’s the pilot fish program, influencers, or otherwise. How big a factor has that been in your success so far?
Chris Watt (33:22)
It’s been everything. From my standpoint, I always try to use limitations as a catalyst for new thinking — to view constraints not as constraints, but as opportunities to find breakthrough ideas.
Look, Branca is operating in categories that are tertiary to the mainstream — we don’t have a vodka, a gin, a tequila, or a whiskey. So partnering with a Brown-Forman and Woodford Reserve, or with Tito’s, allows us to access a much larger commercial organization — both in terms of salespeople and marketing resources — to deliver, for example, a national display program in total wine with a media component, or an on-premise campaign with one of our national account partners that has a charitable element.
That has been really successful, and honestly, it was unexpected. I didn’t walk into this job thinking that partnerships would become a core pillar of our strategy. But it has been a critical driver of the success of Antica Formula and Borghetti. I don’t think we would have delivered the growth trends you cited had we not engaged in those partnerships with what are effectively our competitors.
Emmett Strack (35:10)
It’s an amazing thing — knowing who you are, and knowing how that translates to the market. For you guys, a lot of that has meant partnerships and in-person activations. To pull that off, you need a really laser-focused team. I’m curious to hear a little bit about the team structure at Branca USA. What does the organization look like, and how does everyone come together around the data-driven approach you’ve described?
Chris Watt (35:39)
We have a fairly small organization — about 42 or 43 people in the United States at the moment. Someone once said to me: don’t worry so much about having the largest team; worry about having the best team and the best collaboration within that team. And that’s really what we’ve built.
I’m genuinely proud of my organization at Branca USA. We collaborate as a team, we celebrate success as a team, and I think people get to learn a lot in this company — probably more so than they would within a larger structure. I enjoy working with small teams to achieve big things. The other point is that you want to build your organization around the mission statement. And the mission statement for Branca USA is: we are going to build the next generation of power brands in bitters, vermouth, and coffee liqueur. That’s what we’re set on achieving over the next number of years.
When designing the organization with that mission in mind, I knew analytics would be a big piece of it, because I wanted to punch above our weight with distributor partners and customers — delivering insights and commercial roadmaps that are clear, concise, executable, and grounded in bite-sized, achievable goals. That analytics team has been critical to supporting our sales organization in building those plans and delivering them to our distributors.
From a marketing standpoint, we have a fantastic team. The level of focus they apply to the last three feet is exactly the same as the focus applied to the media campaign — and the way above-the-line and below-the-line pieces work together is absolutely critical. The agencies we’ve chosen to work with understand that and do the full book, not just the glitzy pieces that only a small number of consumers will ever see.
Chris Watt (38:06)
We will continue to grow both in terms of people and capability. But right now, we’ve achieved a lot with a lean but great organization. And that culture — that “we can if” thinking — has been a defining pillar of what we’ve built. When I came into the business, I really wanted everyone to feel like we can do anything. I essentially eliminated the phrase “we can’t” on the basis of not having enough money or not having market access, and instead encouraged people to think through the problem with a different mindset: “we can if.” Tell me what the “if” is, and if it’s within our gift, we’ll do it.
The success of this business is the team’s success collectively, not any one individual’s.
Emmett Strack (39:35)
And that’s so important — you can talk about business strategies all day long, but if the team culture isn’t right, you’re really only as good as the people around you. It’s really interesting to hear about you as a leader and how you’ve cultivated that “we can if” mindset.
I want to shift and talk about some of the broader shifts we’re seeing in the industry and hear how Branca USA is navigating them. One thing that’s on a lot of listeners’ minds is the significant change happening at the distribution tier. We’ve seen Reyes Beverage Group go from being a beer distributor to a total beverage solution provider, taking a significant slice of the spirits category. You guys recently transitioned to Reyes Beverage Group — can you walk us through why that made strategic sense?
Chris Watt (40:33)
We view every state as its own country. When you think about a market like California, Fernet — because of San Francisco and all the work done there 20 years ago — is our largest state volumetrically.
When you consider that we’re highly available in that market, particularly within the metros, and then ask how do you continue to grow, the insights are clear. We sell Fernet-Branca most strongly in accounts that are neighborhood bars and sports bars that sell a lot of beer. Those accounts, however, might not sell a lot of spirits or wine. What we generally found was that traditional spirits distributors were servicing some of those accounts through inside sales, while Reyes — based on the fact that it owns the majority of tap handles in the on-premise sector of California — was covering them through field reps.
We saw a real opportunity: if we can get a shot-and-beer occasion with Fernet cooking in a wider universe of accounts that have actual coverage from a sales rep going in and servicing those outlets, that’s a clear path to our next stage of growth with Fernet-Branca in California — which is probably one of our most saturated markets. That was really the thinking behind the transition to Reyes Beverage Group in that market.
Emmett Strack (42:21)
Everything really comes back to the data.
Chris Watt (42:25)
That’s exactly the point. It’s a market-by-market approach, Emmett. California and Pennsylvania — where you’re based — are very different. They’re different in terms of how the market is set up: you’ve got a control market in Philadelphia versus a very open market in California, and the consumers are different. That’s just the way we look at it.
Emmett Strack (42:52)
People socialize differently. People are drinking differently. And no two markets should be treated the same in the U.S.
I’m also curious to hear how you’ve dealt with the tariff uncertainty and macroeconomic headwinds we’re seeing right now. With Fratelli Branca being based in Italy, I’m sure there are supply chain and import considerations. How have you positioned Branca USA heading into 2026 to weather some of these challenges?
Chris Watt (43:29)
Trade is constantly evolving, and the market is constantly evolving. I try not to get too concerned about things outside of my control. It’s really about: what strategy are we going to deploy to ensure we don’t miss a beat?
Our analytics team was really helpful in that regard — helping me understand our price elasticity so we could assess the best way to weather some of these headwinds. It also prompted us to look carefully at our revenue growth management, identifying areas where we could re-strategize price builds and protect our position. We are fully exposed to tariffs given that all of our products are produced in Italy. But ultimately, you need to sit down, look at the price build, understand the impact, ask how you best protect your consumer base, how you avoid disrupting velocity, and where there are areas in the business where you can spend less and become more efficient. That’s what we did — as did a lot of other companies that worked their way through this without catastrophe.
Emmett Strack (45:06)
Did you utilize any specific strategies — like forward purchasing or bonded warehouses — to help ease the pressure on the consumer-facing price point?
Chris Watt (45:19)
Our operations team was working around the clock to ensure no disruption to supply and to keep things running as usual — and they did what they do best. In terms of our overall approach, we stayed extremely focused on the end goal: making our products more available, engaging more consumers across all 50 states. We asked how we do that while also accommodating changes to our P&L and the evolving trading practices between the EU and the United States. And we did that to the best of our ability.
Emmett Strack (46:11)
You’ve clearly done a great job maintaining that wide availability. It’s something every brand needs to keep a close eye on right now.
I want to zoom out just a bit and think about how Fernet, Carpano, and Borghetti interrelate from a leadership standpoint. What are some of the biggest strategic overlaps between these core brands as you take them to market? They’re obviously all positioned really well within their respective subcategories, but how do you think about managing the portfolio as a whole?
Chris Watt (46:53)
We have a really diversified portfolio despite operating in what are considered tertiary categories — vermouth, liqueur, flavored spirits, bitters. What I like about the shape of our portfolio is that Fernet-Branca operates within one universe: the neighborhood and sports bar set. That allows us to ensure very focused distributor attention on breaking through in that world with a very clear proposition.
And then we have a group of brands — Borghetti, Carpano, Antica Formula, Punt e Mes to a certain extent — that all operate within the same on-premise universe: polished casual, fine dining, and luxury lodging, as well as national accounts. That’s how we bifurcate our approach in the on-premise. And when it comes to retail, we actually have a Total Wine display going live in a few markets around the Winter Olympics, which will be a full Branca portfolio display. That’s where we can really start to pull the portfolio together as a house of brands.
Emmett Strack (48:12)
Really cool.
Chris Watt (48:21)
On-premise is really where we have that bifurcated strategy, and what that allows us to do is ensure clear periods of focus within our distributor and within specific teams at the wholesaler level, so we go and accomplish our goals. We don’t get caught in the minutiae of trying to hit an overall number. We’re very focused: deliver Fernet in this universe, deliver the rest of the portfolio in that universe. And to be honest, we’ve had a lot of success doing exactly that.
Emmett Strack (48:51)
It sounds like the brands are going to come together in some marketing techniques and go-to-market strategies, but ultimately it’s really about alignment of focus and how you approach each brand — which is really interesting. What does 2026 look like for Branca USA? You guys have done a great job positioning yourselves well. What are you most excited about for the year ahead?
Chris Watt (49:16)
2026 has started with a bang. It’s been a feverish couple of weeks in the industry. But I’m really bullish on the category and bullish on the bitters category specifically. The strategy we have in play for 2026 — which is really a continuation of the great work and foundation built over the last several years — will only continue to be better executed in the market. I expect we’ll see more availability of the Branca USA portfolio in the right accounts, engaging more consumers. We have a campaign that we’re just about to kick off around March Madness, which will be live in the Philadelphia market. So you may see some of our media as you’re walking around your neighborhood.
Emmett Strack (50:11)
Exciting!
Chris Watt (50:12)
We’ve got a lot of good things going on. We also have a brand relaunch in Q4 that my marketing team and I have been working on with a fantastic agency for the last 18 months. So there’s a lot coming, and I’m really excited about what 2026 will bring for this business.
Emmett Strack (50:37)
That’s really exciting. We’re seeing your full-circle marketing background come to bear on some major strategic decisions in the new year. And I’m always on the lookout for Fernet in my neighborhood, Chris — March Madness should be no different.
Chris Watt (50:50)
You’re a good man. We appreciate your support of the brand.
Emmett Strack (50:59)
I want to close by asking about the entrepreneurial angle — for people looking to start or grow spirits brands in 2026, what advice would you give them, based on everything you’ve learned throughout your career and what’s happening right now in the market?
Chris Watt (51:22)
The spirits market in 2026 is not the spirits market of 2021. It’s very different. From my perspective, the major strategic players are going to be focused this year on the breadwinners within their portfolios. I think that creates an opportunity for businesses like Branca USA to continue to take share within categories like vermouth, coffee liqueur, and bitters. I’m excited by that.
For entrepreneurs either launching a brand or thinking about doing so, the question I always ask — whether we’re considering a line extension or a new marketing concept — is this: Is it differentiated? And do we have a clear view of the consumer? Those are exactly the same questions we discussed at the top of the show: who is the target consumer, where are they, how are they consuming, and why? As long as you feel confident that you have a firm grasp on those answers, you’ll probably be successful.
That said, 2026 is not 2021. The big exits, the big multiples — all of that is a little harder to come by these days. And that will change. Markets are cyclical, and there are peaks and valleys in the spirits business as there are in any industry. But as long as you have a differentiated point of view in a category and real conviction around your consumer and how you’re going to engage them, you are going to be successful.
Emmett Strack (53:13)
Such great advice, and so important when formulating a spirits brand. The takeaway I keep coming back to from today is just how much emphasis you place on the use occasion and really knowing when that conversion point is going to happen for the consumer — that’s something every spirits brand owner should absolutely keep in mind.
And I and the entire Park Street University team are similarly optimistic about where the spirits category is heading in the years beyond, and totally agree on the cyclical nature of where we’re at right now. Chris, it has been a genuine honor and a pleasure having you on the podcast.
Thank you so much for joining us, and we’ll certainly keep in touch.
Chris Watt (53:58)
Thanks, Emmett. Appreciate it. Thank you again, and all the best.
Emmett Strack (54:05)
Absolutely. And just really quickly — where can listeners go to hear more from the brands?
What’s the best place to find you guys on social media?
Chris Watt (54:21)
Go check out our Instagram pages for Fernet-Branca, Antica Formula, and Borghetti — that’s where most of the news is happening at the brand level. And then from a corporate standpoint, BrancaUSA.com.
Emmett Strack (54:39)
Amazing. So many great insights. Thanks again, Chris.
Chris Watt (54:42)
Thank you, Emmett. All the best.