Your name:  Bill Lombardo, CEO of Monin Americas

Year the company was started:  1912

Where are the products made: Clearwater, Florida, USA and Sparks, Nevada, USA.

What is the ‘key ingredient’ that makes your product line special? 

Our key ingredient is our passion for quality – providing innovative, clean label flavourings made with the highest quality ingredients and full-service support beyond the bottle including recipes, trends, and merchandising materials. 

How did the company start and what was the motivation to create the products that we see today? 

Monin Gourmet Flavourings was founded in Bourges, France in 1912.  It is a third generation family-owned and operated company, with the fourth generation now running the business! The company has grown from selling flavoured syrups in a cart and buggy in the early 20th century, to now providing a wide range of flavouring products including syrups, sauces, and purées to over 150 countries around the world! 

A passion for offering true-to-nature flavourings, plus an understanding of global trends and consumer desires motivates the innovation of Monin products in the market today. 

What are your company’s core values?

• We have a passion and commitment to quality and never compromise on our standards.  
• We strive to exceed customer expectations. 
• We facilitate professional and personal development, maintaining a safe work environment that rewards teamwork. 
• We encourage a sense of urgency but require careful thought and safety in everything we do. 
• We believe in being personally responsible and accountable to each other. 
• We are dedicated to environmental and social responsibility. 
• We have pride in our history but continually encourage innovation by all team members. 

If you could tell a retailer three things about what makes your brand different, what would they be?

1. We are the industry leader of clean label flavouring solutions, meaning our products are made with no artificial flavours, colours, preservatives, or anything we deem unacceptable such as high fructose corn syrup. 
2. We offer products to fit health-driven lifestyles, including 3 zero sugar solutions: Sugar Free Syrups, Natural Zero Syrups, and Concentrated Flavours. 
3. Our products are extremely versatile. Most can be used in everything from flavouring coffee, iced tea, lemonades, sodas, cocktails, milkshakes, even water! They also work great in culinary creations from breakfast (try flavouring plain yogurt) to dessert (use our sauces to top your favorite ice cream). Hundreds of recipes can be found on Monin.com. The possibilities are truly endless.   
4. Although we take pride in the quality of our products and hold them to the highest of standards, our focus is really on people, both internally and externally. The end user is always at our center point, assuring our decisions are made with their best interests in mind. 

What are some of the challenges that you’ve overcome to bring your business to its current state?

Like many companies, the last couple of years certainly proved challenging. We felt a major decline in sales in April 2020 as our main clientele, restaurants and coffee shops, were forced to close. But, we got creative, quickly shifting to produce hand sanitizer, which was donated to local schools and first responders, which allows us to retain all staff. We also created a line of HomeCrafted Cocktail Mix (just add alcohol) for restaurants to provide easy take-out and delivery beverages.  It’s really been our ability to quickly adapt and innovate that has allowed us to overcome challenges of any kind over the years!

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Bill enjoys spending time with his family, especially outdoors while cycling, running, or hiking.