Ambition, diversity, responsibility : three keywords are displayed at the entrance to Isautier headquarters, in Saint-Pierre. They do not alone sum up “the start-up spirit” that the almost bicentennial company cultivates., but are part of it. At Isautier, everyday life is nourished, in addition to team spirit, of an “atmosphere” to use the expression of the two leaders of the group, Jérôme Isautier, president and CEO, and Cyril Isautier, Deputy Managing Director and Director of the Beverages division. One hundred and eighty years after his birth, Isautier appears as a model of creativity and daring, but thoughtful and lucid, drawing its energy from unfailing loyalty to Reunion Island. During its long history, the island's oldest business has had its ups and downs, but she never gave up. The last of its highs propelled it into the big leagues of the spirits market with its famous Arrangé. It’s a pleasure to hear the great journey of the Arrangé Isautier range recounted by the two pilots of the ship. This year, the house enjoys another success, of esteem and prestige this time, with the Agent Double range, which earned him worldwide recognition. Isautier had the idea of ​​creating a new type of white rum, first by blending molasses and agricultural rums, Then, pushing innovation further, by achieving the technical feat of co-fermenting the two raw materials. The start, a few weeks ago, by Fizz, a range of light, ready-to-drink cocktails based on fruit and rum in 25 cl cans, once again constitutes a first on the rum market. And this production, like all the previous ones, is 100% pei. Now structured into three divisions (Isautier Drinks, Isautier Agriculture, Isautier Heritage and Promotion), Isautier is now writing a new page in its history by implementing an investment and growth strategy to gain strength and resources.. But still in this same state of mind, as Jérôme and Cyril Isautier explain to us…

Meeting Leader : You belong to the seventh generation of the ruling family of a historic house. Isautier celebrated its 180th birthday in style on October 4. How did you feel that evening? ?

Jérôme Isautier : In my opinion, this strong moment marked a milestone in the history of a house that has spanned the ages. I experienced two phases during this event. The same evening, above all, I felt a collective energy, that of passionate people, involved, smiling, proud, attached to their profession and to Reunion. A sense of community : employee community, community also of our partners. Then the next day, I had the feeling of duty accomplished towards these seven generations who preceded us. I felt that this story continues to be written collectively.
Cyril Isautier : Flaunting success can seem a little pretentious. More, when we look objectively at our history, It is clear that it is quite impressive. In this united team, motivated, who stayed until one in the morning, there was testimony to the atmosphere that we managed to create and maintain in the group.

Maison Isautier has diversified greatly over its long history.. She has always evolved. She went through difficult times. Can we say that it is today that she is enjoying her greatest success? ?

J.I. : The history of our company is made of cycles. In the 1960s, For example, Isautier was an extremely important group in Réunion. It employed 800 employees. He had several jobs. It was the period of departmentalization. Everything was developing in Reunion. Isautier participated in this development. Our luck, is that our ancestors were true entrepreneurs, aware of their responsibility towards the territory. They made mistakes, more, with hindsight, we see that they have developed a very important business. This company experienced a decline in the 1970s, when the era of mass distribution brought national competition to the Reunion market. We had a hard time resisting. We experienced difficult times where we could have even lost the business. We started to slowly climb back up during the 1990s, until 2010. Then we experienced the strong acceleration from 2010 to 2023, thanks to the Arranged range. Since 2023, we are once again experiencing very strong competition, especially in mainland France, very large groups of spirits. We are now entering a new phase, a new period of investment to prepare for the medium and long term. Our history is therefore made up of cycles. Thanks to her, we have acquired a sense of responsibility and security that makes us vigilant and cautious for generations to come. This is why we don't put all our eggs in one basket.

C.I. : We knew how to reinvent ourselves, sometimes in difficulty, but always in motion. Our current trajectory is solid, we are structured, clear about our ambitions. Despite everything, we remain an overseas SME, therefore by nature fragile. Our goal is to become stronger and, for that, we need the ambition to grow. We are working on it.

Women played, and continue to play, an essential role in the life of the Isautier group in management or operating functions. A unique case in Reunion, and certainly uncommon in France. Is this aspect important to highlight? ?

J.I. : It's important, but we do not theorize the subject. If we have a lot of women in very important positions, it’s only because they are the best in these positions, quite simply. Marie Ferrand, our cellar master, in production, is the nose behind our rums, blanc, brown and old. Louise Bouilloux, our R manager&D, is the nose behind our other productions. We also have an administrative and financial director, a human resources director, a quality director, a director and a scientific manager at La Saga du Rhum. The balance and diversity of profiles make our company strong and vibrant. We are proud that they work for us, but gender as such is not a subject for us. What matters, these are the skills, energy, the work, the atmosphere created at work…

Can we trace the history of the Arrangé ?

J.I. : It all started from a reflection on our profession. Pleasure job, of conviviality, joy of living, festive consumption. Of course also responsibility. After our most difficult years, As I said, we started investing again and we hired an assistant director, Danièle Lenormand, in 2000. The general climate at the time was rather “no sugar”,
no salt, no fat ». We said to ourselves : let's invent a product that symbolizes the joy of living. With powerful tastes. But these first arranged rums were a little difficult to drink at room temperature. Then came the little stroke of genius of freezing.. We stored our tests in a freezer, and freezing produced a kind of aromatic fusion which softened the perception of taste, especially alcohol and sugar. The frosted consumption combined with the different ingredients. This is how our final concept of arranged rum was born..

C.I. : Our arranged rums are anything but a marketing invention : it is the modern reinterpretation of historic local know-how. This tradition dates back to the time of the route to India, when the boats of the Compagnie des Indes went to look for spices in India and stopped on their way back to Bourbon Island, the old name of Reunion. The rum-spice mixture gave birth to arranged rum. We have transposed this gesture into a logic of quality, of regularity and of purely Reunionese origin. The innovation also lies in the gourmet nature of the product. Homemade arranged rums are often quite dry. We made them tastier, following the example of Arrangé Banana Flambée, our bestseller which has made us successful in mainland France.

Is the craze for Arrangé Isautier still as strong in France? ?

J. I. : Spirits, alcohol, are doing badly in France. Rum is also in trouble at the moment. Only one category is doing a little better : arranged rums. More, with 0% to 3% growth per year, this is no longer the dynamic we knew. We have reached a plateau and market saturation. Around a hundred brands in France are positioned in this category, including private labels. The prosperous period of Arrangé is behind us rather than in front of us. Nevertheless, the market remains important, the range remains a great success for us.

Benjamin Boulanger, operations manager, in the middle of the maceration tanks, stage of the manufacture of Arrangé Isautier. To the right, overview of the aging cellar where the rums are aged. Below : the distillation column and the bottling workshop with a capacity of 3 million bottles per year.

Are other countries succumbing to Arrangé Isautier? ?

C.I. : Markets bordering France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, where there is a French community that moves. We have also recently been in Quebec, where the French-speaking community is very important, where many Metropolitans and Reunion Islanders live. Beyond, it is utopian to believe that an SME like ours has the means for an international ambition like the success of our Arrangé in mainland France. The spirits market is a market of large groups, which requires a huge investment in communication and marketing. Our Arrangés worked because they are exceptional products, but also thanks to the Reunionese diaspora and the metropolitan tourists who brought them back to France, which continues to be the case.

J.I. : As a brand, Isautier is present in 25 countries. But developing a market remains, for an SME like ours, painstaking work requiring a lot of will and patience. Every time we participate in a trade fair abroad, consumers love our products. More, as Cyril says, the road to market is extremely complicated. The problem is not how to please consumers, but how to access consumers. However, our objective is to produce volumes allowing the company to develop and support hundreds of people..

White rums, bruns, vieux, Arranged, Sweetness of Arranged, Arhumatic, Agent Double, fresco of Reunion Island… How many references carry the colors of Isautier today ?

C.I. : We currently have 49 different references in production, belonging to eight ranges. Our eighth range has just been released : the Fizz Isautier, light ready-to-drink cocktails, based on rum, tropical fruits and sparkling water, in 25 cl cans. It’s another modern reinterpretation of one of our ancestral know-how. We bottled Reunion Island, we now put it in a can ! The aluminum can, 100 % recyclable, lighter and more environmentally friendly than glass, includes a CSR dimension. A modern company must integrate this type of response to market needs.

J.I. : With the Fizz, we are pursuing the import-substitution ambition of grandfather Isautier by recreolizing the aperitif. We show that it is possible to have fun with a local low-alcohol product. With this trendy drink, we offer a Reunion creation that meets international standards of hygiene and food safety, thanks to a cutting-edge production line which places the company among the modern references in the preparation of drinks. Isautier affirms his ambition here : delivering tropical excellence in every sip.

You were talking about the decline in spirits consumption. It is particularly evident among young people. Does this development worry you in the long term? ?

C.I. : The spirits market has performed very well over the last fifteen years. It's been two, three years it has become much more difficult. Does this decline worry us? ? Not really. This downward trend is real, but not necessarily negative. This is the underlying trend of what we call no-low, less or no alcohol. This is a generational change. It's up to us to find, among our know-how, those that enable us to respond to this trend.

J.I. : We love this phrase : “When it’s windy, the pessimists close the shutters and the optimists build windmills. " We, we build mills. By that I mean that people consume less, but better : we also see it in Reunion. This is what pushes us to innovate again with a product like Fizz. Here we renew our know-how of mixtures. Without forgetting that responding to a market trend is a medium term matter : between the idea of ​​a product and its launch on the market, it may take three or four years, even more.

Isautier is at the origin of another major innovation : co-fermentation and blending of white agricultural rums and molasses. She gave birth to the Agent Double range. Doesn’t this innovation create, her too, a new category in the world of rum ? Is it copied by other brands like Arrangé ?

C. I. : Others are actually starting to do the same thing.. In Reunion and mainland France. A company producing cognac, gin and rum in Barbados has just released a rum mixed with molasses and agricole. But it is better, in our opinion, to be followed as a follower.

J.I. : We don't create categories for the sake of creating categories. Agent Double started from a simple idea, but technically complex. We have combined agricultural rum and molasses rum to create a unique organoleptic profile. This marriage gave birth to our Agent Double 01 and 02. We then pushed the cursor further by carrying out a co-fermentation between molasses and cane juice to create our Double Fusion Agent. These are products that shake up the codes on the white rum market. Recognized in France and worldwide, this innovation was born in Reunion, and we are very proud of it. Agent Double Fusion has just obtained the highest distinction – the Diamond prize – from the French Drinks Awards 2025, the competition for the best French spirits. We are working on small volumes with this exceptional product which highlights the know-how of Marie Ferrand and the teams supporting the deployment of the reference. It is a success of esteem. Agent Double helps build the Isautier brand, to make it known and recognized and to highlight the specificity of Reunion rum.

November 28, 2023, the inauguration of the extension of the Arrangé production factory provided the opportunity to present a new structuring of the group between the Isautier Agriculture divisions, Isautier Drinks and Isautier Heritage and Promotion. You are now announcing the construction of a new headquarters, doubling the capacity of your cellar, the creation of a fourth pole, Isautier Tourism, all driven by the desire to become a mid-sized company. What happened this year that motivates you for the future? ?

C. I. : We were talking about it earlier : we are too small a company to afford to stagnate. You have emphasized this several times : as soon as we invent something that is successful, we are immediately copied, especially by groups that are much stronger than us. To resist, we need to gain muscle. This is why we seek to grow. Will it be easy ? Certainly not. We have no shortage of ideas and projects to grow. Which ones will work best and fastest? ? We don't know, but we must launch different avenues. It's a necessity. Our economic successes for the years 2018-2023 come from investments made around 2010 : product creation, investment in machinery, investment in marketing.

J. I. : A business has a duty to grow, to hire, to invest. What drives us and will always drive us, it’s Reunion. What motivates us is summed up by the three key words of our group : ambition, diversity and responsibility. We must be ambitious and diversify responsibly, for our consumers and for the planet. We are a family business in its seventh generation, which has a long past and which almost died precisely because at one time it had diversified too much. This past allows us to know what is important to do and what to avoid to find sources of future growth.

Opened in 2008, just renovated, the La Saga du Rhum museum highlights the history of Reunion rum and the entrepreneurial heritage of Maison Isautier. To the right : Antoine Isautier, director of the Isautier Heritage and Promotion division. Below : the group operates 500 hectares of agricultural land, mainly in sugar cane and cattle breeding.

Have you planned the steps that will take you from 110 to 250 employees?, the workforce threshold of an ETI ?

J. I. : Our development plan covers the period 2026-2030. With this plan, we project ourselves into the future. NOW, external contingencies can cause it to evolve, particularly if the government persists in its idea of ​​shifting most of the budgetary effort to businesses.

C. I. : For five years, the crises follow one another. If we wait until a crisis is over to start thinking about what we can do, we will never do anything. It is a challenge that requires an organization that is both flexible and strong and a voluntary state of mind.. The three key words of the group I was talking about are intended to put us in this state of mind, to convince ourselves that we will be stronger together than alone.

Isautier Agriculture launches into agrivoltaism. What project is this? ?

J. I. : Our goal is to preserve and make the most of our agricultural land heritage.. By allowing different cultures, fruit type or other. But we also want to contribute to the production of energy in Reunion thanks to photovoltaics.. To give you an example, we are currently developing a vertical photovoltaic panel project with TotalEnergies. This will be a first in Reunion. Between these vertical panels, we will grow hay, grass in need of sun. We have other projects. We have 500 hectares of land, including 320 hectares of sugar cane. Combining agricultural tradition and energy transition, knowing that the productions will not at all be on the same scale. If we make 20 hectares of photovoltaics, it will be good.

November 28, 2023, you also mentioned the creation of the Bérive distillery and a brand of agricultural rums produced from proprietary canes. Where is this project? ?

C. I. : This distillery began its distillations in July. Very promising beginnings. We love the juices that come out of it, but we are not yet at the end of our organoleptic experiments. Marie Ferrand works with the distillery operations team to start with the best possible white rum. I am hopeful that before the end of the sugar campaign, so before the end of December, we will have identified the perfect juice. If everything goes well, we will be able to present our first bottles of white rum at the end of next year. However, the vast majority of what will be produced will be aged for five to ten years., knowing that white rum must first rest in vats for a year before being put into barrels. The Bérive distillery is an example of a long-term project. We hope to be able to open distillery tours in the future, with our hotel project. We have the precedent of the success of the La Saga du Rhum museum, which should welcome 75,000 visitors this year. He received 72,000 in 2024. The museum has just had a makeover, he is doing very very well.

Student residences, future Pierrefonds business park, Kerval ensemble at Roland-Garros airport… With Isautier Patrimoine et Promotion, what are your ambitions in real estate ?

J. I. : The Heritage and Promotion division was initially content to manage the family heritage. We made donations in payment. That is to say, we were selling land, a partner built the building and we recovered, instead of money, the economic ground floor, that we rent. We thus began to constitute an economic property. Our first major real estate project dates from 2008 : co-promotion with the Bâtisseurs de Bourbon group. We discovered the profession of promoter. We then brought in external investors, while maintaining control, to be able to operate on larger surfaces. In 2019, our cousin Antoine Isautier took over the management of the Heritage and Promotion division with, for mission, to continue to develop the commercial ground floor and position ourselves in corporate real estate and student housing. We want to invest in structuring equipment, such as business incubators. We are participating in the creation of the Pierrefonds economic activity park. We currently rent 220 student accommodations. With current projects, our stock should reach 560 housing units fairly quickly. Two new residences will be delivered by 2027.

How do you see your 181st year, namely 2026 ?

C. I. : The Isautier group is like a 180-year-old start-up, whose history is written over decades, but where every day is a new beginning. In 2026, we will continue to act and prepare for the future because this is our permanent state of mind.