#138, Robert "RFR" Furniss-Roe, co-founder of Samson & Surrey, board member at Filthy Foods, OG liquor baron

Robert's a swashbuckling figure even by liquor biz standards: son of a fighter pilot, he grew up in England, set up a chain of radio stations across Europe in his youth, ran an agency, then slipped sideways into the liquor biz (armed only with a degree in languages) and climbed the greasy pole at Bacardi for 26 years, ending up as CEO of North America, after stints running the business in Moscow and Asia, among others. 

In 2015, with another Bacardi refugee, Juan Rovira, RFR founded Samson & Surrey, a craft brand incubator which acquired Tequila Ocho, Mezcal Vago, Bluecoat Gin, Widow Jane whiskey, FEW whiskey and Brenne whisky and then applied RFR & Juan's expertise to grow the brands, before Samson & Surrey was itself acquired by Heaven Hill in 2022. 

(Full disclosure: RFR & Juan were both still running Samson & Surrey in May 2023, when they hired Mrs Duff to be their head of advocacy). 

We've had a quick drink together here and there but I've wanted to have a longer chat for ages, and we finally managed to plan it in - not easily, as, by his own admission, RFR sucks at being retired and is working harder than ever, helping (among other things) Filthy Foods grow. 

We chatted about marketing, NPDs, what's changed in the liquor biz, the fallacy of research, Dick Bradsell's branding genius, why packaging rules, and a whole lot more. Enjoy!

RFR on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-furniss-roe-418136 

RFR's email:  robert_furnissroe@hotmail.com 

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