Ventura Cigar Company has just announced the restructuring of its national sales organization in advance of new FDA regulations expected to hit the tobacco industry in the coming months.
In a press release today, the company noted:
“In a continually evolving environment, Ventura Cigar Company, through Kretek International remains a strong and profitable company and will continue to deliver high quality products and service to our valued consumers and customers.”
Michael Giannini, General Manager of Ventura Cigar Company also stated:
“Making tough decisions has kept Kretek International strong throughout the decades, and I commend the company for recognizing the changing market landscape and taking necessary steps to remain an industry leader. We are grateful for the contributions of our employees and wish everyone well as they continue their journeys.”
News of this broke last Friday and I reached out to Mr. Giannini who explained the company and its parent company Kretek International is going through a restructuring to reduce costs so they can comply with the FDA regulations in 2020. They recognize that the cost of compliance is well beyond a million dollars and they needed to do a reduction in force to account for this cost. Michael’s team was reduced by about 6 people and each department went through a similar reduction. It told me it was a very hard decision to make and those that were let go received severance packages.
Ventura is still in business and will be front and center at TPE 2020 in January. The company will be looking at their portfolio of products and make the smart business decision as to what will stay based on the cost of compliance.
For more information about Ventura Cigar Company, please visit venturacigar.com.