Our exclusive emphasis on quality began in Santiago de Cuba in 1862, when founder Don Facundo Bacardí Massó was inspired to create rum, as we know it today. His quest and that of his descendants for unmitigated excellence has consistently manifested itself throughout the Company's history.
Since then, the Company has grown to include an impressive portfolio of premium spirits: BACARDI rum, GREY GOOSE vodka, DEWAR'S Blended Scotch whisky, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE gin, ERISTOFF vodka, CAZADORES tequila and MARTINI vermouth. In addition, the Company has more than 200 brands and labels. Most recently, we added 42 BELOW vodka, New Zealand's fastest growing exporter and fastest growing company overall.
Bacardi is the men and women of the extended Bacardi family of professionals. Around the globe, we employ more than 6,000 people, who are guardians of a tradition of excellence dating back more than 145 years. It is not hard to envisage founder Don Facundo extolling the need for excellence to his eldest sons, Emilio and Facundo, with whom he ran the business.
Bacardi is the markets we serve. Bacardi Limited, through its affiliates, has operations around the world, cemented by the enduring quality of our products and the reputation we have worked so hard to earn and maintain. We respond to the changing needs of individual markets in each one of those countries.
Bacardi is the systems and processes through which we achieve excellence. We like to think that our founder, Facundo Bacardí Massó, would have heartily approved of the complex equipment Bacardi uses around the world. He was, after all, an inventor, always looking for ways to improve his products.
Bacardi is the companies through which we operate. Bacardi chairman Manuel Jorge Cutillas understood that when, in 1992 he merged five independent companies into one strong and powerful company named Bacardi Limited.
Bacardi is the environments in which our products are produced and our companies administered. It is said that we spend more time in our offices than we do in our homes; perhaps that is why we think of the Bacardi buildings as "home" and welcome so many visitors to our architectural treasures.
