60 / 102
in the attic above his cigar shop in Moen, Belgium. He
enjoyed providing people with a genuine smoking expe-
rience, a passion that inspired his business and made his
cigars a hit among his customers. By 1936, demand for
his cigars was outpacing his staff’s ability to keep up and
the space he was working with, so he opened a small
cigar factory in the nearby village of Heestert.
Maurits Vandermarliere and his wife, Angèle, had eight
children. Four of his sons—Marcel, William, Frans and
Guido—and one of his sons-in-law, Raphaël Vercruysse,
joined his cigar business, then called Ets. Vandermarliere
NV. Each son had a different focus within the business,
from buying tobacco to production to focusing on sales. In
1965, Guido, the youngest son, had joined the business,
focusing on export and taking the business to the next lev-
el. With the early acquisitions of Neos Cigar in 1975 and
of the TAF factory in 1979, the company suddenly had
some brands to focus on, one of them being J. Cortès.
Guido worked on the branding of J. Cortès, which
was not a big seller and was viewed as an old-fashioned
product when it was acquired. Guido enjoyed leisure
and traveling, and, after a trip to the French Riv-
iera, was inspired by the pristine ocean’s crystal-blue
color and decided to apply it to the J. Cortès packag-
ing. Many in the cigar industry cautioned against this
move, saying that the blue color didn’t fit with the
industry’s typical brown, white, green and red color
schemes. Guido ignored the critics and carried on with
the branding. The blue was a hit with consumers and
helped the product stand out on the shelf, creating the
company’s first branding hit.
Guido continued to spearhead J. Cortès’ expan-
sion and growth. In 1986, the company opened Unit-
ed Tobacco Processing, a bobbin factory, in Sri Lanka.
Business picked up and allowed them to upgrade their
headquarters, which they moved to Zwevegem-Moen.
J. Cortès had almost 2,000 employees worldwide and
a strong presence in Belgium, Italy, France, Spain and
the Netherlands, and their products were available in 80
countries. Business was good, but the company was not
done expanding and growing. In 2005, Guido, like his
father had before him, looked to his own son, Frederik,
to help take the company into the future.
LESSONS LEARNED
Coming into a company with almost 80 years of histo-
ry could be intimidating, but Frederik Vandermarliere
wasn’t entering an unfamiliar business. This was a busi-
ness defined and shaped by generations of entrepreneurs
who also happen to be family members.
“The strongest part of a family business is the family,
but [that] can be the weakest part at the same time,”
notes Frederik Vandermarliere, who says his father and
his career are what motivate him today. While he cur-
rently holds the CEO role, the family plays a big part in
the decision-making. Just as with earlier generations, the
family invests its money in other ventures, including real
estate and even a cookie company—but everything goes
back to cigars.
“We now have a cookie company that is more than
130 years old that has a lot of heritage, a lot of passion—
J. Cortès
Continued
(from left to right) Guido and Frederik Vandermarliere
[ 56 ]
TOBACCO BUSINESS
[
SEPTEMBER
/
OCTOBER
|
17 ]