In the course of 25 years, Asiaeuro Group has grown from its origins as a wine distributor, into a regional player of substantial heft, with business ties across 21 countries, representing 93 brands in the present day and offering over 3,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) to its diverse clientele of retailers, restaurants hotels, and direct consumers.
Its CEO, Jonathan Chow has seen much of Asiaeuro’s evolution which has included expansion into Singapore, Hong Kong and China. Consider that, in 1999, Asiaeuro was founded at a time when Bill Clinton was the President of the United States, Cher’s Believe and TLC’s No Scrubs dominated the radio waves, and the digital world was fretting about the Y2K bug. Since then, Asiaeuro’s continual expansion has seen the company traverse the globe to source the best and most interesting wines, spirits and cigars from far-flung markets such as South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Cuba and Bulgaria in addition to France, Japan, Scotland and the United States.
View more photos of the event
At Asiaeuro’s recent glittering silver anniversary celebrations that took place at Sunway Resort Hotel, a guest attendance of approximately 880 were present, including principals representing the various brands distributed by Asiaeuro. In this cavernous ballroom, the guests were regaled by the dulcet and jazzy renditions of The Shang Sisters and later witnessed the show-stopping feats of seven times lion dance world champions Khuan Loke dragon and lion dance association. They then feasted on delicacies such as the Monk Jump Over The Wall, slow-braised abalone and Canadian Lobster salad with choice libations including a Tesseron Lot N76 1ER cognac in magnums.
Also in the mix were choice glimpses of limited Asiaeuro 25th anniversary editions, created and bottles specially to celebrate this milestone by some of Asiaeuro’s partners; Chateau Confidence wine, Saito Super Premium Junmai Daiginjo, GlenAllachie 2006 Single Cask – Oloroso Puncheon in an Asiaeuro 25th Anniversary Bottling, Old Pulteney 2009 Single Cask and the Balblair 2007 Single Cask #390.
View more of the limited Asiaeuro 25th anniversary editions
For Chow, the journey in itself, has been one which has been anchored on Malaysia values of friendliness, warmth and enterprise. He looks back (and forwards) at the group’s journey which has been a mirror of the growing wines and spirits connoisseurship in this part of the world, one which has seen Asiaeuro as a continuous presence in the market.
What did it take to arrive at 25 years?
A lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears and of course, good luck. When the founders of the company, Messrs Her, Toh & Wong started Asiaeuro in 1999 and decided to import wines for the Malaysia market, what they were really doing was trying to change the course of Malaysian drinking culture. At that time, most people drank beer and brandy at wedding functions so the concept of serving wines in nice glassware was considered innovative.
Your most memorable highlights these years?
I have so many fond memories of my time in the Asiaeuro Group but the top three are:
- 2017/18 – Turning crises into opportunity when Beam Suntory and Asiaeuro parted ways in China and then initiating and leading the M&A with Thaibev so that our business could continue as Asiaeuro International Beverage in China and HK. That project lasted a year and a half before the AIB JV was born in Sep 2018.
- 2019 – Entering the luxury cigar business by developing the first Cohiba Atmosphere Kuala Lumpur as an independent licensee. With that move, we set up a holding company Mighty Milestones and went straight into the cigar distribution business expanding our cigar portfolio beyond Cuban into New World cigar brands such as Davidoff, Atabey, Byron, Diamond Crown and Aladino.
- 2024 – working closely with the young organising committee for this year’s Asiaeuro 25th Anniversary celebration.
How will Asiaeuro retool and evolve itself to face the challenges of market conditions?
The markets across Asia have changed considerably post Covid. During Covid, people couldn’t travel or spend their money and hence they bought a lot of wines and spirits for home consumption. Hence there was a boom when consumers and online retailers stocked up and bought a lot of wines and spirits in anticipation of short supply.
Now that markets have opened up, new challenges like China’s property crises, wars and weakening economies across South East Asian markets have emerged. Add this depressing mix to the overhang of wines and spirits stocks and you can immediately see why people have been buying and drinking less. But with every crises comes opportunity. Asiaeuro had already started evolving during Covid, moving from a company focused on just wines and spirits and turning into a lifestyle company with a much wider range of offerings such as gourmet coffee, fine table water, fruit juices and premium hand-rolled cigars.
Our marketing strategies have also changed, social media is a big part of that and direct-to-consumer brand initiatives which influences consumers at the grassroots level gives Asiaeuro more meaningful connections to customers. As a marketing and distribution company, our mission today is about “We Make Brands Famous”.
What are you most excited about in the coming years?
As an independent player in Malaysia and Singapore, we already have one of the most exciting portfolios of lifestyle brands that stretch across the categories of wines, spirits, sake, shochu, fine dining water & quality sodas, premium drinking glassware, gourmet coffee, premium cigars and cigar accessories. The next step is ensuring that we get the benefit of all these exciting brands in synergy and our teams collaborating in sync to excite the next generation of consumers.
What does succession look like – do you already have next in line for all markets?
We are working on this as we speak. The next generation of talent is different from ten years ago and we understand that talent today requires a purpose and meaning to their career. It is not so easy as Asiaeuro is not a multinational entity with options for cross posting and developmental roles. For our current business size, we only have the Malaysia and Singapore markets and therefore, the talent development strategy is tailored to our present stage. However, I am very hopeful as I work directly with many of these high potential employees in our company. Many of them have developed skills sets that can extend well beyond their current roles. And when the time is right, and our organisation expands further, these hi-pots can be deployed quickly.
What is the vision of the future?
Our company founders are clear to me in that they do not want their second generation in the business. Their aim is to keep Asiaeuro run by professionals. However, the Asiaeuro culture still has to be distinctly Malaysian; warm, friendly and entrepreneurial. That is our unique strength. I have kept this in mind as I work on various strategies to ensure that Asiaeuro can perpetuate herself beyond the founders and myself.
At the end of the day, what do you crave most?
I travel often in my role and still spend long hours outside when back home in Singapore as the nature of our business is very much people oriented and done face-to-face. During the weekends, I really enjoy spending time with my family whether it’s bonding over a meal or just catching up. I also have close friends from school and my previous jobs and it is always a joy to catch up with them over coffee. I do not spend any time on golf but instead exercise daily with an hour of brisk walking followed by muscle strengthening exercises. These are what makes me whole and recharges me for work.
Your most valuable piece of advice to your younger self?
To be patient, to be more accepting of others shortcomings and to be more forgiving when others transgress.
Courtesy of Asiaeuro Group with additional photography by Marcus Wong / MV Perspective
Cover image: Jonathan Chow, group CEO of Asiaeuro Group
