French Lactalis remained in Russia due to obligations to consumers

The owner of the French concern Lactalis (brands President, Parmalat, “White City” and others) “did not doubt for a second” about the decision to continue working in the Russian market after the start of a special military operation, since he has obligations to consumers and employees. Alina Safinina, General Director of the Lactalis Group in Russia, spoke about this at the New Year’s meeting of the closed women’s club “Kommersant” “Values ​​and responsibility: how the company’s mission and its DNA are revealed”.

“There is such a thing – a point of difference, the difference between a brand and its analogues. This is a rather subtle marketing setting that few people master. It is well developed in our company. Our mission globally sounds like “Nursing the future” – “taking care of the future.” This is well connected with high-quality dairy products, as well as with the fact that the company is family-owned, it does not go public, there is no pressure from shareholders, managers in each region have freedom of action to build their strategic brands for the long term, something we have already done a lot in Russia We have been doing this for years,” explained Ms. Safinina. “In this difficult political situation, the owner did not doubt for a second that he had obligations to consumers and employees in our country, and therefore we continue to work safely and enjoy his support.”

Let us recall that after the start of the SVO, hundreds of foreign companies stopped work in Russia. The French dairy giant Danone first announced the suspension of investment projects, and then its intention to reduce its presence in Russia. As a result, in July 2023, President Vladimir Putin transferred foreign shares in the Russian structure of the company to the temporary management of the Federal Property Management Agency.

How companies that left the Russian Federation protect their brands in the country – in the material “These are difficult names”.