Launching a new company is a significant challenge, a big part of which is making sure that what you promise gets delivered and that there are no weak links in the chain from announcement to launch to follow-up. The steps have to be exactingly measured and executed near flawlessly, more so than proverbially crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s. 2015 wasn’t a year of numerous new companies entering the market, and by the middle of the year two companies—Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust and Foundation Cigar Co.—quickly emerged as contenders for this award. NEW COMPANY OF THE YEAR: FOUNDATION CIGAR CO. While both made solid debuts this year, it was an outstanding execution at seemingly every turn that earned Nicholas Melillo’s Foundation Cigar Co. the new company of the year award with a unanimous vote. When Melillo left Drew Estate in May 2014, there was no doubt he would return to the cigar industry, and in June 2015 he announced the launch of Foundation Cigar Co. A month later he announced his first line—El Güegüense—and just about three weeks after that showed it off to the cigar industry at the 2015 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, complete with ...
↧