Philippe Stassen

Philippe Stassen joined the family business in 1982 and has built a career spanning more than forty years in the beverage industry. He has been involved in the various stages of development of the Stassen cidery, including its partnership with the British group HP Bulmers in the 1990s, followed by its evolution within international groups.

In the 1990s, he played a key role in the company’s investment in vacuum dealcoholisation, initially applied to cider. This technical expertise, developed at a time when the alcohol-free market was still relatively unstructured, would later pave the way for new developments in alcohol-free beverages.

Following the sale of the cidery, Philippe Stassen continued his entrepreneurial journey around the brands he had helped develop. In 2014, he founded Neobulles with his daughter Anne Stassen, with the ambition of building and developing beverage brands in Belgium and internationally.

Today, as CEO of Maison 1895, he supports the development of the company, its brands and its activities across more than 50 countries, while continuing to pass on a family expertise spanning five generations.

Forty years in the beverage industry — from an artisanal cidery to negotiations with international groups — have given Philippe Stassen a distinctive expertise: that of an entrepreneur able to identify emerging categories before they become established.

• Strategy & business development
  Disposals, acquisitions and repositioning within the beverage industry — Bulmers, Scottish & Newcastle, Heineken, Neobulles. A rare experience in transforming a family business into an international player.
• Market building
  Identifying a category at an early stage and building a lasting position within it. The investment in industrial dealcoholisation in the 1990s — well before the market emerged — is a key example.
• International distribution & export
  Development of a commercial presence in more than 50 countries, across retail, Horeca and specialist channels. Partnerships built for the long term.
• Family business & succession
  Fourth generation of a family business founded in 1895. Founder of Neobulles in 2014 with his daughter Anne, combining continuity with renewal.

For forty years, Philippe Stassen has been guided by a simple conviction: the strongest positions are built ahead of the market.

He learned this with cider — recognising early on that a Belgian family business could compete on an international scale. He applied the same thinking by investing in industrial dealcoholisation in the 1990s, when the subject was still marginal. And he confirmed it by founding Neobulles in 2014, at a time when the alcohol-free wine market was still largely unstructured.

It is not a matter of chance, but of method: identifying early signals, understanding the dynamics at work and building for the long term.

This perspective continues to guide Maison 1895’s choices today — from the brands it develops and the markets it enters to the positions it takes.

Philippe Stassen occasionally contributes to business and trade media on topics related to family entrepreneurship, brand development and the transformation of the beverage market.