Petrossian is a French business enterprise established in 1920 with a wide variety of products, but mainly fine spices, caviar and smoked mainly fish-based products. It was founded by two Armenian refugees, Melkoum and Mouchegh Petrossian,
sons of a silkworm farmer from

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

(

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

) in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The business kept close cooperation with the Soviet Union and Mouchegh had married Irène Mailoff, daughter of a Russian family and marketer of refined caviar in the 19th century. The relation with the Soviet authorities and businesses solidified with the 1930s.France Soir: Petrossian: Une dynastie du caviar
After the death of Melkoum Petrossian in 1972 and Mouchegh Petrossian in 1981, the son of the latter Armen Petrossian took the direction of the family business in 1991. Petrossian has a showcase historic shop in Paris, at 18 boulevard de La Tour-Maubourg, leading a number of other fashionable enterprises, boutiques, and restaurants which the company runs in Paris, Brussels, Dubai, New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Petrossian maintained a remarkable hold on the

caviar Caviar (also known as caviare; from fa, خاویار, khâvyâr, egg-bearing) is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread. Traditionally, the ter ...

market and other Russian specialties like Chatka

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

s and

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuritie ...

s into the 1990s. As the trade in caviar became more competitive, the enterprise diversified with other lines of smoked fish, anguilles,

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

scallop Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families ...

s (particularly the French Coquille Saint-Jacques), and even Chinese

dim sum Dim sum () is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch. Most modern dim sum dishes are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, although dim sum dishes also exist in other Chinese cuis ...

. In 2001, the enterprise left its historic manufacturing plant in

Pierrefitte-sur-Seine Pierrefitte-sur-Seine (, literally ''Pierrefitte on Seine'') is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department and Île-de-France region of France. Today forming part of the northern suburbs of Paris, Pierrefitte lies from the centre of the Frenc ...

moving to

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

for wider operations. It also expanded its list of products also marketing

foie gras Foie gras (, ; ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage (force feeding). Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy ...

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

truffles A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus ''Tuber''. In addition to ''Tuber'', many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including ''Geopora'', ''Peziza ...

, candies, pâtés and

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

s and various

bakeries A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish ...

. In 2017, Petrossian was still a leading international caviar brand with a total sales of 70 million euros and estimated at 20% of the world caviar market.''Capital'': Armen Petrossian, le tsar du caviar

References

External links

Official website

petrossian.competrossian.be
{{in lang, fr Food and drink companies of France French brands Luxury brands Food and drink companies established in 1920 1920 establishments in France Companies based in Pays de la Loire France–Soviet Union relations