Armen Petrossian, head of the Petrossian company

Armen Petrossian is one of the best-known figures in the black caviar market. He controls 20 percent of world black caviar sales and is the largest importer of sturgeon caviar in France and the USA.

The founders of the Petrossian company were the brothers Mikael and Melkum Petrossian. Immediately after the revolution of 1917 they managed to organise direct supplies of black caviar from Baku, and in 1920 they emigrated from Russia to France and opened their first shop in Paris. This is how black caviar became popular in France.

Mikael’s son Armen was born on 14 July 1949. With a degree from the Sorbonne, he began at the company at the age of 22 as a labourer, worked his way through every level and about 10 years later became its chief executive and president. In the photograph he wears a black suit and a blue bow tie and holds a blue tin full of caviar bearing the company’s name.