Alimentos La Giralda marks 80 years on Venezuelan tables

For a Venezuelan brand such as Alimentos La Giralda, reaching 80 years is a unique moment worth celebrating, a chance to take pleasure not only in the road travelled but in every firm step that has allowed it to move forward and to remain an important part of Venezuelans' daily life and traditions.

Venezuela is a country full of grace, of opportunity and of invaluable human quality, ready to open its doors, with fanfare, to anyone who wants to contribute to their adopted homeland. That is how this story begins, in the early twentieth century, when Spaniards living in the country formed organisations that let them combine their new life with keeping up commercial ties to their country of origin.

Ocarina Castillo, mentor of the Alimentos La Giralda Cocina Creativa competition, who has followed the brand closely, tells the story from its beginnings. It was precisely within that framework of Spanish and Venezuelan friendship and economic cooperation that a member of that organisation, Francisco López Gómez, founded the food company La Giralda in 1943 with the purpose of selling olives and capers from Andalusia. The business began in a small, modest and unknown space in Caracas, which grew and soon acquired a warehouse in Yare, Valles del Tuy, where products were processed and packed.

In 1979 Francisco López Gómez sold the brand to the Seville businessman Enrique Moreno de la Cova, a prominent figure and leader of major cultural and sporting projects, who took the presidency of La Giralda C.A. in Venezuela until 1983. From then on the company was acquired by a major economic group, Grupo Fierro, headquartered in Spain and with promising businesses across Latin America, which went on to become one of the leaders in the Venezuelan market.

La Giralda combines the traditional side of the brand with the advances these times demand

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Under that ownership, in 1984 the company moved its base to Cagua, Aragua state, one of Venezuela's main industrial areas. At that plant the company diversified its production and added new products to its portfolio: tomato based sauces and juices, vegetables, tinned goods such as sweetcorn and peas, and different sauces including soy, Worcestershire, garlic and hot sauce.

As some of its longest serving workers recall, the early nineties were highly dynamic, producing lines that employees, and probably consumers, still remember. Alongside the traditional lines of peeled tomatoes, olives, capers, pickles and peas, plain, with carrot and mixed, and the soy, Worcestershire, hot and garlic sauces, there was the La Giralda canned range: lentils with smoked chorizo, shredded beef, deviled ham and liver pâté, both chicken and beef, as well as peach preserves from Colonia Tovar and imported peaches in syrup. The company also produced liquid caramel syrup, tinned salted peanuts and black olives.

Grupo Fierro's stewardship lasted until 2013, when La Giralda was acquired by a new owner, Antonino Buttaci, a partner in the so called Grupo Buttaci made up of families of Italian descent settled in Venezuela for more than 40 years, with various active businesses in the Santa Bárbara del Zulia area.

Since then, with its base in Caracas, its plant in Cagua and distributors across the country, La Giralda has continued to renew its commitment as a food company dedicated to importing, manufacturing and distributing packaged products based on tomatoes, vegetables, pickles and fruit. It continues to automate and has increased both the number of its workers and their commitment to the company.

Its purpose is to keep betting on production in Venezuela with ingredients grown in the country's farming areas, such as tomatoes from Altagracia and El Sombrero in Guárico state, to offer staff a fair and respectful relationship, to encourage good teamwork and to look after the environment. It aims to honour the motto Variety to Your Taste, bringing solutions and flavours to homes across the country and thanking them for the trust and preference they have given the brand.

Modernising its plants, installing new production lines and refreshing its image are all steps aimed at preserving the past it treasures in order to secure continuity and a future.

Today Alimentos La Giralda has a formidable portfolio for the Venezuelan family in which, alongside the traditional lines, the highlights include tomato ketchup, mayonnaise, the Tomatodo tomato purée, Bolognese and Neapolitan sauces, Salsa 79 and barbecue sauce, pickles, whole and stuffed olives, capers, vinegar and sauces made with ingredients such as garlic, along with Worcestershire, soy and hot sauces, offered in glass and plastic containers.

Many of these products are part of Christmas cooking, and in particular are the indispensable ingredients in the hallaca and the chicken salad, whatever the regional variation. As director Mariano Mantione puts it: "La Giralda combines the traditional side of the brand with the advances these times demand."