Q & A with Alberto Aguiño, Marketing Director for Miguelañez Gente Dulce

With over thirty years in the Spanish market, this family business has won a first-rate place in the world of sweets, which has allowed the company to overcome the drawbacks of the economic crisis and also begin to move into new markets thanks to the high quality of their products.

When did this project begin?

Miguelañez is a family business established 30 years ago, which was founded by the Deputy Director General and his son Onesimos Miguelañes. Mario Miguelañes is now the current director.

This is a long-term project, because the brand now has a name in the Spanish and Portuguese markets, and has developed a wide range of products starting with faminolas in different formats and now we’re drifting to Miguelañez Chocolates as a new holding company brand.

Our products have always used seasonal campaigns such as Easter, summer, Christmas, Halloween, to show off, but we have star products that are sold throughout the year, which are presented as well on these campaigns.

In what extent have these products been accepted in the Spanish and European markets?

The European market is now starting to export. We have participated in Poland Lúxide International Fair this year with a view of getting new contacts and exporting, but it is still too early to reach European market acceptance.

In the Spanish market we do have great acclaim by being a family business with a long tradition, whose main virtue or competitive advantage is the high quality of products.

What are the new markets that Miguelañez is aiming to reach?

This year we got new products targeted primarily around the issue of health, as many people who are concerned about this issue in the field of freshwater and sweets, especially mothers who need a quality product to bring something to the child in their diets.

So, Miguelañez planned a wide range of fat-free products, gluten free, because even we have received many inquiries via email and phone from people interested in knowing the healthful properties of these products.

We’ve launched products with vitamin C for the winter, to strengthen the defenses, to cope with cold and flu and congestion. Also a natural juice product that enriches the flavor of jellys and all mothers like them, because though they are not substitutes for natural fruit, they do help to have a healthy diet.

On the export front, what can you add?

We are very inexperienced in this regard; we are starting today and seeing the acclaim the products have in Europe, which we believe will be very good for the interest shown by participants at international trade fairs of sweets, which has been very high. There are formats that have proved very interesting and original, and in the European market we believe that no competitor is offering the benefits of our products.

How is the candy market faring in Spain despite the ongoing crisis?

The crisis has affected and it obviously has prevented the growth of the sector, which could have grown much more, but yet it has not been possible due to the crisis. These products are low cost and boost consumption, which represent a minimal expense of a purchase, so we have not been so affected that much.

We have decreased to a minimum percentage, as we have developed new and cheaper formats, with less weight, to reduce the cost of housewives in the supermarket, so we have responded well to the crisis.

In the Spanish market in general although we have no data from other companies, we know that there are many affected by the crisis. Even now new foreign firms entering the Spanish market are trying to grasp much of the market but are finding it a little difficult because the Spanish and the Mediterranean markets have a number of characteristics and principles, like texture, flavor, and when a product comes from another country it has a different acceptance and finds it hard to get even to a great company.

Actually Miguelañez has a good position in the market, as this brand already has a name and a place in the market that will be difficult to remove.