It's been only five years since the Spanish company Glamour Fresh was created in Malaga and since then it has become a world leader in the import of air-shipped mangoes. The company has just won Spain's prestigious Flavor of the Year award with its mangoes and continues to grow in the European markets.
"We are delighted about receiving the Flavor of the Year award, our first accolade recognizing the taste quality of our mangoes," says Gretel Castro, of Glamour Fresh. "While there is already a tacit recognition of our premium brand and a strong positioning in the European markets, despite our mere 5 years of existence, this award, based on consumer voting, confirms the value of our work and efforts to supply the world with the tastiest mangoes."
Glamour Fresh supplies mangoes all year round thanks to its partnerships in Peru, Mexico, Spain and Cote d'Ivoire. In addition to mangoes, it also supplies pineapples imported from Costa Rica thanks to a partnership with the largest producer in this country. Glamour Fresh also works with other exotic products from several continents, such as air-shipped papayas, limes, passion fruit, pitahaya, and granadilla, among others, as well as Spanish products, such as premium lemon, stone fruit, custard apples, loquats, avocados, etc.
The company imports between 180 and 220 mango pallets by plane each week. "Peru is our main origin, as it allows us to supply premium mangoes to the international market for 7 and a half months. We manage to obtain a consistent supply of this very tasty mango each week because we are partners of the most important exporting company in the country," says Gretel.
"We work only with air-shipped Kent mangoes in order to meet the highest quality standards. It would be counterproductive for us to work with sea-freight mangoes, considering the quality-based reputation we have achieved with our brand. There is a world of difference in terms of taste," she says.
"In order to achieve this solid growth as a company, it has been key to work with the best producers, and this applies to our mangoes in Peru, our papayas in Brazil, the limes in Mexico or the passion fruit in Vietnam. What we have achieved with mangoes and pineapples has given us the opportunity to work with a wide range of other products demanded by our customers," says Gretel Castro.
Glamour is their flagship brand, featuring a range of several products, although they also handle the Dolce and Passion brands, which they distribute to exclusive customers mainly in European wholesale markets. These, in turn, supply greengrocers and gourmet stores, as well as supermarket chains in various European countries and in Russia.
"In the same way that we work with a single producer in each origin, we also have a distributor for each market, thus maintaining exclusivity at both origin and destination. We are focused on distribution in Europe, and we also have an exceptional exclusive distribution network in Eastern countries and Russia, where our sales growth has been very satisfying, as we did not expect it to happen in such a short period of time. We are planning to expand outside Europe in the not too distant future, as the per capita consumption of high quality mangoes is growing in many countries," says Gretel Castro.
High fuel and air freight costs, as well as limited transport availability, are the main challenges to continuing to offer air-shipped fruit, according to Gretel. "Since the pandemic started, freight costs started to rise due to the collapse of logistics in Asia. Besides, the situation has been aggravated by the rise in fuel prices following the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine. All this is bad for both exporters and importers, and certainly also for the producers. The product has therefore become more expensive, which is why we place even more emphasis on supplying the highest possible quality, so that even though it is more expensive, the consumer gets the best tasting product on the market. Our quality standards are so strict that many are surprised by what we discard."
"We are very pleased with the Flavor of the Year award and our sales growth. We are strongly involved in all links of the chain, from consumers to producers. Our producers get the highest price differential in the market," says Gretel Castro.
For more information:
David Ponce
Glamour Fresh
Calle Sierra de las Nieves 8 , 29730
Rincón de la Victoria, Malaga. Spain
M: +34 664 039 354
[email protected]
glamour-fresh.com