Lettuce is one of the flagship crops of the Spanish Levante region. Its ease of consumption and the interest shown by supermarkets have led some companies to specialize in by-products such as lettuce hearts, the demand for which is growing every year.
"We started working with lettuce hearts twelve years ago, but since Covid, consumption has significantly increased, and we have grown quite a lot. We have gone from producing 250,000 lettuce hearts a week to 1.5 million. The demand is dynamic and rapidly expanding. We now handle almost as many lettuce hearts as endives, which used to be our main product," says Joséphine Cuadras, manager of Cuadraspania.
© Cuadraspania
Endive, violet artichoke, and lettuce hearts are the company's most important products, but each of them follows its own trends. "Violet artichoke consumption is not in line with production, and the product is losing ground. It has a great flavor and nutritional properties, but its average consumer is over 50 years old and cooks every day, so it's not representative of today's younger generation," says the manager.
Endive, according to Cuadras, "is a niche product. Ours undergoes a bleaching process, which adds to the difficulty of cultivation, and, for this reason, we are specialists. The United Kingdom was a preferential market until Brexit, but now the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Germany, and France are more relevant."
A new warehouse in Lorca
The company's policy is to reinvest profits in assets. In the Baza area, "we have built an 80,000 m³ reservoir to ensure we have a high-quality product with sufficient water supply until the end of November," says Bazas.
Along these lines, the manager also says: "As part of the company's growth strategy, we have acquired a warehouse in Lorca which will come into operation this winter, adding 5,000 m² to the 10,000 m² that we already have." With this move, they hope to extend their "area of influence and employment of labor."
In addition to geographical diversification, there is also market diversification. Cuadras says that a good balance is kept between the various sectors. "For the distribution of curly endive intended for the catering sector, we supply wholesalers throughout Europe; however, curly and plain endive are mainly destined for the pre-prepared convenience food sector, as the product enhances the freshness and volume of prepared bags, and lettuce hearts are also perceived as a must on supermarket shelves."
© Cuadraspania
As far as generational succession is concerned, the manager says that "for the time being, the management team still has many years ahead. Also, I believe that our sons and daughters should only work for the company if they really want to, because agriculture is a very demanding activity."
In Almeria, "there are also private equity funds, but we are the ones in charge and we want to continue consolidating, building a team and serving the client. For now, the company's core is very much alive," says the manager.
In other news, she says that they suffered a fire last Tuesday at the Cuevas facilities that did not cause any damage thanks to the experience gained in evacuation and action drills, as well as to having the appropriate fire-fighting equipment. This allowed the fire to be kept under control until the arrival of the fire brigade, which is about 40 km away.
Cuadraspania, of Spanish-French origin, has 650 workers and cultivates 1,200 hectares on the coast of Almeria and Murcia and some mid-altitude areas in Granada, achieving an annual growth rate of 10%.
For more information:
Joséphine Cuadras
Cuadraspania
Tel.: +34 629 11 13 31
[email protected]
www.cuadraspania.com
