São Paulo – Martha’s Alimentos, a Brazilian producer of cheese bread, wants to export to the United Arab Emirates. The company started implementing a plan for international insertion about a year ago and one of the goals is to sell to the Arab countries, and to markets like the U.S. and Canada. Martha’s is participating in export fostering programmes developed by the federal government, developed in partnership with the state of Goiás, where the company is headquartered, and should attend a fair in the Emirates and another in the United States next year, according to commercial director Rafael Vasconcelos.
According to the executive, the company has not had contact with Arab importers yet, but knows that they have already sampled cheese bread and have approved the product. One reason for the choice of the Middle Eastern country to start exports is how well adjusted the market is to brand cheese bread, which is high quality. Martha’s produces its own cheese and butter for manufacture, as well as the starch, thus guaranteeing the quality of the raw material and of the final product.
Martha’s participates in the federal government of Brazil’s Primeira Exportação (First Export) programme, and in the Projeto Extensão Industrial Exportadora (Peiex – Project for Expansion of the Export Industry), which is developed in partnership with state governments. Over the last eight months, the company has participated in several preparatory activities for export, such as training in trade and other areas to optimize processes such as Human Resources and Finance. She also participated in roundtables in Goias and Brasilia with importers from Latin American and Brazilian trading companies.
Martha’s maintains is headquartered in the city of Senador Canedo, in Goiás state, where it manufactures the final products, and has two units in Vianópolis. At one of the units, the company raises Jersey dairy cattle, and, from the milk, produces the cheese and butter used in production. At the other unit, cassava is grown, made into starch, also used in production. The final product is frozen cheese bread, frozen cheese biscuits, frozen and seasoned cheese bread, large and mini coxinhas (balls of dough filled with chicken) and frozen pies.
The factory produces between 20 and 25 tonnes a month. According to Vasconcelos, the main markets served are the food service industry, snack bars and coffee shops at shopping centres, universities, and other institutions in the states of Goiás, Tocantins and the Federal District. According to the commercial director, the company has the capacity to manufacture over 50 tons a month, both for export and for expansion of the domestic market. Apart from working for export, seeking partners to import and distribute their products, the organisation aims to enter other markets in Brazil, such as São Paulo, Paraná, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul
Martha’s Alimentos was established in 1995 by Vasconcelos’ mother, Marta Naves Vasconcelos. She was an employee of the Goiás court and used to make cheese bread for home consumption and family gatherings. When a relative opened two coffee shops in a mall, she was asked to provide the cheese bread. She accepted, and orders started coming from other establishments. For the first two years, she made the products in her own kitchen, until she established her first production unit, covering one hundred square meters.
The company grew constantly and the family, children and husband, currently work in the business. Martha’s employs just over 20 people. Much of production is mechanized.
Contact:
Martha’s Alimentos
Site: www.marthaspaodequeijo.com.br
E-mail: rafael@marthasalimentos.com.br
Phone: (+55 62) 3282-7876
*Translated by Mark Ament
