From a small village called Castilleja de la Cuesta, located a few kilometres from Seville, she started to cook them in the market bakery oven, which she borrowed at the end of every day, and used to sell them in ‘La Pañoleta’ crossroads, and in the Córdoba railway station in Seville, which no longer exists. Inés Rosales , helped by a number of widows in her village who worked to get some money during these difficult years, used to go down the Caracol slope which separates Castilleja from Seville, with their baskets full of a product known a little bit later as “the legitimate and reputable Inés Rosales ‘tortas’”.

The rest is easy to imagine. As it is a product with a high demand, stores always have sold it regardless of their point of sales’ evolution (small shops, supermarkets or hypermarkets).
NOTE ON INÉS ROSALES

Inés Rosales was born in Castilleja de la Cuesta (Seville) in 1892 and died September 24th 1934. We do not know much of her childhood and teenager years. We suppose this period of her life was not much different from any other girl born in those years. About her character, there remain the memories of those who met her, who say she was a very respectable woman. Her work is the proof of the great vision of the future she had, which was something special for the time she lived and even more for a woman. She broke the mould of the Spanish society of the beginning of the twentieth century.

CORPORATE CULTURE AND WORK PHILOSOPHY

We maintain the business concept introduced by Inés Rosales from the very beginning: to do business properly. Regardless of fashion and high performance, customers’ fidelity, home-made production and ingredients goodness have made of our trademark a symbol of quality in its sector. It remains in consumers’ memories as a very high quality product, with no competition and in the vanguard in combining craft processes with the highest levels of quality and technology.

Inés Rosales has been able to combine the most traditional production processes with the most modern production techniques. It has been able to reach a high quality standard combined with the production needs of a market of over 50 million consumers. All this has been stimulated by a marketing department which develops constantly a continuous process of adaptation of sales and product promotion techniques. In accordance with the competitive demands of our sector, this department has made of the ‘torta’ a product which is nowadays an image of quality and modernity in consumers’ minds. And this achievement has respected its traditional element. Inés Rosales is at the moment leader in its segment, setting a standard to be followed by its competition. The modifications applied to our ‘torta’ packaging have been imitated by all our competitors.

Inés Rosales is the company which takes the initiative in the modifications of the present packaging. Competitors can only be behind the innovations we make. At the begining of the 90s Inés Rosales launched a new packaging system using the current ‘alveolus’, which give a higher protection to our ‘tortas’. This system was copied by the competition, but even so it has not been able to reach our product’s quality standards. With the new packaging the product has a more modern image. We have adapted to the national market demands regarding a higher merchandise protection due to present sales conditions on supermarkets’ shelves. These conditions suppose a higher degree of manipulation and a longer time of exposing the product to customers, who have the possibility of handling the product and touching it before buying it. But Inés Rosales did not stay just there. Once the competition copied the packaging, international market demands forced the company to develop a new packaging for export that guarantees products durability. The company has added cardboard to its new packaging, and it has achieved a better image and quality.

These are examples of the continuous evolution of our products. Thanks to the aniseed wafers they have established in the minds of consumers of all Spain.

RAW MATERIALS

Regarding the ‘torta’, its basic ingredient is olive oil. Wheat flour, sugar, almonds and aromatic seeds are also part of its recipe. The absence of additives and colourings shows us the goodness of the recipe components.

In the other products we can find ingredients as toasted flour, lard, sugar, cinnamon, eggs, cocoa and coconut.

PRESENT FACILITIES: BRIEF DESCRIPTION

The most important feature that makes Inés Rosales ‘tortas’ different is their home-made production, that is to say, they are made by hand one by one. The expression home-made is not well used nowadays and has lost prestige among consumers, but it must be our best guarantee. Although that expression might be understood as a synonym of primitive and not rigorous, that is not so in our facilities. The production process is highly rationalised and we meet all the sanitary standards through internal controls carried out by our quality department. We have approved and established a ‘Hazard Analisys Critical Control Points ’ (HACCP), and independent laboratories control the healthiness of our ingredients and facilities. At present our products possess the government´s quality certificate “Alimentos de Andalucía” (Andalusian Food).

The production process starts with the reception of raw materials, usually in bulk, which are examined afterwards by our laboratory. The different recipes are composed and weighted with the help of computer software. Their ingredients are introduced automatically in the kneading machines where their final mixing takes place. Last generation machinery measures out the adequate quantity of dough for each product unit. Then, in the case of the ‘tortas’, our workers’ careful hands form thin discs. After being sugared they are placed on the oven for its cooking. Once they are cooked, we proceed to a cooling process, and then our workers’ hands wrap them in their packaging paper.

The other products have a higher industrial component in their making and production, although they keep the traditional touch. These products have adapted to industrial processes, and at the same time they maintain their original recipes and ingredients which make them unmistakable.

THE HUMAN FACTOR

Our company is located in a small town near the ‘aljarafe’ area in Seville, and employs more than a hundred people. All this highlights the importance that the human factor has in our company. Our training effort is constant to achieve optimal productivity levels. These must help us make a competitive product in the international market, despite its home-made production and its high costs. We see the future with hope because of the possibilities of wealth that the opening of new markets would mean for everyone.

In our other work areas we have highly qualified staff, especially in the financial area, production, business support, logistics, etc.

NATIONAL MARKET

We are national suppliers of the major chains of stores, which means that we are present in the whole national market. Carrefour, Promodes, El Corte Inglés, Auchan, Eroski....all of them trust our product. Our presence includes all the retail outlets these chains have all over Spain. Nevertheless, we have not left the smaller supermarket channels and small stores that were the origin of our expansion.

FUTURE

Our permanence of over a century in the market with the favourable opinion of consumers, and with the confidence that we are doing business properly, allows us to see into the future with great optimism. We will carry on maintaining at a steady level our fundamental values, and we will incorporate the products and technology that will help us to continue generating wealth....

Contact:
Alexander Koch - Export Manager

Gestión de Pastelería S.L.
Grupo Ines Rosales
Polig. Ind. El Manchon s/n, E-41830 Huevar/ Sevilla

Tel: +34 954756427 - Fax: +34 954756335 - export@inesrosales.com - www.inesrosales.com