Aires de Campo: a company of firsts

Posted - July 21, 2009

Aires de Campo: a company of firsts

By Adriana Michael

Aires de Campo is a company of firsts. The company is the first pioneer to introduce certified organic foods on a large scale in Mexico. It’s also Mexico’s first company with a female founder and CEO. Guadalupe Latapi  is petite and appears to be a young student clad in casual clothes. Underneath that casual exterior, she simmers with the strong will and commitment. Seven years ago, Latapi dared to set up a risky project; to consistently offer high quality and diversified foods to the largest supermarket chains in Mexico. To do this, she had to organize a network of organic food producers to supply her own brand. They had to be dependable, too.

In 2002, after doing a Masters in Food Science at the University of California, Latapi returned home looking for ways to apply her new knowledge. She found them. At a local food fair in the city of Puebla, she met some organic entrepreneurs, including a dairy farmer, who for quite some time had been trying to establish a large-scale domestic market. From discussions with him and others, Latapi learned that a sustainable project needed three pillars: logistics, promotion and marketing. Building on these pillars with her family and friends she started the distributing company, Aires de Campo, to introduce eight organic certified dairy products to the supermarket chains. Soon Latapi and her team noticed that they would need to diversify. She met small cooperatives and producers with high quality goods who were lacking the market access that Aires de Campo could provide. Her company linked up these producers with the supermarket chains.

IMPLEMENTATION AND NEW LINES

Against all odds, Latapi proved it! Mexico certainly had a market for certified organic foods. As new lines were gradually added to the distribution project, Aires de Campo kept in the task to fulfill it. Organic vegetables and fruits followed dairy products. Then came grains, meats and eggs. People started asking for more processed foods, such as breakfast cereals, breads, and pastas not produced in Mexico. That is when Aires de Campo looked beyond the border and imported cereals from the Canadian firm Nature’s Path. “But our main goal is not to become an importer” warns Guadalupe. “We want to stimulate production in Mexico, as the prices for imported goods would really be out of reach for most people here.”

Now in its seventh year, Aires de Campo reports annual sales of over 2.7 million US dollars, 45 employees, and a network of 50 suppliers supporting over 1000 families. The company also offers almost 200 products to all main food retail chains in Mexico, including Walmart and Costco. Aires de Campo developed the private label Via Verde for Walmart, with a line of food staples. More unique gourmet foods are offered to retailers like Palacio del Hierro.

REASONS FOR THEIR SUCCESS

The main reason for their success? Good marketing, says Latapi. Without a strong marketing plan, she adds, no one can really sustain “sustainable development”. “We invest in radio and print ads, seminars and our website to offer recipes and stay in constant contact with the consumer, the suppliers and the retailers.”

Latapi also stresses logistics: “Finding the way to make the most direct connection between the farmers and the end consumer has been our policy”. Headquartered in Mexico City, Aires de Campo opened Biocentro, a distribution centre delivering organic produce to homes weekly. The Centre also serves consumers who stop by to buy directly all products offered under the Aires de Campo brand and other new lines the company also carries. The Biocentro also serves hotels and restaurants and independent stores that cannot afford to buy each product in bulk; instead they place small orders for a combination of lines.

Latapi also believes fair treatment of suppliers helps. The company’s aim has been to help improve the quality of life of suppliers, many of them female workers. This, in turn, has created a good work environment and motivation to succeed in the project among employees and co-workers.

CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

While marketing and logistics led Latapi to success, her company had to surmount two barriers at the beginning: demanding and sceptical buyers, and an undemanding public.

One of the barriers to overcome was to educate the buyers at the conventional food retail chains. Organics bewildered buyers. Some products, unlike conventional ones, were seasonal. Some were handmade and showed some naturally occurring irregular shapes or colors. Buyers had to realize that organic produce was less standardized than non-organic produce. Persistent information campaigns paid off.

Mexican consumers are not demanding, having very little interest in the source of the food that they eat. Things are changing with the media alerting the public to the dangers of conventional food production. “What was missing in Mexico was to develop the domestic organic market”, says Latapi. “Now we see more brands serving local consumers, not all producers are just concentrated in exports”.

THE FUTURE: INTERNAL MARKETS

Meanwhile, Roberto Latapi, Guadalupe’s brother and director of exports, plans to find similar entrepreneurs abroad, ones who would like to work under a barter deal arrangement. He seeks well established foreign processors and distributors willing to introduce their lines to Mexico. In exchange for introducing Aires de Campo products through their distribution channels, they may use Aires de Campo’s. “This is the way to go in current economic times”, says Roberto. Aires de Campo exhibited at All Things Organic in Chicago June 16-18th, as part of the Mexican pavilion. “We also made good contacts at BioFach in Germany back in February”, says Roberto. “Now we will explore the US market for organic ethnic foods and ingredients we can provide”.

Although the firm is exporting, Guadalupe says that it only exports surplus production. She states that certain products have a demand in organic quality much higher than the local production capacity. One example: the hibiscus flower, used for “Agua de Jamaica”, a natural refreshing cold tea in all Mexican households. “From production of one ton of organic certified hibiscus flower, after three years of efforts, this year we have produced thirty tonnes.”

While Mexico is among the first countries to start Biodynamic Agriculture back in the 1930’s as result of Rudolf Steiner’s teachings and it is currently the first producer of organic coffee, its interior market for organics is just expanding. In this process, Aires de Campo certainly comes first.