From brokering to commercialization
(and the obsession with the telephone)
Between the late ’80s and the early ’90s, we experienced significant growth. We started buying and selling to processing companies, especially in the Northeastern region. In 1990, 8-10 truckloads of peaches were leaving here daily, and during those years, there was one August when we sold 380 loads of peaches. We acquired land, a storage area, and refrigerated warehouses. This is how La Manta Foods was born in 2000, and the new operational headquarters here in Mattone in 2002.
“In the meantime, in ’96, the first mobile phone arrived. I still keep it because Andrea was obsessed with having a car phone installed, but he never managed to do it… The first mobile phone changed our lives because we never stopped traveling; in fact, we were (and still are today) always on the move.”
The travels are demanding, but they are essential for personally getting to know our suppliers, for verifying and monitoring crop management, and also for maintaining a strong trust relationship with our partners. Without this, we wouldn’t get anywhere.
