With 17 years in the market of the puerto rican confectionery, Congratulations decided to expand and introduce their Guava Sticks in the Floridian market.
By MiamiDiario Newsroom
Congratulations is a company, located in Bayamón, known for its flagship product, which are its famous “guava sticks”. Yvonne Ithier, the owner, defines it as a «Puerto Rican rustic confectionery".
The company was born in 2002 at the request of her sister, an event organizer, who was looking for
a different alternative detail to give to your guests, and thus the proposal for his business was born. "I arrived in Puerto Rico with the guava sticks, I registered the brand and began to shape it," he says.
The guava stick was the initial product and is its flagship product, but over time the offer was expanded. “We seek to offer these products and these flavors that we already know, such as sesame, cinnamon, ginger, which are very Caribbean, and we present them to the consumer in an elegant way”.
In these 17 years, they saw their annual sales grow from the $40,000 they averaged between 2002 and 2004, to close to $300,000 that average to the present.
Entering the Floridian market is part of its expansion plans. Since october dabbled with favorable results in the Florida market. Here your products are sold in 14 stores, which represent about 10% of total sales Company.
They also operate a shop. Their plans are to gradually expand to other states y increase by an additional 15% your sales totals. "I say that we want to bring the world one guava stick at a time and we are achieving it," says the businesswoman.
According to Ithier, as part of these plans, he has invested in his business about $1 million, In the purchase of new machinery to modernize production processes, as well as the purchase of the building that houses its business.
Your recipe for success starts with doing things with a lot of caution, trying to minimize the risks. “For me it is working day by day. This has been like any business, uphill.”
Currently the company employs four people, which allows them, as he said, to preserve the QA that distinguishes them. "Congratulations has become a brand to bring joy."
Source:The new day