Reaching new countries, innovative products and more sustainable packaging, Meléndez’s novelties at Fruit Atraction

In Portugal, Batatas Melendez has created a new company in Lisbon, Batatas Melendez, with which it intends to develop the same action it has been carrying out in Spain. The aim of this company will be to plan harvests in the Portuguese countryside and to close sales agreements with farmers in the neighbouring country in order to be able to offer Portuguese consumers fresh, quality potatoes in Portuguese distribution chains. In addition, the arrival in the neighbouring country will allow Spanish produce to reach the Portuguese market when there is no local production. In France, Patatas Meléndez is finalising the creation of another company with the aim of boosting European exports. Both internationalisation projects will be presented by Meléndez to sector professionals during the leading trade fair, Fruit Atraction.

Another of Patatas Meléndez’s new products to be presented at the fair is its new brand of ready meals, “The Melfarm”. These are dishes made with quality potatoes to which other healthy vegetables such as broccoli, green beans and carrots have also been added. This is the latest addition to the Patatas Meléndez range of microwaveable products aimed at the new consumer who is looking for quality products that are quick to prepare and maintain the same nutritional properties.

“With this new line of products we want to offer a quality potato to a society that is spending less and less time in the kitchen, to a consumer who is more demanding in terms of quality and very concerned about health and the environment. Innovation marks our day to day”, Javier Meléndez, the company’s CEO, points out.

As part of Meléndez’s commitment to innovation, the new line of fresh products made from Jícama will also be presented at Fruit Attraction, a product named ‘Super Food 2020’ by nutrition experts for its high natural fibre content, Vitamin C and its high Inulin content which acts as a prebiotic, facilitating the digestion of food. It is a line of products, all with a shelf life of 22 days, which come in various cut formats, from tortillas, chips, noodles, tacos, spikes, mini spikes and healthy snacks.

The Valladolid-based company, leader in the fresh potato sector, has in its DNA the care and respect for the natural environment. For this reason, in recent years, it has been committed to offering fresh, quality potatoes grown by Spanish farmers with sustainable and environmental criteria.

As a result of this commitment, the company has become a signatory of the Spanish Global Compact Network, the world’s largest voluntary initiative for social responsibility, through which Meléndez is committed to complying with the ten principles of the Global Compact and also contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

In this line, Patatas Meléndez has made changes in terms of sustainability, reducing the use of plastics. An example of these advances is the new 100% recyclable paper bag which can be deposited in the blue container as it is guaranteed that the wood used to manufacture this packaging comes from sustainable forests and which will be presented at Fruit Atraction.

All these new products will be presented by Patatas Meléndez from tomorrow, Tuesday, until Thursday in Fruit Atraction. The company has designed a modern and welcoming stand (Hall 10- stand 10E08) where it will be able to hold meetings and business meetings with professionals from the sector. In addition, the quality of their potatoes will be on display through different culinary proposals which will be carried out live in a small cooking show by the Valladolid chef Teo Rodríguez, head of Trasto Restaurant, which has been awarded a Sol Repsol.

Digitalisation

Patatas Meléndez, the leading company in the fresh potato sector in Valladolid, closed the year 2020 with a turnover of 104 million euros, which represents an increase of 17% compared to the previous year. In the last five years, the company has doubled its turnover.

This past year, ‘Patatas Meléndez’ has been immersed in a process of digitalisation of all its facilities and processes. This project, with a global investment of 32 million euros, involves the digitalisation of the crop, the use of green energy, the reduction in the use of plastics in containers and packaging, as well as an efficient use of water, reducing the water footprint.

This process will culminate, in the last quarter of 2022, with the start-up of a new 21,000 square metre factory next to its current facilities in Medina del Campo. This new plant will incorporate all the technological innovations available on the market, robotisation, process automation through the Internet of Things. The application of all the improvements enabled by Big Data. As well as the incorporation of new potato selection possibilities through Artificial Intelligence and Learning Machine.