PATATAS FRITAS MARIBEL

The business, initially of churrería, began in the 1,978 Mrs. Isabel Jiménez Muñoz, exercising first of itinerant form in the locality of Moriles. In 1.980 the concession of a kiosk in the public road in front of the market of supplies of the locality is acquired. During this time, the production of chips and other snacks began. In 1987 he took over ownership of the family business Mr. Antonio Castillo Arroyo, exercising the activity as an individual, continuing to develop the activity of manufacturing and sale in the aforementioned kiosk. It all started in a churrería that my in-laws exploited and in that year they transferred to my wife and me. There we started making churros and chips and I started to know the business since my wife had known him for some time. In 1991, it was decided to put a small factory on the ground floor of the family home, so they began to fry mostly fried potatoes and to market them under the commercial name "FRIED PIES MARIBEL". The new focus of the activity was made with a small loan of 2 million pesetas with which they bought a fryer and a packing machine, both second-hand. In 1995, what is now the mercantile society PATATAS FRITAS MARIBEL S.L. With the change of legal personality it is decided to expand the industrial structure of the activity by acquiring a plot of land on the outskirts of the town in which an industrial building of 325 meters of floor was built with a constructed area in two heights of 650 square meters. Maintaining the two points of sale, the manufacturing was moved to the new location. A year later another point of sale was opened in the same town of Moriles. For the construction of the ship a loan of 8 million pesetas was requested, continuing to work with the same machines that were then. In view of the need for renovation and modernization of industrial equipment, in 1999, an industrial renovation project for an amount of 15 million pesetas was carried out under the Proder Plan, which has a term of execution of four years. The basis of the renovation project is the assembly of a complete line of peeled and fried, as well as another line of automatic packaging. In 2005, due to the increasing acceptance of Maribel fries and our policy of extending routes and access to new markets, we expanded the fried line in double production, that is, two in-line coppers. So we continue to grow until the years 2011/2012, years in which we expanded our facilities with 900 square meters plus warehouse, a multi-head filler and a snack fryer, with an investment of more than € 400,000 and a project supported by help from of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Junta de Andalucía. Our commercial network and sales currently cover Andalusia, Extremadura, Portugal, La Mancha and central Spain. It continues with an expansive commercial policy with the objective to continue expanding. Our flagship product, as we said at the beginning, are chips, made with olive oil, with quality, service and price always being our goal. Much of our distribution is carried by a commercial from the same town, it is my brother Rafa Castillo, it takes 60% of our production and distribute both in the region and in much of Spain, to small stores, cash and large areas. The rest is distributed by us with our fleet, we also have small distributors, some brands, stores and cash. Our turnover is around one and a half million and 2 million Euros and we have grown a lot during the crisis, more vehicles, more routes, a sales manager, etc. Still in recent times we have noticed more competition and lower prices. We elaborate with the best potatoes, always from the Spanish countryside, and with the best oils. We currently have five product lines: 1. Traditional fried potatoes that we fry with the best high oleic sunflower oil, an ideal oil for frying with 80% of oleic, which gives us a dry fried potato with an original flavor to the palate. They do not give any problem in summer neither of humidity nor of rancid. 2. Potato chips with flavors, we currently have a wide range of flavors, flavor of Iberian ham, roast chicken, garlic, garlic and parsley, cheese, peasant, vinaigrette, fried egg, truffle, lemon and pepper, which we fry with the best high oleic sunflower oil, an ideal oil for frying with 80% oleic, which gives us a fried potato dry and with an original flavor to the palate. They do not give any problem in summer neither of humidity nor of rancid. 3. Fried appetizers, we have a wide range of snack snacks, such as wheat rinds, duffitos, konos, nachos, straws with ketchup, cheese balls, popcorn, varied cocktail, rings, onion rings, straw potatoes, etc. 4. Gourmet fried potatoes, fried with extra virgin olive oil, this oil is served by local suppliers such as Acesur "oils the Spanish", which guarantees exceptional quality all year round. 5. Organic Potato Chips, made with the best organic raw potatoes and from Andalusia. These last two innovative products allow us to be in the market and satisfy the needs of current consumers, who demand healthy products and that in their preparation takes care of the environment, objectives that we have marked in our company for years. We elaborate handmade, knowing and pampering the product "our fried potatoes", because in our long trajectory we have acquired an experience and knowledge that allow us to bring to your table a healthy and exquisite product. The potatoes are carefully treated from their arrival at our warehouse, which would be the first step, kept just enough time so they are not stored longer than necessary in our facilities, once peeled go to the fried room where an operator reception and one by one are inspected, I repeat "one by one" to remove by hand the impurities that have not removed the peeler, then go to the cut and are added to the fryer where they are fried at their cutting point and fried the way traditional that marked us in our day our churrería in cut, frying, temperature, time, etc. We always elaborate at a temperature not higher than 160 degrees, following the indications of our sanitary and laboratory technical advisors to obtain a healthy product. We are currently in the process of a new expansion, since 4 years ago we embarked on a phase of acquisition of new machines such as a fryer for "Pelet" snacks, as well as a new multi-head packaging machine and the expansion of the facilities. At the moment we are finalizing another extension, with the acquisition of two new fried lines, with fryers with a modern technology that allows us to produce a product of maximum quality, healthy and at the same time taking care of the environment, we are also expanding the facilities to satisfy the needs that are requiring new projects in which we are embarking. We also continue expanding our commercial network and reaching more and more distant areas, where our products demand us. Today, new technologies and logistics allow us to arrive in record time to the most unsuspected and distant places. We have improved our website www.patatasfritasmaribel.com, adapting it and improving its versatility. We keep growing and adapting to the new times.