Catalan Birba biscuits survive despite economic crisis

Camprodon (ACN).- Since 1910, Birba has been making sure everybody has biscuits on the table, for breakfast and dessert. It has become the star product in Catalan homes. Birba biscuits, which are included in a Mediterranean balanced diet, are Camprodon’s main export, a village in Ripollès county, in northern Catalonia. A whole century has gone by with Birba biscuits. The Birba emblem is, undoubtedly, their biscuit assortment, but one cannot find a reference of the product on the box. The only thing on the label is a stone bridge, the stone bridge of Camprodon.

Birba’s operations manager, Josep Antoni Fortuny, explains that the company has successfully endured despite the crisis, mainly because of their search for new markets and product quality. This year, they expect to have a turnover of 6 million euros.

Birba biscuits exportation

90% of what Birba sells goes straight to the Catalan market. According to Fortuny, “for us, to export means going to Spain”. The most important external market, which represents 10% of the production, is located within Spain.

Even though they are consolidated, their exports to countries like the United States or Japan represent a ‘very low’ volume of income. China postulates as “the big market to exploit”. Fortuny thinks that the Chinese market is “very important” because, even though its population is eminently poor, the middle class, “which are the ones who can buy our products”, represents almost 30 million people.

Souvenir boxes, the latest trend in European airports

Porto, Barcelona and Lisbon already have their boxes. Cities like Prague will soon have theirs. They are souvenir boxes with a drawing of the city and a biscuit assortment of Birba biscuits inside. Fortuny explains that is the boxes are targeted for people who are at the airport “at the last minute, and still do not know what souvenir to bring home”.

The fascinating history of the Birba Company

In 1910, Llorenç Birba founded a cake shop in Camprodon, where they also made their own cookies. Camprodon has always been a very touristy place, thanks to the well-known Doctor Robert, a famous doctor and politician who promoted the village wherever he went. The spread of Birba throughout the territory came, in a way, due to the tourists coming from Barcelona, who took the biscuits to the city after their summer vacations in Camprodon.

A small company

Birba’s operations manager, Josep Antoni Fortuny, says that the crisis has affected them “like it has affected everybody”. However, the fact that they are a small company –with 45 workers– makes them always look for new markets. Fortuny assures that theirs is a ‘quality’ product, and adds that there are few producers who strive for this purpose. And it is precisely in this area where Birba wants to grow. He also explains how they have discovered “areas where we didn’t sell before” and how they have also grown with new products. Currently, they have 45 products on the market, and in 2010 they put 5 new products on the market: the gluten-free Núria, the low sugar Núria, the orange and chocolate bite, the mini-choco Núria and the wafer, which they had stopped producing.

Fortuny sees the fact that a company like Birba has widened their catalogue with five more products as an ‘important effort’. Moreover, he expects to grow around 10% this year, thanks to new markets and products. Fortuny emphasizes the boost that the opening of the new factory in 2007 has given them, as it has allowed them to widen the capacity of production and, consequently, their business capacity. Currently, Birba produces around 3 million boxes, which represents one million and a half biscuits.

The secret to their biscuits

What is the secret to Birba’s success? Birba’s operations manager explains that the secret to their biscuit quality lies in the fact that the “workers love the product because they have been at Birba for years.” On the other hand, the other ‘big’ secret is the quality of raw ingredients they use. Fortuny says that the company wants to use raw ingredients that are “as natural as possible”. “We try to buy raw ingredients that come from nearby places, such as eggs, which we buy from nearby farms, dried fruits from Tarragona and butter from Lleida”, he says.

 New products with added value

“This is the way”: products that nourish and favour the body. According to Fortuny, nutraceutical food is “the market in which we have to grow”, as they are products with “added value”. Birba is a small company that is always at the client’s side and “knows what they want”, he adds. The growth is concentrated here but, according to the operations manager, “we have to have our feet on the ground”. He adds something very significant: “one does not become 100 years old by doing stupid things”. “We have to keep on doing things well”, he states.

In the future, Birba plans on incorporating fruit into its products in order to make “much healthier products”. Fortuny assures that the company must take its disadvantages into account, but they must also bear in mind that, as they are a small company, they are “much more agile” and can make products that others cannot because they use big production lines.

Clients will buy a biscuit box and, if they find them tasty, “we will have possibly made a new client”.