A group of young entrepreneurs dreamed of setting up their own candy factory. They never thought that more than 40 years later it would become the largest producer of sweets in the world. The Cordovan food company Arcor is one of the companies that make up the Argentine industrial elite, currently producing almost 3 million tons of products per year, exporting to more than 100 countries, and it all started with a small bakery in Arroyito.
The Italian Amo Pagani arrived in Córdoba in 1924 and there he continued his trade as a baker, which he had learned in his homeland. A decade later, already with his own bakery, he began to manufacture milk caramels. His three sons, Fulvio, Renzo and Elio, joined this venture.
An investment group approached Pagani with the intention of buying him a machine and tempting him to partner with them in a new candy and cookie factory in Santa Fe. He accepted and together they opened Sasort< /b>. There the family met the Maranzana brothers (Modesto, Pablo and Vicente), Enrique Brizio and Mario Seveso, who would later become a founding part of Arcor.
Fulvio Pagani was 18 years old at the time and proposed to expand the scale and focus only on sweets to Sasort's partners, but they did not accept. So the Paganis associated with Brizio and the Maranzanas to buy a cartonería in Tucumán in 1948. Then they decided to take that previously rejected idea and make it their own. Thus, after bringing together various shareholders including neighbors, friends and relatives, they founded Arcor in 1951. The society took the name of its city (Arroyito) and province (Córdoba) of birth.
Early years
With Fulvio at the helm, the company grew and by 1958 it was already manufacturing 60,000 kilos of sweets a day. At first Renzo Pagani, Modesto Maranzana and Enrique Brizio were in charge of sales through traveling wholesalers, but later they designed a system of retail distributors that allowed them to have a more agile arrival throughout the country.
With success, exports began. They first shipped glucose by-products to Europe in 1964 and then sent candy to the United States, however that first shipment ended in disaster.
Turns out they shipped two containers of milk caramels in a common warehouse. The problem arose when the ship passed through the equator and with the heat the products melted. When they arrived in the United States there was no candy, instead they found a uniform block. Arcor took care of the expenses and fixed the relationship after that first attempt.
International foot
Starting in the 1970s, the company diversified and incorporated chocolate, biscuit and food production units. It went from being a candy company to a multi-product food company. It also began its international expansion with a first commercial office in Paraguay in 1976. This was followed by openings in Uruguay, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Spain, Bolivia, China, the United States and South Africa in the following decades.
To this was added the purchase of factories and brands. In 1980 they acquired the Brazilian candy factory Nechar SA; then they took over the Chilean Alimentos Indal. Among its most remembered operations are the Benvenuto operation in 2005, which allowed it to incorporate brands such as La Campagnola, BC and Salsati; and that of the Águila Saint chocolate company in 1993. Today it has more than 40 industrial plants in the world.
The birth of the Bon o bon
Arcor became a benchmark in the world of sweets with its creations. One of the most iconic is the Bon o Bon designed by Fulvio Pagani in 1984 and later the emblem of the Sweetness Week'. This emblematic chocolate sells some 700 million units per year in its different versions. This classic found its inspiration in the Serenata de Amor by the Brazilian Garoto. Other products of the firm had a similar origin, such as the Menthoplus candies inspired by the Halls and the Topline with Beldent.
Fulvio Pagani managed the reins of the company until 1990 when he died in a traffic accident. After three years under the leadership of Hugo D'Alessandro, the family returned to the top with the assumption of Luis Pagani, Fulvio's eldest son. The new executive continued with the national and regional expansion plan. Five years after taking over, he turned Arcor into the world's leading candy producer after buying the Chilean company Dos en Uno.
Alliances with the giants
From sweets, food from Cordoba went on to other items. It launched its line of impulse ice creams, ventured into the powdered beverage segment, and brought its polenta label to market. Along the way, he forged various alliances with industry giants, such as the Mexican company Bimbo to make chocolates and Coca-Cola for cobranding. With the latter, in 2019, he presented a fund to invest in startups, Kamay Ventures.
But almost 70 years after its birth, Arcor does not stop. In 2017, he acquired a significant percentage of the Mastellone dairy company , of which he now manages 48.7 percent; it associated with the French company Danone to manage the Bagley biscuit maker and announced a joint venture with the American company Ingredion to create a company for supplies for the food industry.
His next big project is in Angola, where by the end of the year he hopes to open a candy, lollipop, chocolate and cookie factory. For this, it invested some US$ 45 million together with Webcor. "In 2050, Africa will be the continent that grows the most, with more young people and children who are our consumers," said Pagani.
