Ecuadornews
On May 24, the Cultura Açaí brand celebrated two years in the Ecuadorian market and to celebrate it, a photographic exhibition was held at Sailor Coffee (Las Terrazas, Samborondón), which showed step by step the açaí process, from its cultivation, harvesting, depulped, freezing to the different ways of preparing it and eating it, either in a bowl with fruits and cereals and smoothies.
Açaí is a small wild fruit, about the size of a grape, that grows from a native palm from the north of the Amazon of Brazil, in Belem.
The owner of the brand is Giancarlo Escala Moncayo, 27, who was delighted when in 2010, while competing in a jiu-jitsu tournament in Miami, USA, he tried it, as it was very common for athletes consume it after the competitions. It is a source of antioxidants and nutrients, prevents aging and protects against diseases.
Escala began to find out more about the subject, to the point that he decided to do his thesis of Administration in the Ecotec on açaí and traveled to Belem, where he realized that there was a whole culture around the fruit: “It grows in a wild way Around the Amazon River, it is harvested in an artisanal way by the people who live there and export it to many countries. ”
Taking advantage of the growing trend in healthy gastronomy, he decided to bring the acai pulp in 2016, first on a small scale.
The product, sealed and packaged, with the design made by Cultura Açaí from Pulsum Brands, from Guayaquil, through one of the big producers there, in boxes of frozen pulp and one-hundred-gram sachet.
“The truth is that at first I did not see it as a business opportunity, what I wanted was to convey to the people the richness of açaí and all the culture behind it,” says Escala, who began to promote it and offer it at fairs and “Door to door” in restaurants and cafeterias of healthy food.
Currently, between Guayaquil, Quito, Cuenca, Machala, Manta, Ayampe, Montañita, Salinas and Galápagos there are “a hundred” local, among restaurants, coffee shops and bars that offer açaí preparations in their menus.
It’s not just about selling the product, he says. “All our clients are always going to be backed by the brand,” he says, referring to the fact that they give training to get new textures, new presentations, because he has to be well prepared, that’s why he strategically does not sell it anywhere, ” We take good care of that, “says the businessman who started with his savings and then turned to the banks’ SMEs. “At the beginning it’s hard, but then when you start taking the rhythm you start to have a stable financial flow,” says Escala.
100
shops approximately, between coffee shops and restaurants in several cities of the country, offer in their letters prepared with açaí pulp.
“The truth is that at the beginning I did not see it as the opportunity of a business, what I wanted was to convey to the people the richness of açaí and all its culture.” Giancarlo Escala, businessman. (I)
Source: https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2018/06/12/nota/6806273/deportista-aposto-acai-trajo-ecuador
