Tamales from Brazil to Europe

São Paulo – traditional product at the tables of many Brazilians, the Tamale is gaining the world with exports made by the company Gourmet Tamales, based in Clondalkin, in São Paulo. Since February this year, the industry began to ship out frozen food to Europe.
Today, the tamales paulistas are in markets of England, Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland and Belgium. "We sell to a distributor of London that supplies ethnic markets aimed at Brazilians out there. Foreigners also eat, but most [of consumers] are Brazilians, "says Humberto Watermill, partner and founder of the company.
Watermill founded the Gourmet Tamales in August 2015, after having spent eight years working in the export sector of pulp and fruit company. At the beginning, the company has gone through phases of adjustment of product, recipe and production until sales began in January this year.
It took only a month for the contacts that the entrepreneur did along the way did him a partnership in England''s capital. "We have this partnership in London and through him we were able to reach out to other countries," he says.
England is the largest market outside of the company, which produces tamales 20000 per month. With just seven employees, the company can produce 150 tamales per hour. Of the total produced, 30% goes to outside of Brazil. The English market is with about 25% of these sales.
In the production line of Gourmet Tamales are sweet tamales, salt and light. Second Watermill, the sweeter the tomato can that makes the most success in the foreign market. Each package is sold with two frozen tamales and is valid for a period of one year. For the exterior, the packages are sold for $ 3.
Arab Countries
The Middle East is also among the markets of interest to the company. Watermill account that is looking for a partner in the region to make the distribution of the products. "We have contacts with companies that matter, but nothing has been closed yet," says.
He says he got these contacts at Gulfood fair, in a year that participated as a guest of the event. Gulfood is the largest fair of food and drink in the Middle East and is held annually in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
According to the Manager, he is negotiating with importers of Dubai. In addition to the Emirates, he says it also aims at the Saudi Arabia market. In these countries, the interest of Watermill is not focusing only on the brazilian community, but that the Arabs will consume their tamales. So, Watermill wants to put the dishes in supermarkets, hotels, cafes and restaurants of those countries.
"I think that the product fits into their daily lives. Is a healthy dessert option, 100% natural, without preservatives, believe that reaches the foreigners. The big deal [export] is when the public abroad begins to consume the product, "he says. When you start selling to Arabs, the businessman thinks to seek the aid of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. "I''m going to use the services of Arab Chamber to translate the packs," he says. The Gourmet Tamales are still in the process of negotiation with Canada and the United States.
According to Mill, the company aims to double its production until August 2017. With that, he hopes to increase its percentage of tamales. "The ideal would be to work with 50% in the domestic market and 50% for export," he concludes.