QUEST to be the best
Leveraging on its expertise and knowhow as the biggest baking company in the world, Grupo Bimbo has made a name for itself in the Ecuadorian market.
How would you describe the evolution of the relationship between Grupo Bimbo and Ecuador?
The evolution of the relationship between Bimbo Group and Ecuador has been a virtuous one, where the company and the country are seeking continuous improvement for both, through constant investment and innovation from our side to make the Ecuadorian baking market more attractive and competitive. We have Ecuador’s considerable human talent pool, and we combine this with innovation and our know-how and experience as the largest baking company in the world. What we do is bring ideas from different countries and mature them locally. For example, since we acquired Supán, we have continuously invested an average of USD4 million per year in the country, which is considerable. We have developed new categories such as cookies and cakes which is a relatively new segment for us, and we have invested in technology for bread-making ingredients. Therefore, we are reaping the synergy of a country with a high level of human and natural wealth and a company with high innovative power and business acumen. One of the advantages of the Bimbo Group is that we have 140,000 collaborators in 32 countries coming up with ideas and creating trends. We work in the US, Europe, China, Africa, and Latin America, and we see many extremely interesting concepts emerge every day. We also promote the internal ideas of local talent, from among the collaborators of Bimbo Ecuador.
Where do you see room for growth in the market?
The pandemic taught us many things. Firstly, we need to continue growing our geographical presence. We discovered that we have a solid presence, but there are gray areas that we are not reaching as yet. In the next few months, we will expand our distribution span, resulting in an almost complete coverage of the country, be it through direct or third-party service. We will collaborate with new clients, as they are an important source of employment in the production chain of all the countries we operate in. Our main goal is to serve them directly and provide them with excellent customer service. We will also continue to create synergies with the successful products of other companies, which will be a new activity for 2022, as well as our innovative efforts. Additionally, we will bring in new ideas based on categories that are successful abroad and implement them here. There is a great deal of innovation and growth in the number of distributors as well as a focus on new launches.
How will Grupo Bimbo participate in Ecuador’s transition to a circular, sustainable economy?
At the global level, we are affirming a commitment to being a carbon-neutral company by 2050. Our objectives for 2025 as part of this sustainability effort are that 100% of our packages must be recyclable, biodegradable, or compostable, we need to reduce our plastic use, and 100% of bread packaging must be part of the circular economy. In Ecuador currently, 94% of our packaging is recyclable, 30% is biodegradable—which we hope to reach 100% by 2022, and we are working to develop compostable packaging. Additionally, Bimbo Ecuador will have its first electric distribution vehicles in operation in 2022, marking a great step forward.
How would you like to position the Bimbo Group in the coming years?
The first thing for the future is to increase the empowerment of our collaborators at all levels of the company; we want them to feel free to express their opinions, to transform, propose, and build toward the objectives we have always shared. The second part of this vision is to consolidate the objective of the Bimbo Group as a global company in Ecuador. We want to become a sustainable, highly productive, and completely a human-oriented company. We are highly committed to the pillars of the Bimbo Group: pursuing nutritional transformation, being in harmony with the environment, and being a good neighbor, namely having a socially responsible corporate profile.