17 February 2006 - The sweets, lollipops and chewing gum produced by Riclan, from the city of Rio Claro, are exported to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Qatar. To maintain good relations with importers, at least once a year a company representative travels to the region to visit distributors and prospect new clients.
São Paulo - Sweets, chewing gum and lollipops made by Riclan, a factory from the city of Rio Claro, in the interior of the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo, have been sold in supermarkets in the Arab world for over 10 years. The United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are the main importers in the Middle East.
According to the company export manager, Antonio Romualdo Silva, the first contact with Arab businessmen took place during company participation in a fair in the food sector in Germany.
"It was a long period of negotiations. We had to prepare our product for the market. We developed packages in Arabic and adapted our products to the market, including the ingredients used in production," explained Silva.
To keep good relations with the importers, at least once a year the Riclan representative travels to the region to visit distributors and prospect new customers. "Apart from offering an adequate product for the market, we need to stay competitive in terms of quality and price," stated the manager.
The beginning of Riclan
Riclan had a surprising beginning. In the 1940's, Irene Teixeira started producing sweets at her house and selling them to passengers at the railway station.
Due to the great success of her sweets, in little time Irene established company IG Teixeira. In 1963 the factory received new investment, started producing lollipops and its name was changed to Fábrica de Balas São João. By that time she was already selling her sweets all around Brazil and had a daily production of 1,500 tonnes.
The company strategy to win new consumers made it possible for, in 1973, the construction of a modern factory with an area of 30,000 square metres. That was when foreign sales began.
In 1978 they started producing chewing gum. The Buzzy brand was born and is still sold. In 1985 the factory bought new equipment and entered the drops market with brand Freegels. They soon started producing the first menthol sweets in Brazil.
In 2000 a new posture was adopted to consolidate the company's corporate image, which then changed its name to Riclan S.A. - Alimentos Rio Claro. In 2003 they purchased an area of 200,000 square metres, also in Rio Claro, where they installed a modern distribution centre.
The factory currently generates 1,200 direct jobs and produces 220 tonnes of products per day, distributed throughout Brazil and to 80 countries.