Hipercentro celebrates its first 40 years with the inauguration of new facilities

PalmaAnniversaries are always a cause for anticipation and happiness. If, moreover, it's four decades of continued success and future projects, the celebration becomes even happier. This Sunday, Hipercentro celebrated the 40th anniversary of the opening of its first supermarket, in Manacor on June 7, 1986, when three partners: Pere Gonçal Aguiló, Bernat Font, and Pere Nicolau, mortgaged what they had to compete at a distance with the large retail spaces that were opening in Palma. Today, they already have between 1,000 and 1,200 employees (depending on the season) and keep about thirty of their own establishments open in the Balearic Islands, with a forthcoming opening in Sóller.

The protocol event, which brought together, among others, the Minister of Agriculture of the Government, Joan Simonet, and the President of the Consell de Mallorca, Llorenç Galmés, also served for producers in the area who work directly or indirectly with Hipercentro to tour the new factory and the newly inaugurated spaces: 4,000 square meters with new rooms that serve as a meat processing, processing, and distribution center for their own products made on-site to their supermarkets.

Among the new specialties that this factory includes is the preparation of its own cooked ham, an initiative for differentiation, in addition to the 12,000 kilos of sobrasada that they produce and cure each year.

Furthermore, in September, the inauguration and commissioning of a 1,000 square meter warehouse for the preparation of cakes and breads is planned... and their star product: the panades, of which they already prepare up to 15 different varieties. These facilities have had an approximate cost of about 10 million euros, of which 3 have been financed by the Government's Ministry of Agriculture, through a line of European aid.

“It is a strategic leap with the aim of continuing to grow as a company,” points out Pep Lluís Aguiló, co-owner of Hipercentro; “Because after 40 years we still have the enthusiasm to grow, but above all to do things that connect us with our environment. In the end, it is a romantic bet… we could buy and sell without more, but we prefer to control the process in our own way to be sure that we have the quality we want”.

At the celebration, which also included the presence of the mayor of Manacor, Miquel Oliver, and councilors from the municipal opposition, the company's need to continue relying on the local zero-kilometer primary sector was highlighted, as a basis for product differentiation and for a matter of returning to those who have always been by their side and collaborating with Hipercentro since its beginnings.

The celebration events concluded with speeches and a large lunch where the company's beginnings and the long future that lies ahead were remembered.