Strategic direction

HAPPY HEARTS
María Almenara, despite the pandemic, closes 2020 growing 10% in Sales
Source: G Management Magazine N°121 December 2020 adapted by teacher A.Senmache for academic
purposes. and https://www.mariaalmenara.pe; https://elcomercio.pe/gastronomia/guias/maria-almenara-nueva-esquina-dulces-
miraflores-noticia-450239 ; https://peru21.pe/mujer21/mujer-21-maria-almenara-senora-postres-404400 ;
https://elcomercio.pe/gastronomia/guias/maria-almenara-nueva-esquina-dulces-miraflores-noticia-450239; https://peru21.pe/mujer21/mujer-21-maria-almenara-
senora-
desserts-404400;

The story María Almenara (MA) seems taken from a story and of course the ending is happy. She was a girl
born in Lima but lived in Talara for 12 years. She loved spending the afternoons sharing with her mother while
they made delicious desserts. She was known as the “Little Riding Hood” of sweets. On his bicycle he carried a
little basket with the desserts that he baked in his mother's kitchen. Since she was a child, she offered them at
school, at recess time. After finishing school, she came to Lima to study advertising, a career in which she never
pursued since baking ended up conquering her and her name became a reference for high-quality brownies,
chocolate cakes and cookies. Little by little, their desserts became known among their family, friends and
companies.

In the 2000s it reached its clients thanks to word of mouth marketing, in 2007 it formally established the
company MARIA ALMENARA SAC (MASAC) and began a new moment by becoming a micro-enterprise,
then moved its operation from the 6m2 kitchen of the his parents' apartment to a 100m2 apartment in Miraflores
itself, where he opened his first workshop.

It didn't last long until his first business crisis arrived. At the marketing level everything was progressing and he
felt happy, but they did a comprehensive costing of all his products and he had to raise the price by more than
50% because he was not making a profit. At that time, the global economy was going through a bad situation
that could affect the country and he thought that his customers were not going to buy his products even though
Peruvians are known for delighting in desserts. In parallel, it implemented a wireless POS to attend to delivery
sales with credit or debit cards, which caused its sales to double, growing its market share and not being
impacted by the price increase.

In 2009 she was contacted by the brand manager of the main coffee shop chain worldwide, who upon tasting
her sweets convinced them that they had found the ideal partner to provide them with desserts, especially their
moist chocolate cake with a unique and unmatched recipe that differentiates it from many competitors in this
sector; Therefore, it decides to serve this new market segment. They started with 3 stores and 3 products until
they supplied their 50 stores nationwide in 2011.

In 2010 he closed a new stage to start another, the neighbors of Italia Street in Miraflores where he had his
workshop complained because day and night from Monday to Sunday the commercial movement of making and
carrying sweets did not stop, which was uncomfortable in an area. residential and the municipality closed his
business and he managed to move to Chorrillos to a 600m2 workshop where he produces to this day.

From 2012 to 2016 are years of expansion with very high growth and gives formal employment to 97 families,
with an organizational structure with areas of product innovation, processes, quality, among others. Following
quality standards such as HACCP to guarantee their products . It has policies that help its management,
including: all personnel who enter are trained, they receive all labor rights and benefits, quality is non-
negotiable, customer satisfaction comes first and the commitments assumed are met, among others.

1
 Strategic direction

The business began to grow and finally on June 26, 2017 he opened the doors of his first location on block 6
of Avenida La Mar, Miraflores, another chapter of his dreams: his own store to directly serve the public, up
to now only had directly served franchises and businesses.
Regarding the customer segments that MASAC serves, they are: more than 30 business clients including
coffee shop chains, ice cream parlors, movie theaters and restaurants, for whom it does dessert manufacturing
(manufactures on behalf of its clients). And its private customers whom it serves directly with the own brand
assortment in its new store. To do this, it has suppliers that meet its demanding quality of inputs. In total at
the end of 2017, it delivered more than 4.5 Million units of products annually to the market, becoming a
Medium Enterprise in October 2017 and ending 2019 with 2 stores.

In 2020 , despite the impact of the pandemic, it closed the year with seven stores, spreading across several
districts of Lima (La Molina, La Victoria, Miraflores, San Isidro, San Miguel, Surco, Surquillo); This did not
allow payrolls to be reduced, investing US$ 1 million for its expansion. It is therefore interesting to bring the
case of MA as a case study, to show how despite the hard blow caused to this sector during the pandemic,
some companies have shown their strategic ability to overcome the hard blow of the last year. Carlos
Armando de la Flor, general manager of MA, tells us about his case and to begin with, he indicates that the
company's core business is not just pastry. “ We focus on brightening hearts. Actually, consider that we are
more in the entertainment business.” With this momentum, MA faced one of its most difficult years; there
were tough moments; Firstly, they sought to ensure liquidity. In the second stage we analyzed our clients'
consumption and looked for efficiencies, without deteriorating their quality, and then we looked for growth
by betting on an expansion of stores despite the pandemic. “Today's crisis is temporary. If it were structural,
it would be more complicated to invest. But, since it is temporary, we must be prepared for the rebound,” he
says.

Innovation was not affected even though the company managed 90 references (varieties) and at the most
critical point it was reduced to 10, and then stabilized at 30 SKUs. However, in this process our product
“MiniMarías” (small cakes) with ten flavors appeared, which became especially relevant during the
Pandemic, as it was a way to innovate by changing the consumption behavior of its customers who came to
its stores and consumed a slice of cake and now they take home a small cake; helping to increase the average
ticket which made them more efficient.
MA, reached more than 200,000 transactions and although it is true it was 25% less than 2019 (before
quarantine), the average ticket increased by 20%, which is why the company closes its annual sales with an
increase of 10%

Carlos Armando provides us with some secrets of his success, and comments that, with the help of Endeavor
(a company that promotes entrepreneurs), a demand planning project was carried out with MIT
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology); This plan has allowed them to achieve important improvements.
Just as the platform that supports its online business, which is located in the cloud, was developed with
Microsoft Azure technology, achieving an availability of its products of 99.99% and reducing waste by 0.1%.
What will you find in Mária Almenara ?
Its display cases welcome you with an assortment of baked sweets, croissants, small chocolate and red velvet
cakes, chocolate cookies, a moist chocolate cake that is the hallmark of the house, caramel brownies and tres
leches cakes; arranged in the most provocative way.
To drink, Peruvian coffee, from Junín de la Finca Jericó. There are also natural infusions and cold pressed
juices. To balance the sweets, chicken sandwiches and ham and egg zucchini, with avocado or creamy corn
cakes. And those who do not know her can go to her social networks Facebook and Instagram through which
she maintains contact with her clients.