The Alicante origin of the Bimbo brand in Spain which did not prevent its closure in the province

In reality, this origin of the shielding of a word that would become a generic synonym for sandwich bread, because it became so popular, was more the result of a pile-up than of the entrepreneurial spirit, which was also valued by the protagonist of this story, for other reasons.

Antonio Garcia SaezHis name was and he had married Marita, the daughter of the ruling family of Blayet Bakerywhose name appeared on posters alongside Bimbo in the post-war period.

The one who tells it with such precision and detail is Elena Abaddaughter of Rafael Abad Segura, who at the time produced posters and advertising for the bakers of this “great bread of Vienna“the most complete and highest quality food”, as these artisanal advertising media proclaimed. And never better said, because they were not printed, but rather handmade.

It all came about because this producer “wanted to put a mark on the yeastwhich marketed it nationally, particularly on the Mediterranean coast, a yeast which was used to make the spongy breads that everyone remembers.

As she was thinking about what to call it, “while leafing through a Mexican tabloid of the time, she saw the brand Bimbo and she liked the letters,” Elena recalls. “He gave my father the first order for an advertising poster, but only for the letters, the little bear that I used here in Alcoy was newly created, and therefore save as brand” he adds.

Without the greatest intention, this process of protecting his name against plagiarism would become an unexpected and important commercial asset, which would surely have changed his life.

“When the original Bimbo brand wanted to market its sandwich bread in Spain, it was a surprise to discover that someone in our country was already using it,” says the daughter of the illustrator-printer.

Moreover, it seemed at first that they were going to prevent the Spanish businessman from using his patent: “Both the mexicans “They came from the American multinational to Alcoy to talk to Antonio, they told him that he could not use this brand because they had registered it worldwide in 37.”

So: “What was happening in Spain in 1937? Well, we were at war and the trademark was registered everywhere in the world except in our country, for that reason. Because of the coincidence of the war, the baker was legally right.

“Ultimately, they had to come to a agreement and they paid for it a million of pesetas [6.000 euros] for the Bimbo brand”, a real fortune at the time, when people spoke of “millionaires” precisely from that figure. And life could have been even better, according to Elena’s testimony. “In a comment he made to my father at the time, Antonio told him that he would be satisfied with 50,000 pesetas, to which the Mexicans added that they had received orders to agree to pay up to 12 million pesetas”, that is to say 72,000 euros at the current exchange rate, which, recalculated with the value of the time, represented much more money.

Finally, after accepting this economic agreement, Antonio García had to register another trademark for his yeast and his breads, and he invented the Blasin.

This story on Facebook was corroborated by another user who knew the protagonists and the subsidiary Bimbo España itself took it up on the same social network to highlight the historical value of the experience.

Another coincidence is also that founders in Bimbo’s Mexico came from Cataloniaa territory that now centralizes the multinational’s strategy in Spain, where it has strengthened its production with a new factory in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda (Barcelona) while has stopped In The Orchard (Alicante) and announced the same decision for Valladolid. However, it remains in Paterna (Valencia), where it acquired the Siro packaged bread factory in 2020 and since then has experienced moderate growth in terms of employment and volume.