Havanna (Argentine company)
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| Private | |
| Industry | Food industry |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Headquarters | Mar del Plata, Argentina |
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Key people
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Benjamín Sisterna (founder) |
| Products | Alfajores, cone-shaped alfajores, dulce de leche, cookies, puddings |
| Website | www.havanna.com.ar |
Havanna is a leading Argentine manufacturer of food products (mostly known due to its famous alfajores, which are considered amongst the best of Argentina). The company also operates its own system of franchise coffee stores and exports its products to Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Israel, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The firm was founded in 1948 by Benjamín Sisterna, Demetrio Elíades and Luis Sbaraglini and began its activities as a producer of alfajores in the city of Mar del Plata. Sisterna was a baker (he had worked in his home town and later in traditional Argentine bakery "Confitería Los Dos Chinos"). The first product he made was "Alfajores Santa Mónica", created along with his partner Sbaraglini. These alfajores were offered at some points of sale in Buenos Aires for a brief time.
In the 1940s Sisterna arrived in Mar del Plata, the most important coastal city of Argentina, where he soon formed a team with Demetrio Elíades, the owner of the Confitería Havanna situated in downtown Mar del Plata. It was said that the name "Havanna" was an homage to the capital city of Cuba but the reason why the name was written with a double "n" is now unclear.
The products of Confitería Havanna were made to the same formula used today. Following the success of the chocolate-flavoured alfajores, other varieties were added. For a long time Havanna's alfajores were chosen by the tourists who spent their vacations at the popular seaside resort and the Havanna brand became representative of the city and of Argentina as a national product.
In 1998 Havanna was sold to the local company Exxel Group for about US$85 million. At the time of purchase, Havanna produced 5.5 million dozen alfajores per year in its two industrial plants located in Mar del Plata. The company also had 130 shops in both cities, Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata, employing 300 people (increasing to 600 in summer, when most visitors go to Mar del Plata).
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Wikipedia