To find the beginning of this story, one must travel to India. Or not. In reality, the center of this maze is at the other end of the world, in Los Angeles. In one of the posh supermarkets where the Kardashians shop, from the Erewhom chain. Upon my return from the United States a few weeks ago, I published an article about this temple of organic and cute food that attracted a diverse range of celebrities like Lilly Allen and Ringo Starr.
A few days later, I received an email from TWeE group, a company dedicated to food product scouting (they help food companies identify trends and opportunities, and internationalize). They had read my article about Erewhom and informed me that in that supermarket, they were selling "a sweet red pepper jam made in Chercos, a small village of 200 inhabitants in Almería." When I inquired about the topic, my contact told me that the company had emerged from a love story, that of Biagio Lorusso and Isabel Martínez, who had met in India.
So now we travel to India, where the founders of Lorusso found an unexpected turn in their lives. Before, Biagio Lorusso worked in beauty centers in Milan. "First he had gyms, then he set up a beauty center... His life was very hectic, very different from what we have now," recalls Isabel. She, on the other hand, lived in Almería, where she managed grants and aid for companies alongside her brother Paco. "I am from Almería Capital. I have worked and lived there all my life," Isabel points out. Despite the physical and cultural distances, the relationship naturally blossomed, she remembers.
Life-changing decisions
Everything flowed so smoothly that Biagio had no doubts about leaving Italy and moving to Spain. "He told his family that he had fallen in love with a Spanish woman and was coming to live here," explains Isabel. After all, the world belongs to the brave, right?
The impact of Almería on Biagio was immediate. Accustomed to the chaos of the big city, he was struck by the small villages of the Almería Levante. "When he arrived here, he was fascinated. He found it like another world, all this peace, this tranquility." After deliberating on where to settle, they decided to do it here, "even though I initially preferred Italy," admits Isabel.
Before that, both had undergone a profound change during their stay in India. "Both of us had traveled there in search of answers to certain questions we had, which turned out to be very similar. We were looking for a change. We had started asking ourselves very personal questions and identifying certain needs: I need to work on myself, be a happy person, add value to others...," recounts Isabel. Meditation and introspection brought them together, tuned them, and in a way, laid the foundation for what would later become Lorusso, their business project: a venture that did not arise with a mere economic objective, but, as their co-founder states, with the intention of conveying values and happiness.
The chosen place to settle was Chercos, a small village in the Valle del Almanzora (Almería), at almost 900 meters above sea level, where Isabel's mother was born. It was there that the idea of working with local fruits and vegetables emerged. Biagio - an exceptional cook according to Isabel - and she finally decided to focus on creating premium jams. From the beginning, they had a clear dual objective: quality and differentiation. Not just any jar or traditional labels would suffice. Their idea was to merge the tradition of southern Spain with the modernity of Italian design.
The first result was a jar with rectangular sides (manufactured, of course, in Italy) with glass screen printing, a pioneering design in the Spanish agri-food sector, notes Isabel. Furthermore, all the products reflect the brand's philosophy: HeArt Made Food,food made with heart and art, with names like Locura di Fragole (strawberries), Mirtillo Extravaganza (blueberries), Amor&Mora (blackberries), Raspberry Kiss (raspberry)... "When you see a square jar with a heart, that's Lorusso. Because it's the love we want to convey," Isabel enthuses as she progresses through the story. And she adds, "People tell me: 'Isabel, do you have children?' And I say, 'no, well, yes, I have 12. I have strawberry, I have mango, I have blackberry... They are my children."
But the innovation did not stop at the design. The product itself had to be exceptional. Lorusso's jams contain 85% fruit, reduced and organic cane sugar, and no additives, coloring, or preservatives. "We try to make it local produce...," explains Isabel. Each ingredient is carefully selected, and each recipe is the result of years of work and perfectionism. "Biagio worked hard, created many recipes... At one point, we were advised by the National Technological Center for Canning in Murcia... When we presented our proposal, they told us we were crazy, that with that percentage of fruit, it would not be possible to work and be profitable," she recalls with laughter.
When the time came to launch the product on the market, after years of research and development, it was not the residents of Chercos who were the first to taste it. On the contrary. Strategically, the first jar reached the international market long before the Spanish market. The first sale took place in Shanghai and then in Hong Kong, where they participated in fairs and placed their product in gourmet stores like City Super. "In fact," Isabel explains today, "Almería was one of the last cities where our product entered." This strategy allowed them to establish themselves as a premium brand before competing in their own country and set the stage for a memorable impact upon their local arrival. Along the way, they had also been accumulating prestigious awards. Suffice it to say that they have won the Gold Medal several times at The World's Original Marmalade Awards in the UK, a country where marmalade is a pure religion.
No company is exempt from this question: How do we grow? Lorusso was no exception, of course. There was a moment, explains Isabel Martínez, when they decided to expand the range: oil, honey... Until they realized that "you can't excel at everything, and we excelled at jams, so that's what we should focus on." Where to go from there?
To this day, they have collaborated with companies like Cosentino or Yogi Tea, customizing their products for exclusive events and corporate gifts. "We love to create and do different things... we love to offer different things, we love to break away from the market's methodology," exclaims Isabel. Their jars have even made it to the Goya Awards red carpet and will probably make an appearance at New York Fashion Week, which recently showed interest in them. And all this, without leaving their small Almerían village, from where the team aims to remain faithful to the religion of disruption. "Lorusso doesn't just sell jam, it sells an experience...," adds Isabel, in line with the main currents of current marketing, "we love to create and do different things."