Spanish baby-food start-up Smileat expects its annual sales to surpass EUR10m (US$11m) – three times the level generated last year – by 2023.
Founded in 2016, the company turned over EUR3m in 2019, a 45% increase on 2018. The sales target for this year is EUR4m, which would put it in profit for the first time.
Domestically, Smileat’s low-sugar, clean-label, organic baby foods can be found in pharmacies and supermarkets, including Carrefour, Alcampo and El Corte Ingles.
The firm’s export markets – Portugal, China and France, in order of priority – account for 7% of turnover. The goal is to reach 20% this year.
“In three years, the combined domestic and export growth should put our turnover at about EUR13-14m,” Smileat co-founder and joint CEO Alberto Jiménez told just-food. “We also have new products launching in 2021. I can’t say what they are, but they will boost sales.”
Asked why their products are in demand, Jiménez claimed one reason is quality. “We have the best product and the best raw materials, and we have the full range of foods. Fruit, vegetables, meat and fish. We can feed an omnivore baby, a vegetarian baby and a vegan baby.”
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Asked what a typical customer looks like, given that Smileat’s products cost about 20% more than mainstream peers, Jiménez said the company had expected buyers would be urban, middle or upper class but added: “There are people in towns and villages all over Spain buying our baby foods.”
Production is outsourced to a facility Spain’s Navarre region, with Smileat buying the ingredients and creating all the recipes.
The company is 80% owned by founders Jiménez and Javier Quintana. The remainder is held by private investors, one of which is Spain’s newly-launched social impact investor Crees – which roughly translates as believe, create or think.
Jiménez claimed Smileat is having an impact on the wider category. “Now all traditional baby food producers are changing to meet that demand for clean-label, low-sugar, organic, socially-conscious products.”
