From rival families in the Mallorcan countryside to being the kings of fruits and vegetables

It was 2009 when the Lliteres-Mesquida and Figuera-Vaquer families decided to join forces to try to catch their breath in the midst of the economic crisis. Until then, the two had been direct competitors in the production and wholesale sale of fruits and vegetables in the Mallorcan town of Porreres, a town of just over 5,000 inhabitants. The need to reduce high production costs to continue operating led them in 2010 to merge their teams and plant the seed of what is now Agromart, a retail company selling fruits, vegetables, and food products from Mallorca that recorded sales of more than €40 million by 2024.

“Right after we merged, we had a huge production footprint and even lowered the market price of our products . Since we had a large surplus, we agreed to open a store in Porreres to sell it, and that's when we realized we really enjoyed connecting with the end customer,” says Apol.lonia Vaquer, founder of the company with her friend Tomeu Lliteres and her brothers Miquel and Rafel, who wanted to continue their parents' farming tradition. What began as a small store in their hometown has grown into a chain with 28 establishments spread across Mallorca, employing 320 people and serving a primarily local customer base with an increasing number of foreigners, especially Germans and citizens from Northern Europe.

Agromart is a zero-mile company that produces, for direct sale in its own stores, any food "that can be grown in season in Mallorca, weather permitting." Plum tomatoes, Ramallet tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, peppers, melon, and watermelon are the stars in summer "because the sun gives them a special sweetness"; plums, peaches, apricots, and an endless list of fruits and vegetables grown on their land or on the plots of the 40 farmers who work for the company, producing what they can't. In 2024, Agromart planted more than 400,000 plants and produced nearly two million kilos of fruits and vegetables that, in less than 24 hours, were already in stores ready for consumption. They only turn to companies outside the region to obtain food that cannot be grown in Mallorca, mainly tropical fruits such as papaya, mango, and pineapple.

One of the initiatives they've undertaken in recent months, which aims to become one of the business's hallmarks, is the recovery of local varieties of fruits and vegetables, which they are obtaining thanks to the experimental field they've set up on the Sa Volta de Porreres estate. There, they've planted 4,000 fruit trees of around twenty native varieties of fig, apple, plum, and peach trees, which in five years will reach full production, allowing them to harvest 100,000 kilos annually. This activity enables them to offer customers products not found in other establishments or supermarkets, such as the Fraile Roig plum or the Galta Roja apricot, rare but highly valued varieties. "My brother Rafel has internalized the ability to recover products," says Vaquer, who believes that this determination to maintain "their roots" is one of Agromart's hallmarks.

One of the branches of the business that is rapidly expanding is improving quality through organic farming, which is increasingly in demand among customers. “One of the things that buyers value most is not so much price as quality,” says Vaquer, who explains that last year they certified 30 hectares of land as organic farming, with which they already produce artichokes and different types of lettuce. “If, for example, there's a beehive that needs to be removed from a house, we take it to our farm to manually introduce wildlife that will allow us to boost production. It's one of the areas of the business we're developing to differentiate ourselves, to ensure our product is organic and has a story behind it.”

Agromart also offers a wide range of shelf-stable products that they have added over the years, such as local wines, cheeses, cookies, and a selection of pastries and baked goods, also made with their own raw materials. They work with an oven in Porreres that has their own production and prepares Mallorcan empanadas, sweets, and breads every day, which are on their store counters from early morning. "We grow the xeixa wheat that we transform into the flour the baker uses to bake the bread." They also supply the oven with the meat needed to make the empanadas from Mallorcan red sheep, a native breed whose wool is reused as a natural fertilizer for the trees. The product cycle is closed without waste.

Away from the internet

The success of Agromart, which has opened five stores in the last year and plans to open new ones this year, has come from its direct-to-customer model, which is why its founders aren't considering entering the online business. Everything is done in physical stores, and there's no delivery system or possibility of purchasing products through its website from locations outside the island. "When people ask me why we don't sell online, I always answer because you can't smell a melon or a Mallorcan strawberry. Customers who come into the store looking for a product end up taking something else with them because it makes them want to buy. Entering the store has a certain appeal that the website doesn't offer," explains the executive. Something they are considering, but haven't finalized yet, is making the leap to the Peninsula: "For now, it's just a dream," admits Vaquer.