The long-lasting story between the dairy industry and Juan Bouzas, Director of Food Ingredients at Grupo Entrepinares, started at the end of the 90s. “It has been quite a while already,” he agrees. “But I would not change industries for anything in the world. Dairy is a fantastic business.”
Family first
After earning his stripes at Reny Picot, a Spanish cheese manufacturer, as Director of the International Division, Juan Bouzas received an offer that he could not refuse. “Grupo Entrepinares is Spain’s largest cheese manufacturer. It is a true honour to lead the growth of the dairy ingredients for this company that always puts its employees first.”
Founded in 1984 in Valladolid by Antonio Martín Castro, Grupo Entrepinares has come a long way since. It has opened factories across Spain, produces over 40K tonnes of whey powder per year, and is present in 53 countries. Yet, the company proudly calls itself a “family business” that now fully commits to including sustainability in every level of the organisation, as it aims to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that are part of the 2030 Agenda. “We need to be in contact with key players in the industry to reach these goals,” Bouzas says, “Vesper allows us to do that and much more.”
“Vesper gives me a panorama view of the market”
Although Grupo Entrepinares saw its annual revenues soar since its launch, some pain points needed to be addressed to boost employee productivity. “Sometimes, being a dairy player is hard. It can take ages to gather all the information you need, and, once you have the data, you are still unsure whether it is 100% reliable.”
Vesper solved this issue by offering all the necessary data under one roof in an easy-to-understand platform. “Vesper displays all the latest information from around the world in a summarised and intuitive way, giving me a ‘panorama’ view of the market. Without this platform, I would have made more mistakes in my decision-making process, that I know for sure,” Bouzas comments. Bouzas also mentions the Historical Milk Valorisation widget, an overview of milk’s valorisation compared to other milk derivatives over the years. “It gives me a more comprehensive overview of the market. I can recognise and exclude exorbitant prices and take more conscious medium-term decisions.”
Having easy access to the information means that Juan Bouzas can optimise his weekly schedule and be more productive. “I usually look on Wednesdays for the week prices, but at the end of the week or on Monday, I spend at least an hour looking at all the published data. Vesper allows me to have a lot of information concentrated in time and place, preventing me from making detours and ad hoc searches that would otherwise involve several hours a week of information gathering.”
Communication is power
Knowledge is power, and so is communication. Whilst this saying makes sense for many reasons, Grupo Entrepinares experienced firsthand the benefits of a more rounded communication. “Since we have been using Vesper, it has become easier for us to communicate with colleagues and clients,” Bouzas underlines. “With Vesper, we know we are all on the same page; we all have the same information at our fingertips. This allows us to talk with each other in ‘the same language’ without the fear of being misinterpreted.”
Keeping up with the latest dairy trends is another way to improve communication within the company. Vesper’s bi-weekly analyses of the cheese and whey markets allow Juan Bouzas to assess whether Grupo Entrepinares should change its business strategy in terms of production. “Vesper has all the information I need on the ingredients and cheese market, which are the products I primarily focus on. I can back my decisions with reliable data during meetings.”
Connecting dairy players
Dairy players are interconnected. Buyers are in constant contact with sellers, traders, and vice versa. “Knowing who to contact and when is crucial, especially when the market is volatile like it is right now. I often need to get in touch with professionals from the Netherlands and Poland, as their prices are usually lower than in the rest of Europe. Thanks to Vesper, I can get in contact with key players.”
With his extensive experience, Juan Bouzas is well-versed in the inner workings of the dairy market. In conjunction with Vesper, he no longer needs to search endlessly for the latest dairy developments that could influence his purchasing decisions. They are just one click away.
