Who is behind Luz Azul, the dairy SME that expands without going through supermarkets

While many SMEs in Argentina try to put their products on supermarket shelves as a more accurate springboard for consumers, others try. another way.

This is the case with society Luz Azul – reference of milk from the city of Azul, province of Buenos Aires – which started production in 2012 cheese and dulce de lecheas leading and rapidly spreading products: today it has 68 sales outlets throughout the country, eight of which are its own and the others are franchises. His next step is to arrive with the brand in Uruguay.

The entrepreneur behind the company is Gabriela Benak. It is convinced that to keep the “price-quality” equation in its products there should be no intermediaries.

For this he has bet on the expansion of his company under the slogan “Factory direct”. “We are the only franchise in the industry that it comes from a factory and not a distributor. This implies eliminating intermediaries in most of the product mix to be marketed and so we can improve margins and offer better competitive conditions, ”explains Benac.

Currently, the Buenos Aires PMI produces more than 30 million liters of milk per year, ha 500 employees and 68 franchised stores throughout the country. For this 2022, plans to invest $ 80 million, while annual sales of $ 1.2 billion are expected.

The company has stores distributed throughout the country: CABA, GBA, Buenos Aires Province, La Rioja, San Luis, San Juan, Rio Negro, Chubut, La Pampa, Chaco, Mendoza, Neuquén, Tucumán and its next step is open the first store in the province of Cordoba.

Its expansion plan includes 10 new openings for this year which are added to the 16 stores opened in 2021. “This year we focused on encouraging consumption, strengthening the relationship with the brand’s loyal customers. we are doing actions that aim to reward people through sweepstakes and marketing promotions. We are also strengthening the brand positioning across networks, with influencer”, Details Benac.

The company’s projects include consolidate the franchise network, This is why he has opened a Training Center in the Belgrano neighborhood where franchisees can practice and learn about the products. and also has dormitories for those arriving from other provinces, count in the dairy. It also has among its objectives that of alliances with various SMEs. For this reason, since its inception, Luz Azul has been part of a network of national small and medium-sized enterprises.

On the other hand, the most ambitious goal in the coming years is to achieve its regional expansion. In two years, Luz Azul plans to operate in Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile.

S.The next challenge is landing in Uruguay. Over there they will reactivate an existing plant with the idea of ​​developing cheeses “a la Argentina” and take it as a basis for continuing its growth in the rest of Latin America. “We also want to develop a franchise chain in Uruguay”, Anticipated the entrepreneur.

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