Bags and packaging since 1922
Eladio Bezares —CEO— and Jose Antonio Torrealba —President— are the third generation of this family business with an international focus. They tell us how it all started and what their vision of the future is.
When was Toybe born?
Our grandparents founded Toybe in 1922, with ten thousand pesetas and fifteen employees. It was a small factory specialising in manufacturing paper bags and it was called Torrealba y Bezares. It grew rapidly and in 1925 built the first production line facility. The machinery was still very basic and almost everything was done by hand, but it occupied a 1,600 square metre area.
Why did it specialise in manufacturing bags and packaging?
Eladio Bezares and Moisés Torrealba were two restless young people who got together when they started their first business. Eladio Bezares had worked in paper sales since he was 16 years old, and that knowledge of the business was the first seed of Toybe.
What was the ‘packaging’ like 100 years ago? And how has it evolved?
At that time different types of paper sheets were used for packaging all kinds of products. Paper bags were also starting. They were basically manufactured manually and were not customised at all. The old sheets have evolved to today’s rolls of laminate materials which filing machines turn into the packs that reach the end customers. The bags used to be made one at a time. Now they are manufactured on automatic machines that make the entire process at high speeds and allow for a very wide range of designs, sizes, finishes, etc.
What products used the first Toybe packaging?
Toybe was a great success since its inception, and leading companies in the Spanish food industry were its first market, particularly with commodities such as flour, coffee, chicory, sugar, ice cream, etc. We have to thank those industries for the entrepreneurial drive that has reached us today. Years later, shops and fashion brands joined our clients and today you can find the Toybe ‘T’ in many bags that you see every day.
When did the company begin to grow and export, and introduce innovative technologies?
Toybe has always been an innovative company. It introduced the first bag-making machines in Spain. Even during the dictatorship, when one could not import machinery, we secretly brought machines into the country, taking them apart and loading them on mules to cross the French border. We have been leaders in printing and bag making technology from the very beginning. We have included every new system that we have found efficient and functional. Now, logically, we are increasingly committed to green, sustainable production. The exporting adventure began in the 1980s. Our experience and the quality of our products allowed us to open up new markets. Today 31% of sales are international and the figure is growing every year.
What is the “secret” that has made Toybe an industry leader?
Service and quality, those are the keys. But machines do not work by themselves and people are the component that makes everything possible. We have a well-balanced professional team: with printers and technicians who have been with us all their lives working alongside highly-skilled young people who have joined the sales department, the laboratory, etc.
What are Toybe’s goals for the future?
Certainly to keep learning and keep growing. To include new developments that the market demands and those we research ourselves. To strengthen our position in the domestic market and further explore international markets, and to become the best possible supplier for all our clients.
