Orxates Fillol: the fresh horchata made in Badalona that is drunk everywhere

With the sweltering heat of every summer, increasingly intense, horchata is posited as one of the classic stars of the season. They know it well at Orxates Fillol, a company in Badalona that has been serving it for almost 100 years, adapting to customers' tastes without losing quality along the way. This is explained by Xavi Juan, fourth generation of a business that has its roots in Xàtiva. His family came from there, bringing the recipes to mix the chufa, water, and sugar. They started distributing horchata through the streets of the Catalan city until they opened an already historic establishment on the Rambla de Badalona where this drink began to be made behind the bar.

Very young, at just 17 years old, Xavi Juan decided to emancipate himself and set up a factory on the outskirts of Badalona to produce horchata for third parties. He did so after seeing how his father had started selling the one they made themselves to other establishments and the number of clients kept growing. This, at the same time that their premises on the promenade added a restaurant and a cafeteria. With distribution going to more and more places and dedicating more and more time to it, the horchatería ended up deciding to focus on its own and leave aside this second source of income.

It was 1989 when Xavi Juan started on his own, after his uncle taught him how horchata was made. At first, he only sold the product to bars and restaurants in Badalona. Soon they began to cross their borders, going through Maresme, Vallès, Costa Brava, and Tarragona, no further than Catalonia, considering that natural horchata expires in a few days.

That is the main limitation of this drink and it is where the co-owner of Orxates Fillol, with 30 years of experience, has wanted to innovate to find a formula that would allow expanding distribution. They started doing tests at the end of 2019 and, shortly after, a pandemic arrived that left bars without serving and convinced them that they had to continue in that direction. In 2021, they launched a fresh horchata packaged in a bottle ---500 mL--- that can be kept in the fridge for 21 days from when its three basic ingredients are mixed and for 72 hours once opened. Xavi Juan adds that, in addition, it is unpasteurized and contains no preservatives or additives, which differentiates them from other options that can be found in supermarkets.

Currently, Orxates Fillol sells its fresh horchata packaged in chains such as Veritas, Condis, and El Corte Inglés, in addition to being the private label for other supermarkets and distributing it to hotels, restaurants, and bars. Farggi, Häagen-Dazs, and Santa Gloria are some of them. They have also incorporated new sizes ---1 liter and 3 liters--- and varieties ---eco and sugar-free---. As they didn't have enough, they have started producing leche merengada and cubanitos, with vanilla and chocolate flavors, which allows them to desensitize a very summery business.

The company has invested more than 250,000 euros in shaping all these new products in recent years. In 2022, it invoiced 500,000 euros, 25% more than in the previous year. With the forecast of manufacturing 250,000 liters of fresh horchata in 2023, Xavi Juan expects to grow again this year but does not venture to give a figure in a business that always depends on good weather. What they have already needed is to expand their storage capacity with a new warehouse, reaching 2,000 square meters. The staff stands at 13 employees, working in the factory and distribution.